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Quick updates. The approval to operate the Port Inland Railroad was approved. Operations by ELSR crews will begin on 2-1-2025. As expected, the previous crews will be terminated from their prior employement on 1-31-2025, and will be hired as employees of the ELSR on 2-1-2025. As part of the deal, th...

There is major breaking news on the SSAC. There has been an agreement reached between the SSAC and the Canadian Government regarding the Ontario Northland Railroad. The SSAC, effective on 2-1-2025 will take over freight operations of the Ontario Northland from the Government of Ontario. This lease w...

The GLOR management has made a decision on pair some of the Ex-CSX SLUG's which were purchased in 2024. Here is an updated list of the GLOR's Road SLUG units with their paired locomotive if applicable. Work on the paired sets is ongoing in Lima. #8000 / #8100 GP40-2 / SLUG #8001 / #8101 GP38M-2 (For...

Used to work for a large concrete supplier in Detroit. Fly ash is used as a filler/substitute in concrete. We mostly used it to fill older, unused underground storage tanks,or sometimes in footings . Have to remember, that it is NOT as strong as a 6 bag, or 9 bag mix as far as strength is concerned...

There is nothing new in the TC area to report. The derailment on the GLOR did have some minor impact on the TCSR's operations and customers, but not a signficiant impact as most customers had the volume of backstock they needed to get through the few days of delay. The GLOR has been leasing a third ...

The DTRC has been continuing its normal steady pace. There have been no changes to the operations, although traffic with the NS / DTRC / GLOR interchange has picked up significantly. GLOR's car shops have picked up a couple major contracts to rebuild / refurbish old rail cars, and as a result, the t...

The INER has been steady recently with grain trains continuing to run on the southern end of the line. The first trains regularly running from White Pigeon to Coldwater have begun. WP-2, which was previously the White Pigeon to Sturgis train, is now running mutiple times per week as far east as West...

There have been no significant changes with the OWR in recent months. The desired rebuilding of the spur is still in the planning stages. There are a lot of moving parts and as of now the required permits needed for such a project have not been applied for, so the projects start date likely would no...

Ths slow season for construction has limited the running of the Hanson's stone trains. All other operations remain on track. The Purina plant has not yet opened, but is expected to be fully operational in March 2025. With the slower operations of the stone trains, and the limited operations of train...

After the issues around Cadillac with the derailment, the GLOR has decided to make a change to the operations north of Cadillac, on a temporary trial basis. Train CP, the Cadillac to Petoskey train, has always been based out of Cadillac. They will be changing effective 1-20-2025. The GLOR will be ba...

The latest news on the CSIR is that rehabilitation will begin in the spring of 2025 for the Greensburg to Shelbyville portion of the line. Several customers on the CSX portion of the line have expressed interest in having the line reopened and allowing additional outlets for thier inbound and outbou...

There have been no significant changes on the CABR in recent months. There was one addition to the locomotive roster however. GLOR #4029 SD40M-2 has been transfered to the CABR roster with the same number. The locomotive has been relettered for the CABR. This move was made due to the length of train...

I think you would be much more likely to see some sort of transload operation put in place nearby to transload. The old glass plant still has tracks within the plant facility (didn't look for a connection to the main), and would be a potential location for a transload.

Here is a quick update on the RAN. The locomotive power remains the same for the railroad, although the GP15-1 suffered a major mechanical issue and has been sent to Owosso for repairs. The railroad is currently operating with the two GP16 locomotives, which at this time is enough for the railroad t...

The agreements between the GLOR / E&LS / WATCO and CN were all approved in ealry to mid-Decemeber and the take over of operations by the ELSR official commenced on December 26th, 2024.

A more detailed look at the ELSR will be coming later this month.

One more thing about the SSAC / CN across the river. There have been talks between the United States and Canada about the bridge over the river. The current bridge has weight restriction issues which limit how trains are moved over the bridge. While 286K cars are allowed over the bridge, the power o...

There hasn't been a significant amount of changes for the SSAC in recent months. The Agawa Canyon trains run this fall and they are running snow trains during the winter up through the Canyon. In addition to those trains, they are running the passenger trains on the line between SSM and Hearst. Powe...

Things on the northern end of the GLOR have returned to something resembling normal with normal train operations resuming into an out of Cadillac. Elsewhere on the Northern Division, the GLOR is still operating numerous unit grain trains to and from online elevators. The southern division is also bu...

There was a fatal train vs pedestrian accident in Holland yesterday. This one, unlike other accidents, leaves us with a lot more questions than there will ever be answers. Per the mlive article, which is somewhat short on details, the student was a Hope College student who was blind from birth and w...

There is another "new" customer for the GLOR's northern division as well. Previously ZD Metal Products, located across US131 from EJIW had been getting occassional carloads of inbound product from the EJIW spur. Due to a disagreement about costs, as well as due to an estimated increase in both inbou...