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3054 is sitting on the West side of Defiance with a string of cars. Right next to US 24, facing West

I never thought of a derail but that makes sense.

Some great info in this thread

http://www.fwarailfan.net/community/vie ... f=2&t=4055

Thanks for posting. That was nice to read.

jrgerber wrote:Some great info in this thread

http://www.fwarailfan.net/community/vie ... f=2&t=4055

AARR wrote:Thanks for posting. That was nice to read.

jrgerber wrote:Some great info in this thread

http://www.fwarailfan.net/community/vie ... f=2&t=4055

Sometimes i go to some of the ND&W customers and was told a couple years ago they stopped using rail or cut back because of the North Baltimore intermodal terminal they just get trucked to there or from there, But with that closing now look for a nice uptick in rail business for the ND&W.

I've heard that the uptick in tomato paste this year has largely replaced the locally grown tomatoes used to supplement the use of paste in past years. Not sure if it was due to weather issues, or Campbell's and the growers being at issue supply contract wise. Another thing to consider is that there are multiple sources for the paste. In addition to California, I've also seen used drums that carried paste from Israel, and I'd guess that south america as a source is likely as well. From what I remember, the paste is shipped in plastic bags that are placed inside cardboard drums like these.http://www.rinenterprises.ca/35-gallon- ... oronto.htm
The paste is railed into Napoleon on the ND&W and offloaded at one of the cold storage facilities (there's two in the industrial park on the northeast side of town). From there it's trucked as needed to the Campbell's facility across the river. This truck traffic is one of the reasons why Napoleon & Henry County have been pushing for another highway bridge across the Maumee for the last couple of decades now.

I’m sure this has been said before, but why not ship directly to Campbell’s via rail again? The bridge is there. I realize the facility sits on top of the old ROW, but could it be reconfigured?

Here are a few possibilities that I can think of:
- Maybe it's more economical for Campbell's to pay a warehousing company to store and ship than to store product on their own floor.
- Maybe Campbell's expanded at some point and it was more economical to repurpose the rail docks than to add-on to their existing plant.
- Maybe Campbell's intended to eliminate all rail service and hastily removed the spur only later to change their minds.
- Maybe GTW abandoned the rail line so Campbell's had no choice t but to look for a another way to receive product by rail.
- Maybe it's a little of all the above or none of the above

bluestreak81 wrote:I’m sure this has been said before, but why not ship directly to Campbell’s via rail again? The bridge is there. I realize the facility sits on top of the old ROW, but could it be reconfigured?

Does Campbell's receive or ship anything besides tomato paste?

MSchwiebert wrote:...tomato paste...

bluestreak81 wrote:I’m sure this has been said before, but why not ship directly to Campbell’s via rail again? The bridge is there. I realize the facility sits on top of the old ROW, but could it be reconfigured?

When GTW removed the line from Malinta, the bridge was deeded to the City of Napoleon under the condition it never be used for train traffic again.

Bridge across river is no longer usable for rail service.
Just like any other business Campbell’s uses the just in time delivery to save on inventory wharehousing cost.
Campbell’s has not received any locally grown tomatoes or tomato paste since the early 1980’s

AARR wrote:Does Campbell's receive or ship anything besides tomato paste?

MSchwiebert wrote:...tomato paste...

No.

It's quite a bit different now compared to the DT&I days. There used to be inbound coal (for the power/steam plant), can stock, paper (for the can labels) and glass jars. The boilers now run on natural gas, Campbell's sold the can production plant (as well as the plastic container facility) to Silgan years ago and all their raw materials come in via truck.

There's been talk of a transload going in at Malinta with Campbells business in mind. I've seen nothing indicating it will happen, though.

Any updates or developments?

Construction of the transload facility in Napoleon is well underway. This facility is what enabled the ND&W to take the line from just west of the crossing of US6/24 to Liberty Center out of service.

MSchwiebert wrote:Construction of the transload facility in Napoleon is well underway. This facility is what enabled the ND&W to take the line from just west of the crossing of US6/24 to Liberty Center out of service.

any idea what business will use it?

Waddy wrote:

MSchwiebert wrote:Construction of the transload facility in Napoleon is well underway. This facility is what enabled the ND&W to take the line from just west of the crossing of US6/24 to Liberty Center out of service.

any idea what business will use it

Any business not currently located on rail will be able to use the facility.

IIRC in the past they unloaded fire brick from Liberty Center

JoJames wrote:

Waddy wrote:

MSchwiebert wrote:Construction of the transload facility in Napoleon is well underway. This facility is what enabled the ND&W to take the line from just west of the crossing of US6/24 to Liberty Center out of service.

any idea what business will use it

Any business not currently located on rail will be able to use the facility.

Are any more track rehab projects currently planned?