CN Lake Orion Sub

[Beemer]

Track equipment and gons lined on the Orion Branch, north of Brown Road...

[RoyalKingoftheRails]

Meant to share this yesterday but I went out to all the crossings from Giddings Road to Collier Road on the branch to see what all has been done. From Joslyn Road #2 up to Giddings Road towards the Orion Plant, they haven’t done too much in the clean up process. The crossings there still have their exempt signs up for now. Crew vehicles and gondola cars were still sitting at Joslyn Road #2 as well. I also included some before and after pictures of Great Lakes Crossing Drive and Collier Road of the weeds and tall grass to show the comparison of how much they have been cleaned up.
The before photos were taken in September of 2021
The after photos were taken yesterday (November 24th)

[RoyalKingoftheRails]

These 2 photos are of Collier Road. Previous post was Great Lakes Crossing Drive.

[Deskjockey]

Some observations today:

On the North side of the Silverbell crossing there was a whole crew working on a new piece of track, on top of the existing track.

Why would they do this?

The yard at the Orion plant is being cleaned up, most of the old rail is gone, and there is a bunch of hi-rails working on the existing tracks.

The track South of the plant are not entirely cleaned up yet.

DTE is setting up for a massive addition of electrical into the plant (I'm a sparky).

No pictures since it caught me by surprise, and didn't have time to break out the cell.

[Delray]

[Steve B]

On the North side of the Silverbell crossing there was a whole crew working on a new piece of track, on top of the existing track.

Why would they do this?

Sounds like a piece of panel track that they'll slide into the road crossing. Will reduce by a bit the time required for the road to be closed, vs. assembling the elements separately in the road.

[David Collins]

So I went to Great Lakes Crossing to do some black friday shopping at Bass Pro (which was NOT fun)…and when I drove by the crossing across from Top Golf next to the Orion Branch, I noticed the white light on the signal bungalow was on.

For those who don’t know, this white light indicates if the railroad crossing has power or not. If the light is steady on, it means it’s running under city power, if it’s flashing, it means it’s running under backup battery power. This probably means that work on the railroad crossing infrastructure is underway.

[RoyalKingoftheRails]

So I went to Great Lakes Crossing to do some black friday shopping at Bass Pro (which was NOT fun)…and when I drove by the crossing across from Top Golf next to the Orion Branch, I noticed the white light on the signal bungalow was on.

For those who don’t know, this white light indicates if the railroad crossing has power or not. If the light is steady on, it means it’s running under city power, if it’s flashing, it means it’s running under backup battery power. This probably means that work on the railroad crossing infrastructure is underway.

It was turned off today when I drove through. They also cleaned up more of the tall grass next to it. It’s really clear there now. I wonder if they were also testing the crossing when they had the power on

[MQT1223]

Meant to share this yesterday but I went out to all the crossings from Giddings Road to Collier Road on the branch to see what all has been done. From Joslyn Road #2 up to Giddings Road towards the Orion Plant, they haven’t done too much in the clean up process. The crossings there still have their exempt signs up for now. Crew vehicles and gondola cars were still sitting at Joslyn Road #2 as well. I also included some before and after pictures of Great Lakes Crossing Drive and Collier Road of the weeds and tall grass to show the comparison of how much they have been cleaned up.
The before photos were taken in September of 2021
The after photos were taken yesterday (November 24th)

My guess is that the exempt signs will probably stay up until the entire line re-enters service.

[Delray]

Drove by today. The MoW equipment was down by the 3rd Joslyn crossing. Silverbell Rd was closed and being dug up. My guess is Giddings will be next as it's still paved over with the rails cut.

[Deskjockey]

I followed the line down from Silver Bell to the wye this past Thursday.

Joslyn is being cleaned up and ties were dropped.

Collier is still cut.

The whole line is cleaned up behind the neighborhood in Pontiac.

Large amount of MOW equipment on the north bound side of the wye.

[Delray]

Went by yesterday. Silverbell rd is open again after replacing the rails at the crossing. Looks like tie replacement was done all the way to the yard. However, from the yard to Giddings rd the rail and ties have been removed completely. I'm guessing they were too bad to fix.

[Delray]

Saw on FB that they removed all of the tracks from the yard.

[chapmaja]

I don't know when the image was from, but Google's Images shows the following tracks in the Orion Yard.

The main running from the enterance to the yard the length of the yard and turning SE at the end of the yard.

A siding off the main track running the length of the yard, reconnecting to the main track at the east end of the yard.

The switching lead which ran to the south side of the yard then ran the length of the yard before rejoining the main track at the east end of the yard. This track is not connected to the main, as the switches on the east end appear to be removed, but the ties remain in place.

One siding off the switching lead, running the length of the yard, reconnecting to the above mentioned track at the east end of the yard.

One short spur track at the east end of the yard going west.

The rest of the yard tracks, which appears at a minimum to have been 7 tracks, and possibly more, were all removed, tracks and ties.

[David Collins]

Saw on FB that they removed all of the tracks from the yard.

Yes, because they’re putting new ones in.

[chapmaja]

Saw on FB that they removed all of the tracks from the yard.

I think they had removed most of the tracks in the yard due to the need for the rail in other areas on the system. The tracks in the area were not that old, as the plant originally opened in the mid-1980's and there previously had not been a rail line on that property.

[Beemer]

Yesterday, new ties were dropped off by the street crossings from Walton Rd. up through the Joslyn crossings.

[David Lang]

We should change the title of this discussion from "Re: CN Lake Orion Sub - The end finally???" to "CN Lake Orion Sub - A New Beginning"...or "CN Lake Orion Sub - New Life"...or something like that.

[Manistique]

Saw on FB that they removed all of the tracks from the yard.

I think they had removed most of the tracks in the yard due to the need for the rail in other areas on the system. The tracks in the area were not that old, as the plant originally opened in the mid-1980's and there previously had not been a rail line on that property.

About seven years ago when I last looked at this yard closely I could see that a lot of track had been removed. The Circus train still went there but that was about it. This surprised me as I thought that the State of Michigan built and owned the yard? If so, why did CN get to cannalabize it? Sounds like the State of Michigan gravy train is continuing for CN. And that lightning does strike twice.

[AARR]

I don't know how many tracks were originally there but there was only four left last I looked.

Saw on FB that they removed all of the tracks from the yard.

I think they had removed most of the tracks in the yard due to the need for the rail in other areas on the system. The tracks in the area were not that old, as the plant originally opened in the mid-1980's and there previously had not been a rail line on that property.

About seven years ago when I last looked at this yard closely I could see that a lot of track had been removed. The Circus train still went there but that was about it. This surprised me as I thought that the State of Michigan built and owned the yard? If so, why did CN get to cannalabize it? Sounds like the State of Michigan gravy train is continuing for CN. And that lightning does strike twice.