Huron and Eastern Customer List

Anything pertaining to railfanning in Michigan.
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NS3322
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Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by NS3322 »

I just created a customer list for the Huron and Eastern. For customers I was unsure still used rail service I wrote "Inactive shipper?" next to the listing.
How did I do? Did I miss any?
http://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/H ... rogress.29
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Last edited by NS3322 on Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

GTW6401
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by GTW6401 »

Consumers Energy - Essexville
Saginaw Bay Fertilizer - Essexville. Jointly served with LSRC.
Central Warehouse - Saginaw.
Tri State Forest Products - Buena Vista.
Gavilon - Seaway Drive in Zilwaukee.

Nexteer in Buena Vista is served by LSRC when/if shipping. LSRC ownership ends there at Towerline Road.
Oakley is served by GLC.

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AARR
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by AARR »

Thanks guys, nice list!
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

railrod1949
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by railrod1949 »

[quote="AARR"]Thanks guys, nice list![/quot

Nice list!

GreatLakesRailfan
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by GreatLakesRailfan »

I thought the sugar plant in Carrollton was removed several years ago?

Tower in Elkton also shipped scrap in gondolas. I don't know if they're still shipping though. Someone in Elkton was getting tank cars. Might've been something out at the Co-op east of town.

The elevator in downtown Brown City doesn't use rail, to the best of my knowledge. You'll see covered hoppers there, but as I understand it, those trains are for the plant on the east side of town.

I think the elevator in Millington could be considered inactive. There's another customer preparing to receive RR cars north of town, but I don't think the guys on the Michigan Railroads board know who that customer is yet.

There's a bean plant on the north side of Pigeon, which ships in boxcars. It's one if the reasons part of the old PO&N is still in place. I don't believe the downtown elevator gets boxcars.

I've observed boxcars at the bean plant in Reese, although they could have been stored there for another customer.


I'm not entirely sure, but I think the elevator in Bad Axe doesn't have a siding anymore. I think they're restricted to service by truck now. However, there's a fertilizer dealer out by the airport that gets tank cars. And a MoW building in the industrial park that sits at the end of what's left of the railroad that ran from Bad Axe to Cass City at one time. It seems like there used to be a lumber yard that received cars just west of M-53 on the north side of town too.

I don't see Deckerville on the list. The beet piling ground is right next to the track there and shipped beets to Bay City, IIRC. The Croswell plant can't unload beet hoppers, but they do ship beet pulp (I think) in covered hoppers. The molasses goes out in tank cars.

The elevator in Deckerville also gets covered hoppers.
~ Charles W.

GTW6401
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by GTW6401 »

Sugar beets arent moving by rail anymore to Bay City. There was an article in Railfan and Railroad on the subject a couple months ago.

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AARR
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by AARR »

Did they say why they stopped shipping by rail? It seems like they might have been the largest shipper on those branch lines at one time.
GTW6401 wrote:Sugar beets arent moving by rail anymore to Bay City. There was an article in Railfan and Railroad on the subject a couple months ago.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

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NS3322
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by NS3322 »

Thank you all for your input and suggestions! Here is the updated list (in two parts). This list now has 56 customers, with 11 marked "unsure if active."
http://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/H ... rogress.29
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michiganlover
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by michiganlover »

Unless things have changed, Poet Biorefining in Caro also ships ethanol out in tank cars.

The Millington Elevator for certain no longer ships. The line from just south of Vassar to Millington had been used for car storage (mostly coal hoppers) for the last 3-4 years. The line has now been cleared with the new customer opening in Millington. Last activity by the Millington Elevator may have been back in 2014, when they received a single car of fertilizer.

The new customer in Millington, which has it's rail siding built, but the facility itself is still under construction will be shipping brine via tank cars. Doing some digging, it may be Wilkinson chemical who is opening this facility.

Start of the West in Richville also receives fertilizer via tank car as well. At least it has in the past.

What is "Lawndale Partners of Michigan", is that what used to be the new pet foods plant on the East side of Richville on M-46, just south of where the wye is?
Last edited by michiganlover on Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by michiganlover »

Also a new Soybean processing plant in being built nearby the Start of the West elevator on Bradleyville Rd east of Reese. It's called Quality Roasting LLC.

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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

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michiganlover wrote:What is "Lawndale Partners of Michigan", is that what used to be the new pet foods plant on the East side of Richville on M-46, just south of where the wye is?
I think this is actually Star of the West. SotW has operated a few places in the past under a different name.

Denmark Jct./Richville and Akron also have Labudde Group

Who is RA Specification?

Does Woodard in Owosso use rail service?
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

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NS3322
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by NS3322 »

AARR wrote:
michiganlover wrote:What is "Lawndale Partners of Michigan", is that what used to be the new pet foods plant on the East side of Richville on M-46, just south of where the wye is?
I think this is actually Star of the West. SotW has operated a few places in the past under a different name.
Appears this is actually Labudde Group.
AARR wrote: Who is RA Specification?

Does Woodard in Owosso use rail service?
RA Specification is located at/near 2675 Nodular Dr, Saginaw, MI (43.44466, -83.88228). Looks like an inactive shipper.

I reached out to Woodard in Owosso and they told me "on occasion yes [we] do."


Does Georgia Pacific in Owosso still ship by rail?

GreatLakesRailfan
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by GreatLakesRailfan »

Just a couple of quick notes after reviewing some of my pictures from up in the Thumb area.

In Sebewaing, there's possibly two more customers. The Huron County GIS shows Gettel Grain LLC as owning the elevator just south of the old station. The GIS map shows covered hoppers. My own pictures show a boxcar and a crane with flatcar, so this may well be inactive as far as rail is concerned.

Also in Sebewaing, the Co-Op has a plant on the north side of town, east of the sugar plant. This plant receives covered hoppers.


There's a (Terra?) fertilizer dealer just west of Elkton that has a siding. I've observed a single tank car on it at various times in the past, but don't know if it's currently an active customer. The GIS map shows it as Farver Road, Elkton.

The large Co-Op facility east of Elkton has at various times also had boxcars and tank cars spotted at the facility, in addition to covered hoppers.


Akron, the Mill St. elevator- I don't think this building gets covered hoppers. I've only observed boxcars here. The facility appears to be more warehouse than elevator. It may also be inactive- it appears to be owned by a trucking company based in the Caro area.


There's more than one customer in Fairgrove. The Co-Op has a fertilizer plant on the north side of town, off of Shreeves Road. They receive tank cars here (I think- the siding seems to be well maintained, but all I have pictures of is an empty siding).

I have a picture of a covered hopper at the ADM bean plant back in 2004. That was the last I recall seeing a car there.



Star of the West has an elevator a couple miles southwest of Fairgrove, but they refer to it as their Fairgrove plant. It's on Vassar Road and all I've observed there are covered hoppers. I believe it's still an active shipper.

Star of the West also has a location on Bradleyville Road (not the new plant mentioned elsewhere in this thread). This plant is just south of Gilford, and I believe is referred to as the Gilford plant. This plant receives covered hoppers (this facility has a John Deere car mover).


According to the GIS, all 3 elevators in Reese are Star of the West...and all 3 are on the Southeast to Northwest line (ex-PC?). The northwest most of the 3 is the one I've observed boxcars spotted at. I've also photographed a covered hopper at this facility.

I almost wrote that I'd not observed anything at the middle facility, but I did see a couple covered hoppers spotted there in 2011.

The southeastern most of the 3, I don't recall seeing anything actually spotted at. Google shows a couple covered hoppers toward the end of the siding and I've observed boxcars and uncovered hoppers on the siding, but I suspect each instance shows cars that were placed somewhere convenient for some reason, not cars that were actually destined for the plant.

Is the Advanced Micronutrient Products plant listed as Reese across the tracks from the ADM plant also listed as Reese? If so, that location is commonly referred to as Arthur, not Reese.


I don't see anything in Vassar on the list? I personally do not know if the elevator there is currently shipping or not.

There's a gravel pit east of Vassar that evidently has a siding. The sign by the road shows it as M.A.C. Sand Sales. They're probably not an active railroad shipper, although I don't recall having noticed this place the last time I was out that way.


I'm pretty sure the elevator at Ruth also gets tank cars for the fertilizer operation, but I can't find anything to back that up.


Customer lists usually don't interest me that much. But customer lists for the HESR on the east side are apparently a different story. I hadn't realized just how many Star of the West plants there were up in the Thumb, among other things.
Thank you for putting the list together.
~ Charles W.

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AARR
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by AARR »

I think they are switched frequently at least they were
NS3322 wrote:Does Georgia Pacific in Owosso still ship by rail?
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

michiganlover
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by michiganlover »

AARR wrote: Denmark Jct./Richville and Akron also have Labudde Group
Labudde Group is a pet foods supplier. It appears they do some sort of refining of beet pulp (a by product of sugar production), which is used as an additive in pet foods.

Their plant in Akron does have a rail siding.

The plant at Denmark Jct has rail as well, and I have seen covered hoppers there.

They have a plant in Sebewaing as well, but it doesn't appear to be rail served. I think they are in a warehouse that used to be part of Tower Automotive.
Last edited by michiganlover on Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by michiganlover »

GreatLakesRailfan wrote:
The southeastern most of the 3, I don't recall seeing anything actually spotted at. Google shows a couple covered hoppers toward the end of the siding and I've observed boxcars and uncovered hoppers on the siding, but I suspect each instance shows cars that were placed somewhere convenient for some reason, not cars that were actually destined for the plant.



There's a gravel pit east of Vassar that evidently has a siding. The sign by the road shows it as M.A.C. Sand Sales. They're probably not an active railroad shipper, although I don't recall having noticed this place the last time I was out that way.
The southernmost of the three elevators in Reese in my experience hasn't shipped anything via rail in probably five years. Everytime I have been by there, their siding is blocked by various cars that are in long term storage.

The gravel pit east of Vassar was likely a shipper within the last five years, as I recall seeing at least one covered hopper spotted there. Couldn't speak about current operations, as I don't get out that way but maybe once a year now.

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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by NS3322 »

Thank you michiganlover, GreatLakesRailfan, and AARR for your suggestions!

I have updated the list accordingly.
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AARR
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by AARR »

Me likey :D
NS3322 wrote:Thank you michiganlover, GreatLakesRailfan, and AARR for your suggestions!

I have updated the list accordingly.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

pbmaxno15
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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

Unread post by pbmaxno15 »

We were in Kinde last night and there were 3 covered hoppers at the elevator, and a tank car at the fertilizer plant, so I would say that they are still active.

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Re: Huron and Eastern Customer List

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From MichiganRailroads.com
Posted by Cwayne on 9/11/2019, 11:33 am

There are currently six tank cars at the new brine well spur. I could not make out the reporting marks or numbers because they were to far away for me to read.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

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