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Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 6:58 am
by AARR
Post by GP30M4216 »

Broadening the scope a bit, what customers in the Detroit area ship or receive product in reefers? I head that the Detroit Produce Terminal no longer receives by rail. Seems like there was another produce outfit on the Terminal East that got reefers. Where else?

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 6:59 am
by AARR
Good question GP30. Other than the one you mentioned I'm not aware of any other customers.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 11:27 am
by Avnx
LaGrasso Bros Produce at the very end of Terminal East has a spur and has received refrigerated box cars in the past.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Fri May 05, 2023 10:58 pm
by iNFEKT
Is Twin City Foods the only refrigerated car customer in the state? If so are there any large refrigerated car customers nearby? Ohio? Indiana?

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 7:16 am
by AARR
I think WMI has a customer that gets refrigerated box cars and GDLK might have one too.
iNFEKT wrote:
Fri May 05, 2023 10:58 pm
Is Twin City Foods the only refrigerated car customer in the state? If so are there any large refrigerated car customers nearby? Ohio? Indiana?

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 10:14 am
by SD80MAC
Lineage Logistics in Hartford on the WMI, Michigan Natural Storage in Wyoming on CSX, and Twin City Foods in Lake Odessa on CSX are the only reefer customers on the west side of the state, to my knowledge.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 12:41 pm
by iNFEKT
SD80MAC wrote:
Sat May 06, 2023 10:14 am
Lineage Logistics in Hartford on the WMI, Michigan Natural Storage in Wyoming on CSX, and Twin City Foods in Lake Odessa on CSX are the only reefer customers on the west side of the state, to my knowledge.
Are there any in the eastern part of the state or would I have to go to Indiana or Ohio to see some?

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 2:51 pm
by AARR
I can't think of any around the Detroit area which is amazing because you would think Detroit would be a hub for a major distributer.
iNFEKT wrote:
Sat May 06, 2023 12:41 pm
Are there any in the eastern part of the state or would I have to go to Indiana or Ohio to see some?

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 3:07 pm
by iNFEKT
It is pretty surprising given the size of the city and the demands for fresh food. I wonder if there are any customers in Toledo assuming that would be the closest place with refrigerated cars to Detroit

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 3:10 pm
by Chip
AARR wrote:
Sat May 06, 2023 2:51 pm
I can't think of any around the Detroit area which is amazing because you would think Detroit would be a hub for a major distributer.
iNFEKT wrote:
Sat May 06, 2023 12:41 pm
Are there any in the eastern part of the state or would I have to go to Indiana or Ohio to see some?
Maybe if the Detroit Produce Terminal still shipped by rail.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 4:21 pm
by jimnorthwood
"I wonder if there are any customers in Toledo assuming that would be the closest place with refrigerated cars to Detroit"

ND&W serves a couple of cold storage warehouses in Napoleon. At least one, perhaps both, get reefers. The product is then trucked from the cold storage warehouse(s) to the nearby Campbells plant. Most of the ND&W's business consists of tomato paste for Campbells, but that is shipped in boxcars.

There are no customers in Toledo that get reefers. When Amtrak was in the freight business they shipped a lot of lemons to Toledo. Those were offloaded at the Amtrak station. I always assumed those lemons were then trucked to Detroit, but I have no direct evidence of that.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 6:41 pm
by iNFEKT
jimnorthwood wrote:
Sat May 06, 2023 4:21 pm
"I wonder if there are any customers in Toledo assuming that would be the closest place with refrigerated cars to Detroit"

ND&W serves a couple of cold storage warehouses in Napoleon. At least one, perhaps both, get reefers. The product is then trucked from the cold storage warehouse(s) to the nearby Campbells plant. Most of the ND&W's business consists of tomato paste for Campbells, but that is shipped in boxcars.

There are no customers in Toledo that get reefers. When Amtrak was in the freight business they shipped a lot of lemons to Toledo. Those were offloaded at the Amtrak station. I always assumed those lemons were then trucked to Detroit, but I have no direct evidence of that.
Wow thanks for the info! I just moved back from Upstate New York, where reefers were pretty plentiful. I don't even know where to catch one outside of the western part of the state. I would have figured Toledo, and Ohio and Indiana for that matter would be full of them with Chicago so close near by

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Sun May 21, 2023 9:29 am
by michaelmuha
Anyone have photos of the kind of refrigerated cars that travel in Michigan?

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Mon May 22, 2023 10:08 am
by Andy24
michaelmuha wrote:
Sun May 21, 2023 9:29 am
Anyone have photos of the kind of refrigerated cars that travel in Michigan?
Here are 2 empty “reefers” short for refrigerated cars on two M327 (Grand Rapids to Chicago runs). Both reefers were used in Hartford, MI. I could be wrong on this as well. I also saw juice reefers on the m326 and m327 runs as well.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Mon May 22, 2023 12:04 pm
by SD80MAC
Andy24 wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 10:08 am
michaelmuha wrote:
Sun May 21, 2023 9:29 am
Anyone have photos of the kind of refrigerated cars that travel in Michigan?
Here are 2 empty “reefers” short for refrigerated cars on two M327 (Grand Rapids to Chicago runs). Both reefers were used in Hartford, MI. I could be wrong on this as well. I also saw juice reefers on the m326 and m327 runs as well.
The BNSF cars go to Twin City Foods in Lake Odessa.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 10:27 am
by michaelmuha
Nice photos. Thanks Andy24, and thanks for the extra information SD80MAC - I'm planning to model Twin City Foods on my model railroad so the photos and info are really useful for me to find the right Refrigerated Box Cars to buy (and probably repaint...)

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 7:34 pm
by Andy24
michaelmuha wrote:
Tue May 23, 2023 10:27 am
Nice photos. Thanks Andy24, and thanks for the extra information SD80MAC - I'm planning to model Twin City Foods on my model railroad so the photos and info are really useful for me to find the right Refrigerated Box Cars to buy (and probably repaint...)
If you watch this cam daily and notice the Local L301 freight train pull some reefers to the Hartford location, they are non BNSF cars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNDikcUtmJs

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 8:35 pm
by LansingRailFan
michaelmuha wrote:
Tue May 23, 2023 10:27 am
Nice photos. Thanks Andy24, and thanks for the extra information SD80MAC - I'm planning to model Twin City Foods on my model railroad so the photos and info are really useful for me to find the right Refrigerated Box Cars to buy (and probably repaint...)
Someone just announced refrigerated HO scale cars and I think a BNSF scheme was one of the schemes. I can’t remember who it was that announced tho.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 10:16 pm
by LansingRailFan
LansingRailFan wrote:
Tue May 23, 2023 8:35 pm
michaelmuha wrote:
Tue May 23, 2023 10:27 am
Nice photos. Thanks Andy24, and thanks for the extra information SD80MAC - I'm planning to model Twin City Foods on my model railroad so the photos and info are really useful for me to find the right Refrigerated Box Cars to buy (and probably repaint...)
Someone just announced refrigerated HO scale cars and I think a BNSF scheme was one of the schemes. I can’t remember who it was that announced tho.
Boop it was scaletrains

https://www.scaletrains.com/ho-scale.ht ... ability=40

Scroll down and you’ll see three BNSF ones.

Re: Refrigerated Box Car Customers in Eastern MI

Posted: Fri May 26, 2023 11:11 pm
by iNFEKT
I did make it out to see some reefers at Twin City Foods, they had 6 in total. Said they generally came from the yard in Lansing