MMRR Z627 Log

[Mr. Tops]

10/6/09

Z627-06

GR 3839
MMRR 3836

3 (L) Shape (B)
8 (L) Nugent (CH)
1 (E) Webb (T) 1830
1 (E) Brinks (T)

13 total

---

They got on the move early tonight, I am posting before midnight and followed them to GH. They should be near Holland now -- 2350. Yes, Don, I don't understand the sporadic numbers from Nugent. I remember years ago, when CSX was still here, you could bet large amounts of money on there being 13 loads from Nugent.

[~Z~]

They should be near Holland now -- 2350.

Not there quite yet -- 2356
But CSX D70006 is at Waverly, still running at night.

[Mr. Tops]

The two trains keep in contact and try to plan their meet at Waverly. I've heard Z627's crew saying "D700 is just getting on their power at the house..." and noting about what time they'll get to Waverly.

[Mr. Tops]

10/7/09

Z627-07

MMRR 3836
GR 3839

2 (E) Bay (B)
2 (L) Shape (B)
7 (L) Nugent (CH)

11 total

[C&O6088]

Mr. Tops.....so 11 total cars from 3 customers? So depressing. I was just up in Fremont two days ago and saw 3 hoppers on the CO-OP siding. When does the activity pick up there in the fall from the grain/harvest? You may have mentioned before but what ever happened to the chemical plant near Sherman and US31 that had many tankers on their tracks years ago?

From the Paper mill in Muskegon to the Refridgerator Plant in Greenville to the Bumper facility in Ionia, the MMRR, GRE, MS subsidiaries have been really hit hard.

C&O

[Mr. Tops]

10/8/09

Z627-08

GR 3839
MMRR 3836

4 (L) Shape (B)
11 (L) Nugent (CH)
3 (E) Webb (T) 1830-1814-3082
2 (E) Fremont Co-op (CH)

20 total

---

I went out to catch them after the Red Wings beat the Blackhawks 3-2. The game ended just before 10pm and they must have left shortly after 9 as they were already down at Bay switching.

C&O...More like 11 cars from 7 customers, which is even more depressing. Bay, Shape, Nugent, Webb, Brinks, Bayer and Fremont Co-op are all still regular rail users. The empties from Fremont Co-op most likely brought in fertilizer and I would imagine the fall harvest will begin within the coming weeks and loads will start rolling out. Webb Chemical is the plant your talking about near the corner of Sherman Blvd and Getty St in Muskegon. As you can see from tonight's report, they shipped out 3 empties. Just went past there today and they had probably a dozen cars at their facility; however, they still only ship out about a handful (or so) of empties each week. They are still alive, just not as busy as they were a few years ago.

[AARR]

Webb Chemical is the plant your talking about near the corner of Sherman Blvd and Getty St in Muskegon. As you can see from tonight's report, they shipped out 3 empties. Just went past there today and they had probably a dozen cars at their facility; however, they still only ship out about a handful (or so) of empties each week.

A dozen cars at their facility? How many were there in the days when they were much busier?

[Mr. Tops]

18-24 cars. Rail service took a big hit with the loss of ethanol traffic to Webb. Not sure what happened to it, but it is no more. They are still active in receiving methanol, potassium hydroxide solution, sodium hydroxide solution, sulphuric acid and environmentally hazardous liquid n.o.s.

Here's an over-head with 18 cars at their facility: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sourc ... 5&t=h&z=16

[Mr. Tops]

10/9/09

Z627-09

MMRR 3836
GR 3839

2 (L) Shape (B)
2 (E) Bay (B)
25 (L) Nugent (CH)

29 total

---

This weeks total is 103 cars compared to last weeks 84 cars--

Nugent: 79
Shape: 13
Bay: 4
Webb: 4
Fremont Co-op: 2
Brinks: 1

[AARR]

18-24 cars. Rail service took a big hit with the loss of ethanol traffic to Webb. Not sure what happened to it, but it is no more. They are still active in receiving methanol, potassium hydroxide solution, sodium hydroxide solution, sulphuric acid and environmentally hazardous liquid n.o.s.

Thaqnks for the good info and pics. I think they lost some more business when the Pfizer plant in Holland closed

[Mr. Tops]

10/12/09

Z627-12

GR 3839
MMRR 3836

3 (L) Shape (B)
5 (L) Nugent (CH)
2 (E) Brinks (T)
11 (L) Nugent (CH)

21 total

[Mr. Tops]

10/13/09

Z627-13

MMRR 3836
GR 3839

2 (L) Shape (B) NYC
9 (L) Nugent (CH) 1 GACX & 8 CSXT
1 (E) Webb (T) 1824 - HOKX From RIP track (new wheels)
1 (E) Fremont Co-op (CH) NDYX
1 (E) Brinks (T) GATX

14 total

---

3 Shapes and 1 Bay spotted at Bay (they will be on tomorrows outbound report). The crew dug out six empty sand hoppers for Nugent (Sargent) and tacked them on the rear. They dropped them at Hackley St (where the line branches off to the Henry Street Yard). All were 3-bay CSX CH's which had new wheels. My guess is they will be returning light (or with just empties for Nugent) and leave the train at Henry Street for the day crew.

[Mr. Tops]

10/14/09

Z627-14

GR 3839
MMRR 3836

3 (L) Shape (B)
1 (E) Bay (B)

4 total

---

yikes...they dropped off 5 for Shape and picked up those 4 cars. Of note, there was another boxcar at the Mart Dock today; BNSF 727789. Wonder what they are doing now that Sappi is closed officially. When it heads out, I will look at the springs to see if it's loaded or empty.

[~Z~]

Of note, there was another boxcar at the Mart Dock today; BNSF 727789.

can you re-check that boxcar number? I'm thinking that one is in Texas at the moment on BNSF's system. Then I can keep a partial eye on it and see what the heck it's doing.

[Mr. Tops]

try BNSF 727783

[AARR]

It's scarey when Nugent doesn't have anything to ship

[~Z~]

try BNSF 727783

BNSF 727783 is much more pleasing Tops. Came in as a load into Chicago, took L32610 to GR, D70012 to Holland, and MS up, all showing as a Load at that time. Waybill is reporting as empty now as of 10/14 15:03. Says it's door is Double Plug Doors, centered, load limit of 186400, max weight 263000. Contrary to James' thought though, it's a 60' boxcar

[Mr. Tops]

Thanks Z-Man. They must still be receiving paper pulp then? Maybe they didn't get the news that the mill closed?

And yes, this is a 60 foot box:

[Mr. Tops]

While we're on the subject of freight cars, I'll take a minute to put up some photos of the cars commonly found in Muskegon and on the Z627, so when I post these logs you have an idea of the types of cars on the train. I am terribly sorry to those dial-up users...

First off we have the cars use by Shape Co. They are most commonly NYC ex-CR boxes and UP boxes, but a CSX boxes also appear from time to time.






Bay Logistics gets a wide variety of boxcars, usually hi-cube newprint boxes. Here are some examples:





Next we have Nugent who gets a number of different types of covered hoppers, mostly CSX 2-bay cylindrical, 2-bay ribbed side, 3-bay ribbed side, and also GACX 2-bay ribbed side.

These are what the GACX hoppers are, but most of them have Wisconsin Central painted over.














Sometimes, one of these will show up:


Now onto Webb...

HOKX tanks are common with caustic potash and caustic soda, MMRR has also been RIP work on these.


These tanks for sulfuric acid (they can also be white)


Environmentally hazardous substance (they're not always so shiney )


Methanol, somtimes they're blue like this, sometimes they're black.


This is what Bayer Crop Science gets, they are always white:


Here is an example of the nitrogen solution tanks that Brinks and Fremont Co-op get:


Fremont Co-op LPG tank:


Fremont Co-op covered hopper; lately they've been getting the NDYX cars:

[AARR]

Awesome pics and report Tops!