Detroit Edison Company Switchers in East China, MI

[Amtrakguy365]

I saw DE #217 SW1001 & DE #213 SW600 in East China, MI at the Detroit Edison Power Plant. Also, every once and a while, CSX will be on the DE's loop track. I also once saw 2 BNSF locomotives in the loop about 3 or 4 months ago. I didn't get a picture however.

[DTIDave]

I used to live two blocks from the dump house! I've gotten a few pics from there, but you have to watch. Security can come by and confiscate your camera (remember, it IS a power plant, which is one of the Homeland Security red flags). I've seen it happen! I used to live across the hall from the guy that was in charge of those locos. He said a number of years ago those units are on borrowed time. That SW600 is a rare bird as it is. I used to love listening to the sorry lone horn wail, then you would hear the train move, the brakes squeal, and boom-boom-boom-boom (the slack taking up on all the empty cars) as they repositioned. Oddly, I could hear the CSX over in Canada better than I could hear the Edison train (even when CSX came in to drop off/pick up). Technically, I was halfway in between the two lines.

[DTIDave]

Back in the early '90's, coal came in with Burlington Northern engines, the last ones were when they started with the Grinstien Green ones. They also had Conrail engines come in regularly in the mid 90's with the occasional CP Rail set before settling on mostly CSX in recent years.

I was told that the two Edison plants actually get TWO different types of coal- Powder River (which explains the BN), and Appalachian (which explains the CR), and they would store them in separate areas on the plants' grounds. When they burned the coal, they would get some Powder River and some Appalachian and blend it, using that overhead conveyor to transport it back and forth as needed. The summer time DE would get most of their coal by ship, in winter by train, although there was no official rule, it was mainly because the ships could haul more/offload faster, but were limited to ice-free waters.

Years ago, there used to be a little black tank car marked "dust suppressant", that they would roll around the loop and spray the coal piles to keep the coal dust down. As they used more Powder River coal, they didn't need to spray the coal so much (although those of us who lived in the shadow of the power plants can argue THAT fact...) and they torched the car sometime in the late late '90's.

I miss seeing the hoppers they'd load with flyash. They were usually good for a block of 3 cars a day. Of course, that was when Akzo Salt shipped daily as well and Biewer Lumber had semi-regular loads. That half of the line is a sad shadow of it's former self. At least we can still wonder how the track hasn't fallen into the river yet at St. Clair Hwy!

[AARR]

I miss seeing the hoppers they'd load with flyash. They were usually good for a block of 3 cars a day. Of course, that was when Akzo Salt shipped daily as well and Biewer Lumber had semi-regular loads. That half of the line is a sad shadow of it's former self. At least we can still wonder how the track hasn't fallen into the river yet at St. Clair Hwy!

I hear the fly ash loading docks are still there. Maybe someday...

[GreatLakesRailfan]

I've heard that the switcher(s) have friction bearing trucks and can't leave the property. I've also heard that part of the delay in moving coal trains in/out of that plant has to do with the condition of the in plant track.

Lately apparently the eastern coal has come by rail and the western by boat, but DTE ran out of western coal (or close enough) this year before the boats started running again and will be getting some western coal by rail this year. Apparently this will come via UP not BNSF.

Most interesting to me is the fact that CSX has been delivering eastern coal using BNSF locomotives...

[GreatLakesRailfan]

I miss seeing the hoppers they'd load with flyash. They were usually good for a block of 3 cars a day. Of course, that was when Akzo Salt shipped daily as well and Biewer Lumber had semi-regular loads. That half of the line is a sad shadow of it's former self. At least we can still wonder how the track hasn't fallen into the river yet at St. Clair Hwy!

I hear the fly ash loading docks are still there. Maybe someday...

Might be more trouble than its worth. They dump the fly ash near the plant now.

[Super Chief]

Recently returned from Minnesota. More CSX power at Staples than BNSF. Thought I was somewhere out east. NS heritage units on oil trains. CSX power stops right in front of me at the depot drops off a conductor. 2 hours later he gets on another CSX eastbound to the Cities. His name was Lance and he tells me with business up and power shortage CSX units galore. So maybe the two rr are equalizing loco hours. NORTHTOWN yard so full that there were 3 road trains parked on main between St. Cloud and the double crossovers at CP 66. You gotta love it that business is up.

[Turbo1]

I used to live two blocks from the dump house! I've gotten a few pics from there, but you have to watch. Security can come by and confiscate your camera (remember, it IS a power plant, which is one of the Homeland Security red flags). I've seen it happen! I used to live across the hall from the guy that was in charge of those locos. He said a number of years ago those units are on borrowed time. That SW600 is a rare bird as it is. I used to love listening to the sorry lone horn wail, then you would hear the train move, the brakes squeal, and boom-boom-boom-boom (the slack taking up on all the empty cars) as they repositioned. Oddly, I could hear the CSX over in Canada better than I could hear the Edison train (even when CSX came in to drop off/pick up). Technically, I was halfway in between the two lines.

If you are on public property you can take all the pictures you want, security may attempt to take your camera or have you delete photos, but they have no authority to confiscate anything of yours. You are under no obligation to comply with any requests security makes of you as long as you are on public property. Trespass on DTE property and then yes they can ask for ID.

[Amtrakguy365]

Here I show the old spur at DTE represented with a red line. The conveyor that spans over River Rd. today is was led to the abandonment of the River Rd. Grade Crossing. In order to get coal from the other side of the plant, the tracks crossed through River Rd. and collected coal from the other side. When the conveyor was built, the need for the short spur was no longer needed. The only remains of the spur are two opening gates. One rusted gate is on the left side of River Rd. and a newly painted one is on the right side of River Rd.

[DTIDave]

I used to live two blocks from the dump house! I've gotten a few pics from there, but you have to watch. Security can come by and confiscate your camera (remember, it IS a power plant, which is one of the Homeland Security red flags). I've seen it happen! I used to live across the hall from the guy that was in charge of those locos. He said a number of years ago those units are on borrowed time. That SW600 is a rare bird as it is. I used to love listening to the sorry lone horn wail, then you would hear the train move, the brakes squeal, and boom-boom-boom-boom (the slack taking up on all the empty cars) as they repositioned. Oddly, I could hear the CSX over in Canada better than I could hear the Edison train (even when CSX came in to drop off/pick up). Technically, I was halfway in between the two lines.

If you are on public property you can take all the pictures you want, security may attempt to take your camera or have you delete photos, but they have no authority to confiscate anything of yours. You are under no obligation to comply with any requests security makes of you as long as you are on public property. Trespass on DTE property and then yes they can ask for ID.

I'm not sure if things have changed, but remember back when 9/11 happened, EVERYTHING changed. Keep in mind this is a power plant. Those were one of the things that Homeland Security had put on high alert (along with airports, and other sensitive, important areas). Being next to an International Border, maybe things were a little more high-strung, but no lie, taking pictures of a power plant was a big no-no. Of course, things have laxed a bit now across the country, and if you happened to be on the bike path right next to it...

[DTIDave]

Here I show the old spur at DTE represented with a red line. The conveyor that spans over River Rd. today is was led to the abandonment of the River Rd. Grade Crossing. In order to get coal from the other side of the plant, the tracks crossed through River Rd. and collected coal from the other side. When the conveyor was built, the need for the short spur was no longer needed. The only remains of the spur are two opening gates. One rusted gate is on the left side of River Rd. and a newly painted one is on the right side of River Rd.

Amtrakguy, you are partially right. The St. Clair Power Plant (the one on the St. Clair River) was built before the Belle River Power Plant (the "inland" one). Initially, coal trains would come off the PH&D on a big loop (which still exists on the west side of M-29), and go across M-29 where your photo shows. Right about where the text on the photo says "old housing site for DTE employees", your red line is a little squiggly, but there was a switch there and the track followed what is now a trail and headed back towards M-29 before turning south. You can barely make it out on the map. Above the words "New Conveyor" on the map was a yard that the train cars were stored in parallel to the highway. When they built this power plant, M-29 was rerouted- originally it was where what is now Pointe Dr. is now. M-29 from Recor all the way to the south end of Pointe Dr. was built to bypass the new power plant.

The Belle River PP was built just before I moved up here in 1986. At that time, it was only a few years old and I missed out having my school take a tour of it by a year. They stopped doing that the year I moved up here. Anyway, the conveyor was there at that point in time, and very shortly after we moved up was the yard on the SCPP side abandoned and pulled up. I started driving around 1990, and remember going over that crossing on M-29 only a few times. Actually got stopped by at train ONCE! The crossing was removed around 1990-1991. The tracks remained in place in certain places on the east side for about 15 years after. The newly painted fence is a project they are doing around both plants and the flyash fields over on King Road. They were looking pretty shabby!

Those same two switchers have been doing duty at the Dump House since before I moved there in '86! There was talk about selling them and replacing them with something more modern (and less maintenance-intensive) as these old birds. I'm glad they're still around, but I'm sure they're on borrowed time as parts start getting scarcer.

I once had a job where it took me into the plants. There were more tracks on the south and west sides of the SCPP, but I couldn't figure out how they were situated. Too much redevelopment (and me not wanting to have security chase me out!) covered up a lot of the old ROW.

Another interesting tidbit is that the old Rapid Railway interurban also travelled down tracks that followed the original alignment of M-29 near Chamberlain Drive and Pointe Drive. I could go on about that, but that's another story for another day...

[KenB]

Amtrakguy: Track that crossed M-29 was never used for coal delivery. When plant built all coal came by boat. Rail was used to bring in parts of the plant (turbines, generators, transformers, steel), acid, caustic soda chlorine). Only rail equipment was a locomotive crane and ash car used for cleaning out ash settling pond and that is loong gone.
Track was removed several years ago and recently had to move a big transformer so it was trucked from St. Clair to River Rouge. Better service anywhey.
You can photograph anything you want from public property except prisions. DECo security can not take your camera. Give me a reference where is says you can not photograph power plants or anything else for that matter. People use "911" for any excuse to push people around.