JAIL reefer traffic?

[LansingRailFan]

I never divulge secrets of the class threes but yes, they came from Mike H Inc. LLC for short-term storage for Simplot.

You might want to delete that post, don't want other short lines to know that car storage is a thing. They might try and steal the buisness.

I've never met this Typhoon fella but I like him he's got chutzpah.
LansingRailFan i've got news for you if you're in the know then it is a poorly guarded secret at best or it is not a secret at all.

Thanks for the compliment pal. I owe you a Blatz.

[CAT345C]

Years ago they used to do potatoes or something on the end of the DCON in Detroit. Imagine that.. the rat poison line hauling food stuff

[AARR]

I remember that transload operation. It was a steady operation for many years but stopped shortly after DCON too over. They would get several refrigerated boxcars every week and unload them directly into the trucks.

It still blows my mind that there is no one in Detroit getting produce by rail at this time that I know of.

Years ago they used to do potatoes or something on the end of the DCON in Detroit. Imagine that.. the rat poison line hauling food stuff

[CAT345C]

I think it ended right before I started working there in 2010. That was such a cool railroad we routinely worked 12s down there doing 2 switches a day for EQ, FPT Boomer and Vesco Oil.

[NS3322]

Imagine that.. the rat poison line hauling food stuff

Rat poison line?

[LansingRailFan]

Imagine that.. the rat poison line hauling food stuff

Rat poison line?

https://www.d-conproducts.com/

[Manistique]

Yes, DCON when it started in 1999 would get reefers full of either potatoes or onions for a customer in Eastern Market, one, sometime two cars a week. They used to spot them a the siding near Trombley Street (where the stock yard was, the building for the stockyard is still there and being used for something). A truck would pull up into the open area next to it and unload it. I think later they would leave the car on the mainline near Mack Avenue where an old neighborhood street on the east side ended at the tracks and the truck would back up to the tracks there and unload it there.

I hear this business stopped because the railroads supplying the reefers started charging a surcharge on them because people would break into them to steal the metal or wood or something lining the inside of the cars. DCON put switch locks on both doors to try to prevent this but it didn't stop it. The cost of shipping by rail with the surcharge was too much and the customer stopped shipping it. I think they were always white UP cars. I switched them once or twice at the stock yard siding.

DCON tried to get frozen food business (more reefer traffic) for the GTW Cold Storage Warehouse at Farnsworth Street, which was still in business at the time and had a two track siding going into it (originally DCON stored their locomotive inside of it on the siding), but that never happened for some reason.

[Erroneous Monk]

I hear this business stopped because the railroads supplying the reefers started charging a surcharge on them because people would break into them to steal the metal or wood or something lining the inside of the cars. DCON put switch locks on both doors to try to prevent this but it didn't stop it. The cost of shipping by rail with the surcharge was too much and the customer stopped shipping it. I think they were always white UP cars. I switched them once or twice at the stock yard siding.

Is this why other area reefer customers such as the Detroit Produce Terminal stopped rail shipments too?

[Manistique]

I hear this business stopped because the railroads supplying the reefers started charging a surcharge on them because people would break into them to steal the metal or wood or something lining the inside of the cars. DCON put switch locks on both doors to try to prevent this but it didn't stop it. The cost of shipping by rail with the surcharge was too much and the customer stopped shipping it. I think they were always white UP cars. I switched them once or twice at the stock yard siding.

Is this why other area reefer customers such as the Detroit Produce Terminal stopped rail shipments too?

Don't know. The reefers spotted on DCON were out in the middle of nowhere basically on public property unprotected at night. The ones at DPT probably had people around them them all the time and were deep in private property. Why DPT shut down is a mystery to me. The amount of cars it handled daily at one time was unbelievable. But we are way beyond the scope of this thread's topic now.

[Chip]

My dad grew up on Waterman near the produce terminal in the 60s. He tells stories of going down to the tracks with his friends and taking watermelons out of the cars and breaking them open on the tracks and eating them. It’s always been a problem.

[AARR]

Thank you for the additional information about the produce transload

[NS3322]

DCON tried to get frozen food business (more reefer traffic) for the GTW Cold Storage Warehouse at Farnsworth Street, which was still in business at the time and had a two track siding going into it (originally DCON stored their locomotive inside of it on the siding), but that never happened for some reason.

Interesting! I had no idea that the GTW Cold Storage Warehouse was open after DCON tookover. Looks like it closed in 2002?

How did that work in the later years? Did GTW sell that off way before the DCON takeover?

[NS3322]

I remember that transload operation. It was a steady operation for many years but stopped shortly after DCON too over. They would get several refrigerated boxcars every week and unload them directly into the trucks.

Pictures of the sketchy transload are now in the Michigan Railfans group on Facebook. Hopefully they get shared here!

[David Collins]

I remember that transload operation. It was a steady operation for many years but stopped shortly after DCON too over. They would get several refrigerated boxcars every week and unload them directly into the trucks.

Pictures of the sketchy transload are now in the Michigan Railfans group on Facebook. Hopefully they get shared here!

Ask and you shall recieve:

[AARR]

Thank you David. This brings back fond memories. GTW had at least one other produce transload operation on the DCON line and still another one over by 8 Mile Rd. on the Mt. Clemens Sub.

Ask and you shall recieve:

[NS3322]

I remember that transload operation. It was a steady operation for many years but stopped shortly after DCON too over. They would get several refrigerated boxcars every week and unload them directly into the trucks.

Pictures of the sketchy transload are now in the Michigan Railfans group on Facebook. Hopefully they get shared here!

Ask and you shall recieve:

I thought the OP on Facebook was a member here. Either way, hopefully he has more!