Detroit area railyards

[Shorthaul]

What are the major rail yards in the detroit area? Does anybody have a map or the addresses for the yard offices or something? I only know where Oakwood and Rougemere yards are, what and where are the others?

[nssd70m-2]

Well ,on the michigan line there's wayne yard right were the NS crosses over the CSX saginaw sub. There is litle action there at the momment ,but in the fall when wayne assembly starts to built the hybrids there ,there should be a big traffic increase. The only other "yard" in the area i can think of is east yard wich is east of plymouth on the csx detroit sub.

[sd70accsxt700]

To hard to list them all. Two good options. Go to something like live maps and just pick a line and follow it. Or the best bet is to purchase a Steam Powered Video map of the Great lakes east. Well worth the $30

[AARR]

NS in Melvindale
CN in Flat Rock
There's more...

[odave]

The two I'm most familiar with are CN's Pontiac Yard, found NW of downtown Pontiac along Business-US24 (aka Cesar E Chavez Ave.) and Conrail's Sterling Yard, found in Sterling Heights between 16 & 17 mile and Mound & Van Dyke.

Not a whole lot going on in either place right now, but you could get lucky.

[AARR]

At both CN's Pontiac yard and CR's Sterling yard you're more likely to find nothing moving.

CSX's yard near Rougemere Steel (or whatever it's called these cays) is naother place you can watch flat yard switching.

[azimmer]

For the best -- and I mean best -- overview of rail operations in Detroit and the surrounding area, check out the following web site:

http://www.knorek.com/RR/SAA/SAAIndex.htm

This site has not been updated since about 2002 (sadly, the author has left Michigan for greener pastures) but aside from some small changes the information is still perhaps the most complete and comprehensive that is available anywhere. Everything that you'll ever need to know about the Detroit region is to be found within these pages.

Happy reading.

AZ

[Norm]

Wouldn't ya know that Jeff, and presumably his friend Jerry are still around after ten years or so.

[odave]

At both CN's Pontiac yard and CR's Sterling yard you're more likely to find nothing moving

I haven't been to Sterling in a while, but Pontiac still has a pulse. I saw a rail train the other day, the car shop is active, TTX & Red Lava get switched occasionally, and the stored cars in the yard get shuffled every now and then. Several fallen flag cars can be seen, too.

But I agree that it wouldn't be worth a trip out of your way

[AARR]

But I agree that it wouldn't be worth a trip out of your way

odave, I think you and I are both old enough to remember when we could go to GTW's Pontiac, Flint, or Port Huron yards during the day and see not one, but two crews switching the yards...usually one at each end but sometimes two at one end and one at the other. Then there would be one to three crews handling local customer switching. Things sure have changed...

[hoborich]

I worked at the old GTW Johnson Ave yard back in the late 60s. And you are right. It was a busy place. Crews switching both ends of the yard, on all shifts. Drags to and from Pontiac motors, on days and afternoons. Yellowcab drags. Jackson local out and back Mon thru Friday. Gagetown local couple days a week. Oxford gravel train. Three commuters down to Detroit in the morning, and back in the afternoon. Several hot road trains. 429 out of Ferndale every evening, with only hot loads. Picked up all our westbound autos and trucks around 8:00 every night. And they better be blocked and ready!
The old yard office is gone now. They must have torn it down years ago.