RailRoadFan.com

I drove across the Saline Branch on Friday afternoon. It appears some of the tank cars are being removed from the branch after a year or two of storage. The cars that were between the diamond and State St now appear to have been moved to the wye between the branch and the main. Also, the cars appear to be further away from the crossing on State St west of the road.

Still were cars in Saline.

Is the plant in Saline planning to resume service. I also have witnessed a bunch of 86 NS boxcars in Milan, which was where those used to be stored and interchanged between the AA and NS.

Current Faurcia production goes to Dearborn IIRC so there won't be rail shipments there.

The engine plant in Dundee ships in NS 86' box cars so maybe that's what the ones in Milan are for. AA and NS shifted their interchange point to Milan a year or two ago because of congestion in Toledo.

chapmaja wrote:Is the plant in Saline planning to resume service. I also have witnessed a bunch of 86 NS boxcars in Milan, which was where those used to be stored and interchanged between the AA and NS.

Heard a radio ad for Faurcia today about hiring 250 employees for Saline, so they ARE getting more business...

I had a little bit of time last night to look into the Saline Branch.

The tracks in and around Pittsfield Junction were void of cars. There were pallets of something next to the Payeur Rd crossing. It looked like ties on the south side of the crossing. Possible track work in the area.

No cars between State St and the Diamond. Cars still appeared to be in place from west of State St to Industrial Dr in Saline. Some cars still on the two tracks near the plant.

Overall it appears there has been a reduction in the car counts, but still a significant number of cars present on the branch.

I was fortunate enough to see this event occur on Friday.

The Ann Arbor ran a line of tank cars up from Milan to Pittsfield and shoved the tank cars down the Saline Branch. Mostly white TILX tanks were in this mix. According to the scanner chatter I was picking up, they stopped around Industrial Ave. I don't know what happened next because time was not on my side and I had to leave.

And yes, those are ties at the Payeur Road Crossing.

AARR wrote:Current Faurcia production goes to Dearborn IIRC so there won't be rail shipments there.

The engine plant in Dundee ships in NS 86' box cars so maybe that's what the ones in Milan are for. AA and NS shifted their interchange point to Milan a year or two ago because of congestion in Toledo.

chapmaja wrote:Is the plant in Saline planning to resume service. I also have witnessed a bunch of 86 NS boxcars in Milan, which was where those used to be stored and interchanged between the AA and NS.

FWIW I'm pretty sure Dundee has been shipping via 60' boxcars. Every so often when there aren't tank cars on the spur for interchange there will be a few 60' boxcars on the lead into the plant. The old Ford plant in Milan has been getting the 86' boxcars for something - I heard hearsay about storage into and out of the plant but I am unsure.