RailRoadFan.com

What's up with the (GTW?) track being removed south of Van Horn Road? They added a switch south of Woodruff Rd. to merge the line in with the one next to it and took out the crossing there, Gibraltar Rd. and Vreeland Rd. Not sure how far north they're planning on going.

From your description and without knowing any details it sounds like they may be single-tracking that part of the Shoreline Sub. That would be my only guess.

I'm not trying to hijack this thread, but I decided to look up the tracks in question on Google maps and noticed something interesting.

I'm not sure which tracks are which in the Gibraltar area, but I noticed something sad (from a railroad perspective) on Google Maps. A copy that appears to go by the name HyCal Corp, looks like it has given up on rail service to their property. I don't know when this happened, but the property looks like it was at one time a big customer for the local railroads.

From the double tracked line to the west there is a eastbound spur that headed to the south end of the property then split into two tracks. One track looks long since removed, but the other appears to go up past the retention ponds and up to the pavement near the building. The north end of the property also has what appeared to be a spur that spilt. This appears to cross the double tracked mainline at grade (Shoreline sub), but has since been removed with only ties left on the east side of the mainline, but a ROW path where it connected to the adjacent mainline.

Also, going farther north I am wondering what the largely now removed industrial complex is to the east of Jefferson Ave. This complex is just south of the DTE plan and the spur to this property (which has tank cars on it), comes off the mainline near the 4 track yard near Toledo St.

The HyCal Corp site was once upon a time part of McLouth Steel it was one of 3 sites - The first plant was in Detroit, Michigan, the second (and significantly larger) in Trenton, Michigan, and the third, a cold mill, in Gibraltar, Michigan.

The Gibraltar cold mill is owned by Ferrolux : http://ferrolux.com/

HyCal Corp
Ferrous Metal Processing
FerrouSouth
Ferragon
Ferrolux
Ferrous Metal Transfer
Ferrous 85″ Co.
Autolum
FMP Met Lab



the complex / property with the 4 track yard near Toledo St is owned by Solutia Inc IIRC tracks used for tank car storage.

https://www.eastman.com/Pages/Solutia.aspx

Chip wrote:What's up with the (GTW?) track being removed south of Van Horn Road? They added a switch south of Woodruff Rd. to merge the line in with the one next to it and took out the crossing there, Gibraltar Rd. and Vreeland Rd. Not sure how far north they're planning on going.

Little more information needed. How far down from Van Horn are they taking up the track and is it the east (track #1) or west track (track #2) on the Shore Line? Are you saying they are taking out a full section of the double track between Van Horn and Woodruff?

Just a historical FYI, the lines in the area were, west to east:

1. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, later New York Central.

Then a little over 2000 feet away,

2. Michigan Central/New York Central.

Then on an adjacent but separate right of way,

3. Detroit & Toledo Shore Line.

They added a switch south of Woodruff Rd. to merge the line in with the one next to it and took out the crossing there, Gibraltar Rd. and Vreeland Rd. Not sure how far north they're planning on going.

That is now North Chapman near Woodruff Road. South Chapman is near Dixie Highway in Berlin Twp.

This new track configuration was part of the signal system upgrades on the Shoreline Subdivision.

Again, which trackage was removed, track #1 (east track) or track #2 (west track)? So, we're saying miles of track were removed/is being removed between Van Horn and Woodruff? That's a lot of track.

It's the industrial track. Being removed to avoid PTC charges.

It’s the easternmost track (closest to W. Jefferson). So far the only crossings removed are Woodruff Rd, Gibraltar Rd, and Vreeland road. I’m not sure how far towards Van Horn they are planning on taking the tracks up, or if they’re going to put in another switch like they did just south of Woodruff.

They did add a switch just north of Vreeland Rd.

Just trying to get this straight.

I'm going from south to north starting at Huron River Drive. The eastern most track is the track we are talking about (Industrial Track).

From Huron River drive north, there is a potential customer (Google Maps lists it as R.J. Marshall Co), with a spur off the Industrial Track. Moving farther north, we have what appears to be a small yard on a siding going south off the main. There is 1-2 customers (covered hoppers at the open pit area, and 1 gondola on the end of one of the "yard" tracks). Moving north on the Industrial Track, we reach Woodruff Rd.

Am I correct in the assumption that a switch from the western track has been put in south of Woodruff RD to access the Industrial Track and said industries?

Moving north, from the supposed switch the line is being removed and crossings torn out at Woodruff Rd, going north including the southern access to the HyCal Property, Vreeland Rd. There shows a crossover switch just south of Toledo street for trains going NB to access the industrial track and the yard.

It is too difficult to tell if the tracks from the north end of the yard to the industrial track are still in place. First glance says they might be disconnected, but upon closer inspection, they may still in be in place. It then crosses Van Horn before reaching it's next customer, Mans Lumber and Millwork Trenton.

Continuing north you run into the mass of crossovers then the access tracks to the Old McLouth steel complex. Ironically, the majority of the tracks inside the complex appear to still be in place, although very covered up. I followed one track from the south entrance near Jefferson and King, all the way through the plant to the very north end of the plant property. It appears the tracks are removed near the very north property entrance off Jefferson, then across Jefferson. The tracks are still in north of Jefferson and serve Jones Chemical off Payne.

The yard tracks within the steel complex appear to have been pulled, but the structural get around tracks are still largely in place.

There is also still and end cap switcher on the tracks near Jefferson Ave.

You have it mostly correct

The industrial track is disconnected at Vreeland Road and Woodruff Road. I’m assuming the section between there will be removed, it just hasn’t been done yet. The switch at Vreeland only went in this week.

As far as McLouth steel is concerned, currently the only access into the site by rail is from the south over the bridge crossing W. Jefferson at King Rd. The northern crossing was taken out about 10-15 years ago. The 100 or so acres between that crossing and the old mill was bought by Marty Moroun and used as the Riverview Trenton Railroad. They never ended up doing anything with that but there is still a sign on the gate. As far as I know there has been no track removed from the McLouth site at all (except for about a 200 foot section at the northern crossing where RTRR now sits) and there is real concern over the true condition of the bridge and the track leading up to it as it has only been used very sparingly (2-3 times tops) for the last 25 years.

That end cap switcher has been on the site for a very long time. It was parked on the east side of the plant for years (you could see it from the river if you were passing by on a boat). It only just recently within the past few months (Wayne County foreclosed on the land and sold it to the Moroun family, it moved when it sold) moved to where it’s parked now.

Jones Chemical is accessed off the main line and that spur now dead ends at W. Jefferson Ave.

There's been a significant amount of track removed at McLouth Trenton, but there are still two-ish intact "runaround" tracks through the property. The switcher previously mentioned (the one visible from Sibley) is not the one once visible from the water, as that one is still out there. The tracks were removed up to that locomotive, landlocking it. The switcher visible from Sibley was kept in the engine house on the south end of the complex. Both switchers are old McLouth locos, repainted when DSC (Detroit Steel) took over.

I didn’t know there were still 2 locos on the property, I only ever knew of the one and I haven’t been on the river lately to see the one still sitting there

They wanted to move the engine out on its own wheels. But after a track inspector determined that the condition of the track was too bad that idea was nixed. The new owners will not invest into the track until its determined how the property will be used.

Being that it’s the Moroun family it will sit there and further deteriorate while ignoring pleas from literally everyone for them to do something with it