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We've all seen the downgrading and cut backs of our beloved DTI se michigan in recent years like....sidings torn up, shortened, Diann Jct downgraded along with the demo of the tower and other things.And for awhile we all thought that Flat Rock Yard itself was not long for this world, at least in its past form. Is CN attempting to make lemonade out of lemons by attracting customers to Flat Rock with a new transload? What do they see in the yard?

https://www.cn.ca/en/news/2024/05/cn-un ... -flat-rock

Freaking great, more wear and tear on local roads that are already falling apart

If it means more trains then it will be worth it

Seriously, CN Flat Rock is way underutilized it makes sense that they try to build up business there

Chip wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 2:42 pm

Freaking great, more wear and tear on local roads that are already falling apart

AARR wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 3:45 pm

If it means more trains then it will be worth it

Seriously, CN Flat Rock is way underutilized it makes sense that they try to build up business there

Chip wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 2:42 pm

Freaking great, more wear and tear on local roads that are already falling apart

Try driving on them sometime. I’m pretty sure there’s better roads in war torn areas

Chip wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 4:53 pm

AARR wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 3:45 pm

If it means more trains then it will be worth it

Seriously, CN Flat Rock is way underutilized it makes sense that they try to build up business there

Chip wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 2:42 pm

Freaking great, more wear and tear on local roads that are already falling apart

Try driving on them sometime. I’m pretty sure there’s better roads in war torn areas

Dude stop crying and move to Somalia already.

What you should be crying about is that since NS doesn’t have TOFC ramp in Detroit, the daily TripleCrown train will run via truck from Toledo to Wayne on your brand new I-75.

LansingRailFan wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 6:11 pm

Chip wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 4:53 pm

AARR wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2024 3:45 pm

If it means more trains then it will be worth it

Seriously, CN Flat Rock is way underutilized it makes sense that they try to build up business there

Try driving on them sometime. I’m pretty sure there’s better roads in war torn areas

Dude stop crying and move to Somalia already.

What you should be crying about is that since NS doesn’t have TOFC ramp in Detroit, the daily TripleCrown train will run via truck from Toledo to Wayne on your brand new I-75.

I’m not going to stop “crying” about 2 roads I drive on literally every day, nor do I have a right to complain about a road I travel on maybe once every 3 months.

That yard needs some rebirth and would love to see it happen. So what if people get caught by the trains working the yard in wood heaven. I just laugh at it. They are doing a job unlike most of the motorists. Rather turn my car off than fight people who don't know how to navigate through construction or see accidents. Plus if you don't like it. Move somewhere. Plenty of places to go live in Michigan where there's zero trains a day.

Is aviation fuel still transloaded at Flat Rock?

Does Buckeye Terminal on the Dearborn Sub still get rail service?

Satellite views shows the vehicle transloading ramps in the Flat Rock area with little activity yet the daily Flat Rock trains have a lot of loaded Bi and Tri levels. Ford Dearborn Assembly must account for many of the Bi’s but where are the other vehicle racks getting loaded?

AARR wrote: ↑

Fri May 31, 2024 8:56 am

Satellite views shows the vehicle transloading ramps in the Flat Rock area with little activity yet the daily Flat Rock trains have a lot of loaded Bi and Tri levels. Ford Dearborn Assembly must account for many of the Bi’s but where are the other vehicle racks getting loaded?

Presumably at Flat Rock Assembly, home of the Mustang.

I would have thought so too but the satellite view showed only a few cars in the docks.

Steve B wrote: ↑

Fri May 31, 2024 2:07 pm

AARR wrote: ↑

Fri May 31, 2024 8:56 am

Satellite views shows the vehicle transloading ramps in the Flat Rock area with little activity yet the daily Flat Rock trains have a lot of loaded Bi and Tri levels. Ford Dearborn Assembly must account for many of the Bi’s but where are the other vehicle racks getting loaded?

Presumably at Flat Rock Assembly, home of the Mustang.

Steve B wrote: ↑

Fri May 31, 2024 2:07 pm

AARR wrote: ↑

Fri May 31, 2024 8:56 am

Satellite views shows the vehicle transloading ramps in the Flat Rock area with little activity yet the daily Flat Rock trains have a lot of loaded Bi and Tri levels. Ford Dearborn Assembly must account for many of the Bi’s but where are the other vehicle racks getting loaded?

Presumably at Flat Rock Assembly, home of the Mustang.

Eh, not as much as you would think. That plant doesn’t produce nearly the volume it once did. Most of what they ship out is F-150s convoyed down from Dearborn that the Dearborn ramps can’t handle. Those get shipped out from the north terminal, which is the bigger one of the two.

I’ve also seen plenty of Rangers and Broncos being unloaded from train cars and loaded onto trucks for the final leg of their trip to the dealer lot over the years, that seems to have picked up some volume in the last 2 months since we reached full production of the new Ranger.

Most of the autoracks that come inbound to Flat Rock are routed back up towards Dearborn. TTX also has a repair facility there visible to the east of I-75 which also used to be a loading terminal before the land was sold to Copart. That’s a fairly recent addition.

Here are some photos of the steel transload building for Target Steel at Flat Rock: Photos from David "Woody" Woodruff's LinkedIn (Assistant Vice President & Head of U.S. Public and Government Affairs for CN).

NS3322 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 27, 2024 8:03 pm

Here are some photos of the steel transload building for Target Steel at Flat Rock:
steeltransload1.JPG
steeltransload2.JPG
Photos from David "Woody" Woodruff's LinkedIn (Assistant Vice President & Head of U.S. Public and Government Affairs for CN).

Pretty wild that they used a pair of M-2’s to switch an industry.

David Collins wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 27, 2024 9:55 pm

NS3322 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 27, 2024 8:03 pm

Here are some photos of the steel transload building for Target Steel at Flat Rock:
steeltransload1.JPG
steeltransload2.JPG
Photos from David "Woody" Woodruff's LinkedIn (Assistant Vice President & Head of U.S. Public and Government Affairs for CN).

Pretty wild that they used a pair of M-2’s to switch an industry.

They use those to assemble trains on the south side of the yard quite frequently

Where in the yard property is this new building/transload operation?

GP30M4216 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 27, 2024 10:45 pm

Where in the yard property is this new building/transload operation?

South end of the yard, south of the Vreeland Rd. grade crossing. Hasn’t been much activity yet.

Chip wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 28, 2024 5:21 am

GP30M4216 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 27, 2024 10:45 pm

Where in the yard property is this new building/transload operation?

South end of the yard, south of the Vreeland Rd. grade crossing. Hasn’t been much activity yet.

Ahh, ok, thanks for this. I rarely get to this part of the state anymore but can picture exactly where this is. Did they construct a new spur or runaround to serve the facility? I like that it’s south of Vreeland Road….a chance for photos of the yard job when it has to go down and switch that way!

The irony is there are a pair of steel processing plants at the north end of the yard that had their spurs taken out recently. Neither received much service that I know of in the short time the spurs were there.

GP30M4216 wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 29, 2024 9:18 am

Chip wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 28, 2024 5:21 am

GP30M4216 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 27, 2024 10:45 pm

Where in the yard property is this new building/transload operation?

South end of the yard, south of the Vreeland Rd. grade crossing. Hasn’t been much activity yet.

Ahh, ok, thanks for this. I rarely get to this part of the state anymore but can picture exactly where this is. Did they construct a new spur or runaround to serve the facility? I like that it’s south of Vreeland Road….a chance for photos of the yard job when it has to go down and switch that way!

Brand new spur just on the east side.

AARR wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 29, 2024 10:07 am

The irony is there are a pair of steel processing plants at the north end of the yard that had their spurs taken out recently. Neither received much service that I know of in the short time the spurs were there.

There’s also Target steel literally right next door that sees a good amount of truck traffic.