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It's not much, and this is more for sharing and archival purposes. Last night for the first time in a just under a year a freight car rolled over the Michigan line from Ypsi to Jackson. NS B18 was dispatched to take a single coil car west to Jackson for some reason, and after meeting 352 at CP Ypsi they raced west at mile 30. This video is not great but it documents what is technically a rare move now. It is also more for just records purposes than anything else.

Thanks for catching this infrequent event. My "guess" is this might be a Worthington Steel car. Worthington has three locations with Canton getting most of the business. Allen Park and Jackson get a few cars once or twice a month. NS services Canton and Jackson (CN switches Allen Park). So my "guess" is this is a hot car being transferred between Worthington's Canton and Jackson plants. Again, this is just "guess ".

Strange that a hot car did not go by truck and went by rail... As an aside most trucks going into Worthington say ALCO on the side. I have always wondered if the owners of ALCO American Freight Lines know the significance of their name choice.

Good point Sousa. Canton is used by Worthington as a distribution center for Allen Park and Jackson because NS gives them a better rate to deliver there. From Canton Worthington trucks to the other two places.

Like I said I'm "guessing" in my above post and don't have inside information.

Also, there are 5 tracks full of the 5-pack piggy-back cars in Willow Run yard....guessin' for storage

Buster Manning wrote:Also, there are 5 tracks full of the 5-pack piggy-back cars in Willow Run yard....guessing' for storage

Yes for storage. This may have been a qualifying run over the territory. A light engine is restricted to 30 mph. But if you grab a single car you can operate at track speed. Just a guess.

There was a post yesterday that this was a trial (not the correct word) run and adding a railcar allows them to operate at posted speed vs. a engine hop is limited to 30mph. In any case that makes more sense than my "guess" about a hot car going from Canton to Jackson .

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Like this. CSX did the same when training their crews on the territory .

M.D.Bentley wrote:

Buster Manning wrote:Also, there are 5 tracks full of the 5-pack piggy-back cars in Willow Run yard....guessing' for storage

Yes for storage. This may have been a qualifying run over the territory. A light engine is restricted to 30 mph. But if you grab a single car you can operate at track speed. Just a guess.

So....does this mean there will be regular freight through Ann Arbor again?

[/quote]Yes for storage. This may have been a qualifying run over the territory. A light engine is restricted to 30 mph. But if you grab a single car you can operate at track speed. Just a guess.[/quote]
What does adding a single car do? Ken

Racer wrote: So....does this mean there will be regular freight through Ann Arbor again?

No, not even close. I don't know what was said to lead you to that conclusion, but that will not be the case. This is the first time a freight car has gone between CP Ypsi and CP Lake since 38 and 39E stopped running west of Wayne last April (or at least was documented). I would not even bet on it being a qualifying run, because they have run light engine when they need to move power to Jackson multiple times. As stated above my best guess is misrouted 'hot' car.

h2466 wrote:

Yes for storage. This may have been a qualifying run over the territory. A light engine is restricted to 30 mph. But if you grab a single car you can operate at track speed. Just a guess.[/quote]
What does adding a single car do? Ken[/quote]
The rule states that " a single locomotive is restricted to 30 mph. multiple locomotives, max authorized / track speed. Has to do with braking. More wheels = more braking. Shorter trains take more ( time, distance, effort ) to stop. Also have encountered a light engine movement through an interlocking not shunting, and having to report clear of the interlocking to the dispatcher. But I don't think that is the case here.