AARRT&HA Annual Meeting - GLC's Chris Bagwell

[AARR]

Chris Bagwell was the guest speaker at AARRT&HA's annual meeting yesterday. I'll try to list some of the things he said about GLC but if anyone else was there and can add or correct feel free to do so:
- Mike Bagwell (Chris's father) retired August 1 but remains on the board. Chris took over.
- Sand traffic is down because Wexford Sand needs to get certification for it's frac sand. Casting sand amounts to 42 cars through the first three weeks of September. Once Wexford is certified there are four customers (2 in PA and 2 in TX) who Wexford will ship frac sand too. Casting sand customers include plant in Mexico (Though Chris didn't say I think they also ship to plants in VA and IN).
- I get the impression sand to Ford in Cleveland is done for good.
- 5 new customers north of Clare: 2 in McBain (saw mill ships outbound lumber and utility plant receives used ties currently transloaded from Cadillac but expects a spur built to their plant), Crystal ??? by transload (tank cars), MAC using transload shed in Cadillac (north end of North Yard) will ship corn in GLC's excess unused "sand cars" to their plant in Middleton for processing and reloading into unit trains, and butane is shipped from the gas plant south of Kalkaska.
- Potential MDOT service from Howell to Ann Arbor remains possibility
- GLC cars shops business is up significantly
- GLC may enter car building business (freight and passenger)
- Run through power with AA to Toledo is a possibility. Old AA management was not open to this but Watco's new management is.
- GLC is negotiating a contract to receive 2000 carloads of transmission pipe. GLC is offering Cohoctah but the pipe company wants something further north (Owosso is a possibility).
- Business is way up on GLC and Chris feels they need additional capacity to handle more business
- Grain business is up. Frutchey Bean (Oakley), MAC (Middleton) and Brown Milling (Shepherd and Rosebush) are the big three grain shippers.
- Grain customers want to ship in 90 car blocks rather than 65. This is causing logistics issues on GLC (a good problem to have per Chris).
- GLC is negotiating with CSX to use the long passing siding at AnnPere to interchange cars rather than the short interchange track.
- Original GP35's 385, 389-394 remain in service.
- Potential new customer in Traverse City is Sara Lee. Sara Lee liked the bid prices so its a matter of working with Class 1's to develop a traffic lane that gets the product to the customer in time (Sara Lee uses JIT method of inbound raw materials).

[SW]

Great report, AARR!

Just curious, what is meant by "additional capacity"? More sidings? More power? More rolling stock?

- Business is way up on GLC and Chris feels they need additional capacity to handle more business

[penn central]

Wow thanks Don for the info. I was in McBain on Friday and there was a grain hopper spotted in the small grain elevator there.
Edit. I was inside the Sara-Lee plant two weeks ago and spoke with the shipping and receiving clerks. It is now owned by Hillshire Farms he told me that the new management is more open minded to other modes of transportation. If it results in rail service returning to the plant he wasn't sure.

[AARR]

Great report, AARR!

Just curious, what is meant by "additional capacity"? More sidings? More power? More rolling stock?

- Business is way up on GLC and Chris feels they need additional capacity to handle more business

It wasn't clarified but I think they need more track space. The yards and sidings where business is growing are either full or arranged inefficiently (like Cadillac yards for example) requiring runaround moves or multiple switching moves (like what I observed in Clare recently).

[AARR]

Wow thanks Don for the info. I was in McBain on Friday and there was a grain hopper spotted in the small grain elevator there.

I think Falmouth Coop gets some fertilizer at this location.

[AARR]

- GLC recently hired a new Business Development Director (from LSRC) which led to the five new customers north of Clare.
- CN is the most expensive of the interchange partners (edit: Chris may have been referring to grain traffic)
- Toledo remains the optimum interchange point for grain traffic. The distribution of billings favors GLC and AA rather than CSX. Plus, it's easier to transfer the unit trains through Toledo vs. AnnPere.

[CAT345C]

CN might be the most expensive on grain but they move at a faster rate and can tap into a better grain market down south than CSX can... Extra costs pay off sometimes.

[CSX_CO]

CN might be the most expensive on grain but they move at a faster rate and can tap into a better grain market down south than CSX can... Extra costs pay off sometimes.

As long as the train is there by the stated time, speed doesn't matter. Livestock still has to eat, but if the train is there before they're ready, it sits. Ditto for export boats, if the boat isn't in the loading slip, doesn't do anyone any good for the train to be sitting at the dock taking up space. Of course, if the boat is in the loading slip, and the train isn't there, then you have some explaining to do. Coal trains are the same way. As long as the cars are loaded at the specified time, and spotted when the customer wants them, it doesn't matter how 'fast' it gets there.

CN might be more expensive because they have to move it through Chicago to get "down south". I've seen a lot of grain from Grand Ledge on CSX go via Toledo to head south to chicken farms and/or export. I don't remember the exact moves, but we had some 'hot' grain moves through Indy that were headed to New Orleans for export. So, at least CSX has routing options for the moves.

Practice safe CSX

[CSX_CO]

- GLC recently hired a new Business Development Director (from LSRC) which led to the five new customers north of Clare.

It is interesting how the shortlines/regionals around here really hire from 'within'. INRD has a couple people from the LSRC working for them. On the flip side, a couple former INRD managers are now working for LSRC. Other managers coming from other shortlines that end up filling different positions. Interesting how 'tight knit' the smaller railroad groups are, it is tough for an 'outsider' to break into those positions.

Practice Safe CSX

[AARR]

As long as the train is there by the stated time, speed doesn't matter...

CN might be more expensive because they have to move it through Chicago to get "down south"...

CSX's comments remind me of a couple more things Chris said:
- AA and GLC meet at Osmer (on the night turn) rather than leave cars so that they do not clog the interchange tracks.
- Most grain from GLC goes south on CSX because the customers have spurs on CSX. So if the cars are given to CN its just adding another railroad to divide the profits with (IIRC Mike H told me this).

[CSX_CO]

- Most grain from GLC goes south on CSX because the customers have spurs on CSX. So if the cars are given to CN its just adding another railroad to divide the profits with (IIRC Mike H told me this).

I've heard this is the SOP ADM uses with their plants. If the origin plant is on a couple railroads, and the end customer is on one specific one, they just give the car to the destination carrier from the start to avoid trying to hassle with extra interchanges and switching. So, with ADM in Decatur, IL is served by CSX, NS, and CN. Even though the NS line is the KC to Detroit former Wabash, and the CSX is a 25 to 40 mph branch line (which ends at Decatur), if the car is bound for a customer on CSX in New York, it is given to CSX at the start, rather than giving it to NS to interchange at Toledo...or Cleveland...or wherever. Must less hassle and haggling if you just use the one railroad for the whole trip. I would imagine a lot of the larger shippers use that MO when it comes to running their cars, and blessed with service from multiple railroads.

Practice Safe CSX

[iKJames]

- Original GP35's 385, 389-394 remain in service.

Does this mean GLC 389 is officially back in service?

[AARR]

- Original GP35's 385, 389-394 remain in service.

Does this mean GLC 389 is officially back in service?

When someone asked Chris which of the original GP35's were still being used 389 was one of the ones he said. But I don't know if it's working or stored serviceable.

[railroader and son]

I go by the Owosso shop's just about everyday, look's like it's been sitting in the same spot for a while now..

[TrainWatcher]

- Run through power with AA to Toledo is a possibility. Old AA management was not open to this but Watco's new management is.

This is a rather interesting development. Has this been spurred thru the recent added stakes in GLC by WATCO? Also, what about the relationship with MMRR at Alma?

- Potential new customer in Traverse City is Sara Lee. Sara Lee liked the bid prices so its a matter of working with Class 1's to develop a traffic lane that gets the product to the customer in time (Sara Lee uses JIT method of inbound raw materials).

Good to hear about new traffic possibly coming back to TC. They need the traffic up there on the north end.

[iKJames]

- Run through power with AA to Toledo is a possibility. Old AA management was not open to this but Watco's new management is.

This is a rather interesting development. Has this been spurred thru the recent added stakes in GLC by WATCO? Also, what about the relationship with MMRR at Alma?

Not really, it's something much bigger that's in the works.

[AARR]

Chris said they are looking at establishing an intermodal facility in northern Michigan. They believe they can develop a site with a couple tracks and a container loader then run a dedicated train.

[Ypsi]

A train from where to where? Would be neat if they started it in Toledo with GLC run through on the AA.. Especially if it ran a consistent schedule.

[TrainWatcher]

Northern Michigan intermodal? Now that'd be awesome to see. GP35's back on the point of even a 20 car TOFC set. But, I am going to wonder when they'll start looking into 6 axle power... It's only a matter of time from the way it sounds. My guess would be loading for forwarding to the NS to Chicago (IIRC a few NS trains do intermodal pick-ups at Airline Yard already). CSX would be cumbersome to have to forward to NS at Airline, then the Airline-Stanley local, then south to North Baltimore on CSX. I also do not see a feasibility of CN doing an intermodal pickup at Durand, although it's possible.

[BerkshireKid]

Notes on the GP35's...
389 is NOT in service. Still sidelined with issues.
391 is "useable" but has issues that have to be addressed to be fully back in reliable service.