New Business for the Lake State

[LSRC]

On Tuesday, December 21st the Lake State completed a trial run for their new business in Alpena. The Lake State loaded three MDW 60' boxcars from the North side of the Alpena roundhouse with paneling (?) from the DPI plant in Alpena. As you can see, the Lake State moved the old 975 to the former jacking pad.



A little history: the Lake State's servedh DPI up until the early 2000s. The DPI plant is located at the mouth of the Thunder Bay River in Alpena. The Lake State used to run down the middle of Fletcher Street to serve the South end of the plant. According to the D&M retirees group, the Lake State lost this traffic due to disagreements about when the railroad would switch the plant. DPI then went over to trucks. Sometime afterwards, the new owner of the abandoned Fletcher Paper Co. had the FRA come in and shut down the branch that served Fletcher Paper and DPI. The Lake State thought that it would be better to close the line than to complete the required maintenance. The final street running section was removed shortly afterwards when the City of Alpena renovated Fletcher St. in their efforts to clean up downtown. There was talk sometime afterwards of building a line using old grades to reach the North side of the plant, but they never materialized.

This goes to show with effective and committed management can do. If new President John Rickoff is able to drum up new business in this amount of time, I can't wait to see what else he and his team can do.

[penn central]

That is really good news LSRC, It's good to see that John Rickoff is aggressive at getting new business i wonder if that new Fly ash trans load in Essixville is because of Mr Rickoff, So that's two new customers that have come online in the past several months.

[AARR]

Is DPI the hardboard plant once operated by Louisianna-Pacific / Albetibi Price among others? If yes then this place also used to get tank cars of oil and resin too. And they're scheduled to produce wood-based ethanol.

Again, if it's the same place, in good times they produced 400 tons per day of hard board. I'm sure it's down now. But with that kind of volume they're a potential decent customer.

And speaking of potential good cutomers, I wonder why the wallboard plant in National City doesn't ship anything by rail

[MIGN-Todd]

Drywall is tricky to ship. It gets damaged so easily. Plus, with all the different lengths you can only fit the eight footers in box cars effectively

[AARR]

Drywall is tricky to ship. It gets damaged so easily. Plus, with all the different lengths you can only fit the eight footers in box cars effectively

I've heard this before and coming from you Todd validates it.

The reason I bring it up is a lot of drywall is shipped on center beams. So despite the challenges of shipping it by rail it must be doable.

My thought is maybe the stuff made in National City is shipped local within a 300 mile radius.

[LSRC]

Is DPI the hardboard plant once operated by Louisianna-Pacific / Albetibi Price among others?

Yes. I just couldn't spell Abitibi...and still can't. I can pronounce it (Ah-bih-tib-bee), but I've never been able to spell it. That plant changes hands so many times that I don't know when the various people owned it.

[Hugh]

Hardboard is not the same building material as Dry wall. Hard board is like Masonite. I have worked in that plant when it was Abitibi and ABTCO as a vendor working on their substations.

[SW]

Great news. Where do the DPI products typically ship to?

[AARR]

Great news. Where do the DPI products typically ship to?

Back when Louisianna Pacific operated the plant a significant amount went to the Toledo area. I'm sure they're were other destinations too. With DPI running the plant I'm not so sure where product goes to.

[A No.1]

What's this I hear about an LSRC engine that was spotted heading north on the CN.

[Borderguy190]

I have a question about this new traffic. Does DPI truck the product to the roundhouse, and then it is loaded into the boxcars? If so, how is it loaded into the cars? Is there a ramp for a fork truck to drive in, or is it loaded via fork, and then single stacked inside with a hand truck?

[AARR]

I have a question about this new traffic. Does DPI truck the product to the roundhouse, and then it is loaded into the boxcars?

Yes, DPI trucks to roundhouse then LSRC loads into box cars. Can't help you with the rest of your questions.

[Borderguy190]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am in the preliminary planning stages of an HO pike based on the LSRR in Bay City. I am looking to see if there is enough traffic to make operations viable and fun on a 14x24 (possibly two-decked) model railroad. Info like this is great, as the more industries rail-served, the more fun I can have someday.

[AARR]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am in the preliminary planning stages of an HO pike based on the LSRR in Bay City. I am looking to see if there is enough traffic to make operations viable and fun on a 14x24 (possibly two-decked) model railroad. Info like this is great, as the more industries rail-served, the more fun I can have someday.

I have a relatively accurate customer list of LSRC at home. I'll post it later. I'd say you could model LSRC fairly accurately in the space you've designated for your layout although I'd add a few customers here and there to make operations more interesting.

[Borderguy190]

Wow! I would really appreciate that. That would be a huge help in getting a track plan made, which would light a fire about getting benchwork up. Thank you!

[LSRC]

The hardboard is trucked the mile over to the yard, and then loaded through the doors on the roundhouse


As far as Bay City, I can't think of any businesses that the Lake State serves besides the lumber company that's across from North Bay City Yard. I don't think they serve S. C. Johnson or whatever then chemical plant is anymore. Other than that, you have the SBS Z126 interchange, interchange with the HESR, Specification Stone in Kawkawlin, and cars from the Mackinac Sub when the 326 doesn't work it. Other than that, I think everything else is over on the other side of the river, but I might be wrong.

[AARR]

I do not have access to official records. This entire list is the result of years of observation and the generous contributions of other railfans (like KC & LSRC Railfan). It's not 100% accurate but is probably in the ball park. Updates / corrections is always appreciated.

Bay City – Straits Wood Treating:
• inbound (wood fence poles)
• outbound (treated wood poles) ???
Bay City – S.C. Johnson’s: inbound (plastic/resin)
Kawkawlin – Specification Stone: inbound (limestone)
Standish: Standish Milling: inbound (sunflower seed)
4 Mile – Lake City Redi Mix: inbound (gravel & sand)
4 Mile – Weyerhaeuser:
• inbound (liquid epoxy resin) from G-P next door
• outbound (oriented strand board)
4 Mile – Georgia-Pacific Resin:
• inbound (methanol)
• inbound (phenol)
• inbound (urea)
• outbound (urea formaldehyde, resins & wood adhesives)
Grayling – Camp Grayling:
• inbound (military vehicles)
• outbound (military vehicles)
Frederick – AJD Forest Products: outbound (wood poles)
Gaylord – Team:
• Magnum Solvents: inbound (methanol) may have switched to GLC / Kalkaska
• Northwest Energy: inbound (oil)
Gaylord – Halliburton: inbound (drilling sand) may have switched to MQT Flat Rock Bagging in Sparta
Gaylord – Superior Well Services: inbound (drilling sand)
Gaylord – A & L Iron & Metal: outbound (scrap metal)

Turner – Turner Bean and Grain: inbound (dry fertilizer) ???
Turtle: Michigan Gypsum: outbound (gypsum) to Lafarge Alpena
Kunze – AJD Forest Products: outbound (wood poles)
Oscoda – E. A. Wood: inbound (cement) ???
Alpena – Team:
• inbound (ammonium nitrate) for Dyno Nobel Midwest in Calcite
• inbound (austinite) for Austin Powders in Hawk
• inbound (caustic soda, linseed oil, & tempering oil) for DPI
• inbound (dry fertilizer)
• outbound (hardwood) from DPI

Alpena – Specification Stone Products: outbound (limestone) for Kawkawlin & Flint
Alpena – Lafarge:
• inbound (fly ash)
• inbound (gypsum)
• outbound (cement) for Saginaw (2 locations), Wixom, and others

If it were me modeling I'd:
- Establish ag-related industry such as elevator or maybe biodiesel plant
- Reopen plywood plant in Gaylord (same in and outbound as Weyerhaeuser in Grayling)
- Establish wood pellet plant in Oscoda where AFB used to operate
- Establish transload site (Alpena) for scrap paper bale unloading and tissue paper rolls from mill in Cheboygan
- Convert drywall plant in National City to rail service
Just a few of my suggestions

[LSRC]

Alpena – Team:
• inbound (ammonium nitrate) for Dyno Nobel Midwest in Calcite
• inbound (austinite) for Austin Powders in Hawk
• inbound (caustic soda, linseed oil, & tempering oil) for DPI
• inbound (dry fertilizer)

Calcite and Hawks were on the Roger City branch, and the Lake State no longer does business with these two.

They stopped bringing in the oil for DPI a while back. Not sure why. I haven't seen them spot a car for them since early 2009.

The Lake State stopped spotting the inbound fertilizer in 2004 when Alro steel burned. The old Alro Steel complex was located next to the two fertilizer silos on the South end of the Lake State yard just North of the Johnson Street crossing. The fire fighters thought that the two silos would explode, so shortly after the fire, the traffic stopped. I suspect the city of Alpena had something to do about it due to "safety issues", even though there's absolutely nothing left nearby.

Turner – Turner Bean and Grain: inbound (dry fertilizer) ???

I don't think they ship out of Turner anymore. I went by there on Friday. There was a car spotted, but I think it was bad ordered. The building by the siding looked like it hadn't been used in a while. Then again, I think there were cars at the elevator across the street, so I could be wrong.

Oscoda – E. A. Wood: inbound (cement) ???

Is this the cement company that you're talking about? If so, it looks like they're not an active shipper either.

Kunze – AJD Forest Products: outbound (wood poles)

This company used to ship out the poles in these odd orange cars, as you can see in this photo.. I believe the switch was North facing, so the NB 327a would pick up the cars and take them to Alpena, where they'd be put on the SB 326 to Bay City. I haven't seen these cars in Alpena for some time, so either they've built a South facing switch, or more than likely the business has dried up. I've never actually seen the switch, so I can't say for sure.

And I'll ask around and see if they're still switching S. C. Johnson.

[AARR]

Thanks for the updates LSRC Railfan

[LSRC]

Sorry for resurrecting an older thread, but there's no point starting a new one.

The elevator in Turner is indeed shipping by rail.

The cement plant in Oscoda does indeed get a few cars of stone a year. They're spotted on Skeel spur, just North of the junction on the track that veers off to the right here.



Just in case anybody is interested, I documented the rest of the Skeel spur. This portion was last used in 1992. This is the middle of the Skeel Spur in Oscoda, looking North. Behind the photographer, the track curves around and connects to the left side of the wye in the photo above.

In the photo below, the "main" track goes straight, and go to the former Wurtsmith Airforce Base. The former base is now occupied by a private company that rebuilds planes for the major airlines. You can actually see a plane above a lumber company that used to ship by rail. It's quite sad to see the branch in this shape, especially seeing the D&M used to bring unit trains of jet fuel to the base.

If course, you can see the old transloading dock on the left. The industry on the right is Oscoda Plastics. I'm told that they don't deal with large enough quantities to necessitate rail service.



Sorry to rambling on. Just wanted to make your list more accurate, Don.