Detroit Railfanning

[ogauge47]

4/9

NS 15J heads up the Conrail Detroit line with empty autoracks for Conrail



CSX Y122 heads back to Rougemere with an SD40-3 leading



CP 141 heads past Delray tower



NS ES44AC 8076 pulling off of the Boat Line



A trio of GTW locomotives at Schaefer Yard



NS 60T stopped just short pf the platforms at Dearborn's Amtrak Station on the Michigan Line

[MurphOnMillerAve]

4/9

...
A trio of GTW locomotives at Schaefer Yard


...

Does anybody know what that semi-arch thing is standing there on its own.

[rogruth]

That was part of the electrical overhead put in during Henry Ford's ownership of the DT&I.
I'm sure Lucas can tell more.

[ogauge47]

4/9

...
A trio of GTW locomotives at Schaefer Yard


...

Does anybody know what that semi-arch thing is standing there on its own.

The half-arch is an old stub-end track on the formerly electrified DT&I mainline. Henry Ford electrified the DT&I while it was under his ownership. The plan back then was to eventually connect to the Milwaukee Road (also electrified at the time) but things never panned out and the electrification was scrapped not long after its introduction. A majority of the line from Dearborn to Flat Rock still has the concrete arches- they were built to last and it was deemed too costly to tear them down

A couple pictures of the still-standing DT&I arches





Double-track variant

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Thank you, Roger, for that information on that half- arch, and Thank You, Lucas for those definitive photos and explanation of their original use!
Those arches look so modern, and they must have been built really well for you to tell us they had been considered too expensive to remove, which also tells me they weren't considered to be potentially troublemaking if left standing.
Thanks, again, guys.
Murph

[chuck]

They have no salvage value and would be a pain in the * to tear down.

The electrification project never made it to full fruition because the anticipated excess electricity from the generators never materialized. There is an excellent book on the Rouge complex "The Rouge, Pictured in it's Prime" by Ford R. Bryan. There are some photo's of the thermos bottle yard switchers that were fueled by direct steam charges from the boilers at the plant.

Incredible complex. Sand (for glass and casting purposes), limestone, coal, iron ore, rubber, etc. were delivered to the site and were turned into motor vehicles.

[Roy]

Incredible complex. Sand (for glass and casting purposes), limestone, coal, iron ore, rubber, etc. were delivered to the site and were turned into motor vehicles.

Was Ford the first vertically integrated company?

[chuck]

Was Ford the first vertically integrated company?

Of that size and complexity, yes.

Russian's were so impressed they used the Rouge complex as a model for their GAZ plant in the 1930's.

[Arthur P. Bloom]

Google "Fordlândia" for an interesting description of how far Mr. Ford ventured into vertical integration.

[Roy]

Google "Fordlândia" for an interesting description of how far Mr. Ford ventured into vertical integration.

Interesting. I already knew something about the South American rubber plantations, some of which employed slave labor. Many indigenous people died.

[ogauge47]

4/19


NS 422, with loaded coke crosses over I-94 in Dearborn, MI

[J. S. Bach]

4/19 NS 422, with loaded coke crosses over I-94 in Dearborn, M

I hope the DEA does not find out.

[ogauge47]

4/25

Went up to Durand and Owosso, MI to shoot the CN, Great Lakes Central and Huron & Eastern

GLC GP35 393 pulling into Owosso with northbound freight. 393 is an ex-Ann Arbor locomotive



CN M397 just west of Durand





CN M396 at CP Clara, approaching the Durand diamond



CN M398 followed shortly after



Huron & Eastern comes around the wye at Durand, to shove back into the yard



CN A451



CN L502



Backing into the yard with interchange cars for GLC and HESR

[ogauge47]

4/30

A southbound CSX autorack train passes under the Pere Marquette searchlight signals in Romulus, MI. April 30th 2017 is the last day of operation for these signals, modern Safetran signals are to be cut over May 1st



CP 141



CP 243



Union Pacific DPU



CP 244



CN SD40-2W at Schaefer Yard

[ogauge47]

5/1
Not necessarily Detroit, but close enough. Swanton, Ohio

Conrail Cadillac on an eastbound intermodal



Westbound oil train with BNSF power



NS 24N



Eastbound junk freight



New staging yard for coal trains being built