Highland Park Industrial Track

In my last post, I looked at the Conrail Union Branch, which forms the western limit of the DTRR on the map at the left. After traveling north from Dearborn, the right-of-way turns east and terminates before reaching the kink where the tracks turn slightly northeast.  Before the original DTRR was abandoned, this "kink" is where the west end of the DTRR interchanged with the Pennsylvania Railroad's Union Branch, and the latter railroad ended. The DTRR continued northeast through Highland Park, turned briefly eastward, and then south to the the Grand Trunk Western's North Yard. Conrail tore up the entire northeasterly section between the Union Branch and what is now called the Highland Park Industrial Track.

Here's a closer view from Google satellite imagery, showing what remains of the Highland Park Industrial Track. In our tour of the line, we'll start just north of Conrail's North Yard, at a complex junction called CP Bonita.

In the image from Bing Maps Bird's Eye view to the left, we are looking eastward at CP Bonita, with the northern tip of Conrail North Yard at the left edge of the picture. The double-tracks running due north are the Conrail North Yard Branch/Sterling Secondary. The Highland Park Industrial Track diverges northwest from the North Yard Branch, curving out of the top right corner of this photo.  You may also be able to see another track diverging southeast from the North Yard Branch trackage, which is the Detroit Terminal East Industrial Track. More on the latter in another post, but at one time the Highland Park and Detroit Terminal East industrial tracks weren't separate branches, but the continuous main line of the Detroit Terminal Railroad's East End.  The DTRR crossed the Michigan Central and Grand Trunk Western tracks, and a large volume of traffic was interchanged between DTRR's Davison Yard and both the Michigan Central North Yard and Grand Trunk Western East Yard. The latter two yards were nearly indistinguishable; appearing instead to be one humongous yard smack dab in the middle of the Hamtramck neighborhood.

Just to the northeast, the Highland Park Industrial Track bisects the intersection of Mt. Elliot Street and McNichols Road.  Federal Pipe & Supply (the green building on the bottom right) and Merit Auto Parts & Salvage (the yellow and white building at the top left) are not rail-served, but would be great models. This scene wouldn't be a priority, but given sufficient space, its inclusion would impart a lot of Detroit character.  Just look at the Google Streetview photos of these two structures:

This is the Mound Correctional Facility, which stands on the site of the former DTRR Davison yard. This was the main classification yard of the DTRR, taking in rail traffic from both of its parent railroads - the Michigan Central and Grand Trunk Western - and routing cars all over Detroit. There was a roundhouse here, left over from the days of steam, as well as the DTRR's main offices. It had become dilapidated in its final days, with several stalls open to the elements after a fire.

The yard lead crossed a tangle of roads on the eastern edge of the yard, including Davison Street (from which the yard got its name) and Mound Road, which I'm sure caused many a traffic snarl!

This is the same intersection today, but trains pass by infrequently and without much notice.

Just across the tracks from the Mound Correctional Facility is Alpha Resins, which features an interesting track layout.  Consider that any train switching this industry (and the others nearby) will come from North Yard, traveling from right to left in this picture, with the locomotive in the lead.  While Alpha Resins' spur off the main track looks like a simple trailing point affair, if the engineer simple backs the train into the spur, his locomotive is now in the way for the switchback into the plant itself.  To deliver cars to the customer, the crew must use the Jailhouse siding to run around the train and lead the train into the spur engine-first. Then the crew can back the cars into the appropriate spots among the three spurs within the plant. If that's not enough, consider that the crew will likely need to pull cars out of the plant before delivering new ones, and you've got a lot of work to do!

Here's another view, using Bing Maps' Birds Eye view, from the trackside. I count at least three places to spot cars: first, at the left-most set of tanks; second, at the larger group of white tanks near the top right corner of this image; third, at the small group of rusty-looking tanks near the bottom of the photo. In addition, it looks like additional cars could be stored (or possibly spotted) along the spur that runs in front of the tall building near the bottom right corner of the photo. Lastly, the roll-up doors in the long, low building on the left side of the photo could be car spots too.

All in all, there's a lot going on here; Alpha Resins is definitely a high priority to model on the DTRR.

Across Ryan Road, just east of Alpha Resins, is another interesting set of industries. First is Metropolitan Alloys Corporation, which produces zinc alloys and aluminum products.  Right next door is Winston Brothers Iron & Metal, one of many scrap metal recyclers in Detroit.

I wasn't entirely certain that Metropolitan Alloys was still rail-served, but then I stumbled upon the image at left using Bing Maps.  Sure enough, that's a 50' boxcar spotted at one of the building's roll-up doors.

Here's Winston Brothers Iron & Metal from roughly the same perspective.  It's hard to see in this view, but you can just make out the spur curving to the southeast among the rusting hulks and cranes.  You may also be able to see two empty gondolas sitting on the Metropolitan Alloys spur, waiting to be spotted in the Winston Brothers yard for loading.

I dig the sign painted on the building and the battered chain link fence. Even if it weren't for the fact that scrap metal is a key industry in Detroit, I'd include this scene in my model of the DTRR for sheer character.

Google sayeth the track endeth here, though Bing disagrees, and shows satellite imagery of the DTRR tracks continuing all the way to Ford Junction, where the Detroit Terminal crossed the CN (GTW) Holly Subdivision.

Both the DTRR and one of its parents, the GTW, served the large Ford Highland Park plant here.  It was here that the first assembly line was used for mass production of the famous Model T automobile. Most of the plant is now shut down.

The last point of interest is the DTRR overpass over Woodward Avenue. Woodward was the main road from downtown Detroit to Pontiac, MI, and every year the Woodward Dream Cruise is held along its entire length. Classic American cars of nearly every description cruise continuously, while scores more park in every parking lot, driveway and sidewalk along the route.  Though not a priority, given the space, I'd try to model this craziness in 1:87 just for kicks. Plus, I think the bridge looks pretty neat.

In my next post, I'll take a look at the Detroit Terminal East Industrial Track, mentioned near the beginning of this post.  As always, thanks for reading.

The Junction Yard Secondary

In the last post, I started a detailed look at the routes that would make up a modern day Detroit Terminal Railroad. I started with the Conrail Marsh Track, and in this post, we'll continue moving clockwise and look at the Conrail Junction Yard Secondary. Once again, here's an overview:

The Junction Yard Secondary (JYS) starts at CP-YD, just north of Conrail River Rouge Yard. On the map to the left, the River Rouge label is right on top of CP-YD. Where the Marsh Track branches to the east, the JYS branches west, winding through Melvindale and into Dearborn.

There is really only one major customer along the JYS, the Ford Motor Company's massive Rouge Factory.

Here's a closer look at the overall route. Once again, just north of the River Rouge label is CP-YD and the switch on the Conrail Detroit Line where the JYS branches off. It then crosses the Canadian National Shoreline Subdivision and passes through Ecorse Junction under I-75. There, it connects with the Conrail Lincoln Secondary and crosses the Norfolk Southern Detroit District.

From Ecorse Junction, the right-of-way heads northward, crossing the Rouge River and skirting the massive Ford Rouge factory. It then crosses the CN Flat Rock Subdivision before passing over I-94. The line then diverges into a wye, connecting to the Conrail/Norfolk Southern Michigan Line.

Here's Bing's Bird's Eye view of CP-YD, which is just north of River Rouge Yard on the Conrail Detroit Line. The track branching off to the east (right) is the Conrail Marsh Track, covered in the previous post. The track branching off to the west (left) near the top of the photo is the Junction Yard Secondary.

 Just to the north of CP-YD is the Rock Dock. In the image to the right, we are looking east, and CP-YD is to the right. The Rock Dock switch is at the top right corner of the photo, and the spur parallels the JYS.

This looks like an exceptionally easy industry to model - just a spur with a gravel road/lot for transloading. Everything else can go on the backdrop.

Next is the Conrail crossing with the CN Shoreline Subdivision, just to the south of I-75, and then Ecorse Junction. The switch for the connection to the Conrail Lincoln Secondary is hidden under I-75, then the right-of-way crosses the Norfolk Southern Detroit District. There's a spur off the JYS winding to the top left corner of the photo, which serves a Marathon Oil facility. Norfolk Southern actually switches Marathon Oil, as well as the Salt Mine in the next photo.

Michigan - and specifically the Detroit area - is extremely rich in salt deposits. What you see in the photo to the right is only the surface facility. Below the surface is a gigantic cavern extending thousands of yards in every direction, where gigantic machines continually expand the cavern as they mine the salt.  Just like the Marathon Oil plant above, the salt mine spur diverges from Conrail-owned trackage, but is actually served by Norfolk Southern. We're back to looking north in this photo - Ecorse Junction is to right.

Here's a closeup of the loadout, a very simple conveyor affair. As such, this could be a very easy industry to model. The gigantic mound of salt would be an excellent view block, and the conveyor is interesting without being a massive challenge to replicate in HO scale.  The switch lead passes some gritty industrial debris and some grimy outbuildings...very Detroit.

Next, the JYS passes a huge refinery. I've driven past here on Oakwood Boulevard, and it is truly massive. This plant isn't served by the JYS, but makes for interesting backdrop fodder.

This is the bridge that carries the JYS over the Rouge River. This could be an interesting scene to model, since the contrast between the industrial and natural elements is so stark here.

This is the Ford Motor Company Rouge Complex. The scale is so huge that you can barely make out the JYS right-of-way squeezed between The Rouge and South Schaefer Highway. At any rate, there are interchanges with Ford's in-plant trackage at both the south and north ends of the complex. There is a grade crossing at Schaefer Road, and then the JYS crosses the Canadian National Flat Rock Subdivision. The CN also serves The Rouge.

The JYS then crosses I-94 on an overpass, and immediately north of Rotunda Dr., diverges into a wye that connects to the Conrail/Norfolk Southern Michigan Line. Technically, Conrail territory ends at CP-TOWNLINE, where the west leg of this wye connects to the Michigan Line. The west leg therefore interchanges with the Norfolk Southern.

As far as modeling the Junction Yard Secondary goes, I have the same issues as I had with the Marsh Track. It's not a former Detroit Terminal property, and is something of an outpost from the core of the DTRR that I envision. In addition, even more than the Marsh Track, the JYS does not hold much operational interest for me. My preference is for this layout to be a shelf-style switching layout where relatively short mixed freight trains switch a variety of industries. The only true customer along the JYS is The Rouge, which is primarily a destination for unit coal trains.  While Marathon Oil and the salt mine provide some additional variety, those industries aren't actually served by Conrail; it would be a stretch to have Norfolk Southern give up those customers to my DTRR.

In my next post, we'll look at what used to be the west end of the original Detroit Terminal Railroad. In my modern-day DTRR, this is the Dearborn Industrial track. This is the only location along the DTRR that I have actually seen firsthand, and the first portion of what I consider to be the core of my Detroit Terminal.