CNW leased/later purschased several hundred 70-ton ore cars from the DMIR beginning in the early 1960s and into the late 70s, and in fact they replaced the 50-ton ore cars that were owned by the railroad. They also leased cars from Bessemer and Lake Erie.
CNW was one of the "Granger" railroads (including Soo Line, Milwaukee Road and Rock Island) that served a vast area of the Upper Mid-West and Northern Plains, mainly agriculture and some mineral traffic. This meant a vast rail network, but not enough traffic, so repairs and improvements were defered. As the rail network aged and traffic declined, replacement of existing equipment was either through leasing or rebuilding. As for CNW, they chose the former when it came to their existing ore car fleet. Then came the Western-coal boom - but that's another topic.
- Brian
Escanaba
Re: Escanaba
Not sure what if any maintenance CN has done on the ore dock itself. However, over the past several years Coplan Iron and Metal in Escanaba has scrapped around 1000 of the former C&NW ore cars that were used to haul ore to the dock in Escanaba. Not sure how many, if any are left, but I'm sure new cars would be needed if the dock ever reopened. And that may mean retrofitting or replacing the car dumper as well, since it was probably configured for the size of the now scrapped cars. I know the LS&I cars are narrower than Missabi Range ore cars due to the track spacing at Marquette. Not sure if that applied to the old C&NW cars as well.
Purchasing several hundred new rail cars is not a big deal for a company the size of CN, but it does increase the cost of putting the dock back into operation.
Purchasing several hundred new rail cars is not a big deal for a company the size of CN, but it does increase the cost of putting the dock back into operation.
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Guest
Escanaba
Does anybody know the status of the Escanaba ore dock? I know it shut down in 16, but has CN done anything as far as maintenance on it or other things to keep it usable if a need for it ever returns?
I heard a few years ago that empire mine was supposed to open again but never heard anything else, and some said that there were crews down there working on the conveyors, thinking that it might be returned to service. Any truth to this or is it hot air.
I heard a few years ago that empire mine was supposed to open again but never heard anything else, and some said that there were crews down there working on the conveyors, thinking that it might be returned to service. Any truth to this or is it hot air.