Eastern Railroad Discussion > Rj Corman Minster Branch

A TO member PM’ed me with a question about the Minster Branch and it’s current status.  The Minster Branch is ex NKP between St Marys and Minster, Ohio.    I had known it wasn’t being currently used but in the course of looking up the last know traffic I came across a reference to bridge damage.  
Flooding in the spring of 2019 caused the leading piles to be damaged.
 

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When you know no train is going to pass soon.   

1913 rail.   

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Thanks for the information and the photos. I'll have to get out to take a look at the site one of these days.

The 1913 rail is a nice find. I am thinking that it was cast by US Steel in Gary, although you can't see the entire casting identification mark. I think USS may have been the only steel company in Gary back then. 

Wow, I'm glad you posted this.  I was a supervisor for the N&W in Lima in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the Minster Branch was part of my territory.  10 MPH even then.  We would go to Minster maybe once or twice a week.  I remember sand for Minster Machine and some outbound big machine loads.  New Bremen had a small elevator.  With those names, you can guess that part of Ohio was largely settled by German immigrants.

Is there much traffic left on R J Corman west of Lima?

Jim

howeld Wrote:
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> A TO member PM’ed me with a question about the
> Minster Branch and it’s current status.  The
> Minster Branch is ex NKP between St Marys and
> Minster, Ohio.    I had known it wasn’t being
> currently used but in the course of looking up the
> last know traffic I came across a reference to
> bridge damage.  
> Flooding in the spring of 2019 caused the leading
> piles to be damaged.
>  

I just "Google Earthed" the entire line, and I don't see a single customer currently configured to RECEIVE service, even if it was desired.  There doesn't appear to a single intact industry spur, and I don't  see a single grain elevator.

No customers left.   The last two were Minster Machine and Kard Welding.   Minster Machine has severed their connection. They last received coil steel.   Kard received steel plate and long beams that required idler cars.   I think Kard would be considered the last active shipper and maybe the only one left that would ship but half dozen cars a year doesn’t pay enough to keep 10 miles open.    The line will likely become a bike path someday.  I would guess the only reason it hasn’t is the Miami & Erie Canal towpath is a mile to east.   

Remaining business on the NKP west of Lima:

Omni Source in St Mary’s does good business shipping scrap out in gondolas

Versa Pack east side of Celina receives plastic pellets in covered hoppers. They’ve expanded consistently over the years since moving from downtown Celina but still only have space for 4 hoppers on their spur. RjC switches them out a few times a week.

Shields in Coldwater. Receives plastic pellets in hoppers. Usually once a week.

Helena/ Landmark: West of Coldwater gets fertilizer hoppers and tanks. This is the farthest west active shipper. Usually once a week or less. More often during farming season.

Unknown company in Coldwater receives centerbeam flat car a week on average. It’s unloaded right on the mainline near the old New Idea factory.

RjC tans-loads boxcars of tomato sauce at the Celina shops for a food producer in Rockford, OH. Other than when tomatoes are sourced locally in the fall there can be a lot of box cars at the shop.


Lost customers:
The landmark elevator in Celina no longer ships via rail. Tracks have been removed.
The elevator in St Mary’s still has tracks but haven’t seen anything loaded or unloaded in years.
Pro Pet in St Marys now owned by Cargill severed its connection.
Older lost customers are Huffy Bicycle and Carter lumber.

RjC stores cars on the mainline west of Coldwater. The last 5 years it has been propane tank cars that come in in the late winter and leave again in August/Sept. Before that they had coal hoppers stored.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/20 08:01 by howeld.

Thanks for all that info. I had been wondering if RJC still served Ft. Recovery, but now I know they don't go much west of Coldwater. 

Thanks for the customer info.  Back in the day the big rail shippers were Goodyear in St Marys, Huffy Bicycle in Celina, and New Idea in Coldwater.  All gone now, at least as rail customers.

Jimbo Wrote:
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> Thanks for the customer info.  Back in the day
> the big rail shippers were Goodyear in St Marys,
> Huffy Bicycle in Celina, and New Idea in
> Coldwater.  All gone now, at least as rail
> customers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Huffy used to ship five box car loads a night. Goodyear shipped two to four boxcars of tank treads a couple of times a week. The elevator at Buckland would ship three loads of grain out once or twice a month. Coldwater had an elevator and a fertilizer place plus eighty four lumber east of there.     

oneblock Wrote:
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> Jimbo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thanks for the customer info.  Back in the day
> > the big rail shippers were Goodyear in St
> Marys,
> > Huffy Bicycle in Celina, and New Idea in
> > Coldwater.  All gone now, at least as rail
> > customers.                         
>                                  
>                                  
>                                  
>                                  
>                                  
>                                  
>                                  
>                            Huffy
> used to ship five box car loads a night. Goodyear
> shipped two to four boxcars of tank treads a
> couple of times a week. The elevator at Buckland
> would ship three loads of grain out once or twice
> a month. Coldwater had an elevator and a
> fertilizer place plus eighty four lumber east of
> there.     

My father use to load those box cars. He worked 27 years at Huffy in the shipping warehouse before the plant closed.

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for sharing. The trestle doesn't look in that bad of shape and the track above is level and straight. I'd assume in late steam days power would be a 2-8-0 replaced by EMD Geeps.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Victor, in McCaleb's NKP color photo book, there is a 1963 picture of a NKP GP7 passing through New Breman working the "Dutch Run" towing about five cars and a caboose. I imagine N&W used the same or similar power once they took over.