Nabisco Fairlawn Closing

Another good NS customer bites the dust. The bakery in Fairlawn is closing this summer as reported by Nabisco. Going to be a big loss of jobs and a blow to freight operations in Jersey. Other than a few plastics plants, the last big customer I'm aware of is Bay State Milling in Clifton/Paterson. NS closed their Thoroughbred transload facility in Paterson, which seemed to be a thriving enterprise....moved elsewhere?? Not much left for the local (H80?) which handles freight operations on the Main and Bergen Lines.

That's a shame. I grew up in the Riverside section of Paterson and whenever the wind blew from the NE we could smell the cookies baking. That was about 50 years ago but it seems (and smells) like yesterday.

When was the last time Nabisco used rail? And what was transported in or out?

Inbound covered hoppers of flour is all I know. Haven't been back there in a while, but they used to get several cars a week. Cars are spotted in an enclosed warehouse for unloading, so you don't see them while passing by.

No doubt NJ's combination of excessive business, income, and real estate taxes along with high electricity costs didn't help the case for keeping the plant open. Its probably cheaper to bake in PA and drive an extra 2 hours each way than to bake in NJ.

ccutler wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:41 am No doubt NJ's combination of excessive business, income, and real estate taxes along with high electricity costs didn't help the case for keeping the plant open. Its probably cheaper to bake in PA and drive an extra 2 hours each way than to bake in NJ.

"The Fair Lawn facility is one of two on the East Coast slated to close — a factory in Atlanta will be shuttered while a Richmond, Virginia plant will stay open.
“Both Fair Lawn and Atlanta are no longer strategic assets from a geographic footprint perspective and both face significant operational challenges, including aging infrastructure and outdated production capabilities, which would have required significant investment to bring them to the modernized state required for the future,” the company said in a statement." https://www.nj.com/business/2021/02/600 ... ummer.html