Temperance Yard

Hello,

A month or so ago I noticed some cars in Temperance Yard that I've never seen before. For those of you don't get to Toledo very often, Temperance Yard is DT&I's former yard in North Toledo, between Laskey and Alexis Roads (directly behind GM Powertrain/Hydramatic). The Ann Arbor uses it now, via trackage rights on the former TT. At any rate, usually one sees highcubes and tank cars in Temperance Yard, as it serves GM. Also, an occasional car of lumber. But these cars were gondolas, and they were loaded with what appeared to be pulpwood. Does anyone have any insight on what this might have been? A new customer for the AA, maybe?

I ride my bicycle through Temperance yard quite frequently in the summer so I've seen the open top hoppers/gondolas of which you speak.

Most of the time, these have a backhoe perched atop them and usually there is a lot of debris lying around. I can only assume that these are being used for disposal of either old construction materials or some sort of waste product from the General Mills plant on Laskey.

The GM siding doesn't appear to get much use, but cars loaded with lumber are still delivered to 84 Lumber on Alexis via the Temperance yard.

On a good day, you may even see one of the old Ann Arbor engines parked out front near the old DT&I building.

The AA runs one engine into the yard on Thursdays morning and runs it out onto the TT about 9:30 am. When I am driving to work at 8:45 am, the AA engine is idling with a full load of cars behind it, waiting for the clearance to enter the TT trackage.

Speaking of the TT trackage...I was traveling West on Laskey, just West of Telegaph road and noticed that a small spur crosses Laskey and enters the field where it crosses the creek and still disappears into the snow. Does anyone know what this spur was used for when it was constructed?
Is it ever used nowadays? The tracks are very rusty and there is not even any crossbucks on Laskey to warn if a train were even to cross there. (W/O the crossbucks to warn me...I hit the tracks at 45 mph and was not too happy because they weren't even and I would not like to ruin my alignment.)

This track served the old Toledo Scale plant which burnt down in the 70s or 80s(?). As for it not being paved over yet all I can say is that this is Toledo, it takes time to get things done around here.