Marcal Paper Update

[SemperFidelis]

In case anyone was interested:

The rail siding by Paper Machine #10, the one near the grade cossing, has been repaired and is now recieving approximately 10 railcars a week of inbound scrap material for coversion. The outbounds are still empties as Marcal's distribution is now entirely truck oriented (aside from containerized freight). The siding for the conversion area (south side of the tracks) remains in use for lighter (baled) waste.

Marcal has not emerged from Chapter 11 due to a pretty poor year of financial performance. The judge overseeing the bankruptcy has ordered Marcal to sell the mill to another party. Rumor has it that Cascade Paper may step in, but so far that is only rumor.

The owner of the company remains commited to operating the mill as a finished goods manufacturer and has been working long hours to try to secure long term financing for upgrades and operations.

Whatever the case may be for the future, Marcal is recieving more and more by rail, and there are plans afoot (should Marcal find better footing) to start a waste transload somewhere north on the Susquehanna so that paper could be transloaded from trucks into railcars for delivery as this would ease several internal problems at the plant and increase the carrier's turnover of trailers (equalling better rates). That plan is in a very early stage (lots of talk but little else) and would probably happen at least a year down the road and would be, of course, dependent on continued operations.

[thebigham]

Thanks for the news!

Where is Marcal located?

[Steve F45]

Marcal is in Elmwood Park,NJ. If your driving west on rt80 you'll see the big red neon sign.

As for the company its good to see that they are using the railroad for something. What scrap material are they receiving?

also the original buyout fell through due to some sort of delay in filing paperwork. The buyer opted out since it took Marcal to long.

[SemperFidelis]

Marcal missed a financial benchmark set forth by Apollo Capital Mgmt., but only by a very small number (approx. $1 mil. vs. yearly revenues of nearly $300 mil.). Marcal, to my knowledge, hasn't been delinquent in any paperwork filings, though I'm sure it is possible.

Marcal is actually located in several different locations around Bergen County, and once had locations in Passaic County as well. A wax paper mill located in Chicago is also part of Marcal.

Marcal's main mill is located on either side of the Susquehanna on the eastern bank of the Passaic River at the border of Elmwood Park and Paterson. The mill is seperated into several different parts, with some processes taking place on the north side of the tracks and others on the south side. Marcal's warehousing facilities include the two warehouses directly across Market St. and Interstate 80. One was formerly a JVC electronics warehouse and the other (larger) was part of Curtis Wright (no documentation on that). Marcal also owns a warehouse on the Boulevard (just south of the grade crossing) and a warehouse on East 54th Street, just west of NJT's line.

Marcal formerly had a warehouse in Paterson, several others in Bergen County, and also once recieved waste paper along the Totowa Industrial in Totowa, NJ. This warehouse, if you've ever been along the former Boonton Line, is the one with two (half mile give or take) parallel tracks which are still visible beneath rows and rows of parked trailers near the Waste Mgmt. transfer station. Marcal used to recieve a lot of waste (ten to twenty cars at a time according to an old manual I found) at this warehouse. I'm sure thier departure must have been a seriosu blow to business along the line.

Marcal recieves all sorts of waste paper by rail at the siding on the south side of the tracks. Pretty much any paper you can think of aside from black and white newsprint.

The material moving into the recently repaired 10PM siding is called "hard white" paper. This is the sort of paper that might be used in making paper plates, or other thick paper consumer products. It is too heavy to safely slide down the ramp that is used on the siding opposite of it, so it is unloaded from railcars, placed on trailers, and then unloaded as needed.

[Otto Vondrak]

Remember: Marcal-culate... and save.

-otto-

[SemperFidelis]

Due to the bankruptcy, someone found information on the internet which stated executive bonuses in the year the company went bankrupt. In some cases the bonuses were more than the common worker made in a year.

Ever since then, the joke has been: "Nick calculates, we slave." (Nick being the owner of the company)

Needless to say, morale is a little low right now. I have high hopes for the future, though. There are a lot of positive signs of growth and improvement at the mill.

[BlockLine_4111]

IIRC there was a coal burning co-generation plant next to Marcal which went online in the 80s. AIR they received shipments of "reclaim coal" but I wasn't sure if it was by rail or truck.

Is it still open and active?

[RichM]

Mike, wasn't this the Garden State Paper operation that was bought by Enron just before the collapse?

[Steve F45]

if i remember correctly GSP wasn't bought before the collapse, they had owned it for some time. Its a shame they couldn't find a buyer to keep it going.

[RichM]

My fault, bad choice of words. I'm getting old. "just before" in my mind is something less than 2-3 years! But you're correct!

[SemperFidelis]

The co-gen plant actually just (about 2 mos. ago) reopened. It is now burning some form of bio-diesel delivered by truck.

The coal trestle is still in place and still has rails atop it. The switch to the trestle has been removed, but the long switch ties are still in place where the switch once was.

The old Garden State Paper is about 2 miles down the river from Marcal. Last reference to it has the local town supporting its conversion into (surprise, surprise) condos! The rails are still in place at Garden State Paper, all the way from the Passaic Branch (NYSW) to the end of track about 200 feet east of the Passaic River in an old warehouse. This warehouse, by the by, is presently being demolished. Loads of old newsprint and probably some of the chemicals needed came in by rail for recycling. I'm not sure if they ever shipped by rail.

There is still some talk of a Canadian owned company reopening the mill, but from what I understand, most of the equipment that used to be in the mill was sold off. Coupled with the continuing downward trend of the newspaper business (GSP produced newsprint) I think this is only wishful thinking.

OT - I can't find a single customer along the Passaic Branch. Is anyone still recieving or shipping?

[blockline4180]

OT - I can't find a single customer along the Passaic Branch. Is anyone still recieving or shipping?

No, I believe there was discussion in here or one of the yahoo groups that NYSW no longer goes down the Passaic Branch and it was also a candidate for abandonment. I'm sure "cvrr" would know better then me!

[Steve F45]

Well the passaic branch and lodi branch were both listed on a filing for abondoment. But that was like well over a year ago. I remember seeing a train go across 46 in elmwood park probably in the early 80's. It was pretty cool to see as a lil kid that and a train crossing rt.17. But that is another subject for another day.

[riffian]

Hasen't been an active customer on the Passaic branch for over five years. The top couple of hundred feet off the switch are used for car storage. Suskie is very short of track space and must utilize every inch they have. Frequently were leaving empty dirty dirt cars from the Maywood cleanup there until called for to load.

[Milepost 12]

That is true. The Passaic Branch hasn't seen action for about five years. But think of the glory years (I grew up 2 blocks from the GSP and old Forstmann plant).

Towards the end, it was mostly outbound finish goods going out of GSP by rail. I do remember the late 1960's and the early 70's the hoppers coming in 2 to 4 times a week for the powerhouse. My grandfather worked in the powerhouse and use to use a dozer to push it into the conveyor for its trip up the coal shaft (which was taken down in the early 1980's because kids use to hang out in there).

Sometime in the early 70's the plant switched to oil and I do remember seeing the GP-18's pulling a consist of tankers and empty boxcars into the plant and after the drill coming out with full boxes and empty tankers.

Most of the raw material (old newsprint) was handled by truck with Bruno & D'ilea who was based in Hackensack. GSP used to have raw material warehouses throughout North Jersey. Two I knew of were the old Paterson Tank & Boiler Co. on Railroad Ave in Paterson right across from the Erie Main and the other was off E 54th Street in East Paterson a.k.a. Elmwood Park in today's world

I don't know even if someone started GSP again if there would be any rail traffic because 98% was in the daytime and with Garfield's new Middle School and Pre-School built on the old A&P lot on Lanza Ave ( The tracks are right in its backyard so to speak) because the city fathers here will bitch about it. They do about everything else. And I am sure the people who own homes on Garwood Court N, Center Court and Ray Street like not hearing and seeing the drill come through too.

Between my Father and my Grandfather working there ( My dad from the plants inception in 1960 to 1969 when he quit to take a job @ Hoffman La-Roche and my grandfather who worked there since the Forstmann days to his retirement in 1968) I have a great deal of memories of the Passaic branch even of it crossing River Drive down by Belmont Ave crossing that old rickety bridge into Passaic into the Botony Mills, Forstmann's Clifton mill and the Whippany Paper Board (it's the Clifton Paper Board for our older members here) but that I will save for another appropriate topic on the NYS&W boards here.

I just wish when I was 6 year old back then I took mom and dad's Kodak Instamatic 126 back then to take some pics. If I only knew back then LOL.