Reuters is reporting that VW will build a large plant somewhere around Chattanooga TN. NS and CSX both have major lines to Chattanooga.Anyone out there know which company’s line VW will build the plant next too? The CSX line already has a Niisan plant on it near Smyrna Tennessee.
Thanks,
George
While I have no inside knowledge of the situation, I worked at the old plant in New Stanton, Pa. It was then serviced by Chessie System at that time. When VW left, the spur was taken over eventually by Southwest. Other than that, I can’t contribute much else. By the way at the time, the auto racks were big business there, so they having been a former client may give them a little advantage. Hope this helps a little.
Jim
sony electronics took that plant over some years ago… but they are slowly scaleing back opporations at the plant and i am guessing within a few years close up shop there all together… the Westmoreland county industral revelopment commity that took controll of the csx line that use to serve the plant and contracted out rail opporations to the SWP has since redid the old yard at the plant and made a small intermoldal terminal there… there are a few team tracks where lumber for 84 lumber is offloaded and then put on flat beds and trucked to the yard that is about 3 miles away… also there is now a bulk transfure company of some kind there that is doing something with covered hoppers… back in the backside of the plant there is a small building that has loading doors for loading or unloading trucks and boxcars… as part of the sony plant they built a glass plant across the old VW drive that was remamed technology drive but that has since shut down and is in the prosses of being partly torn down and rumor has it that it is being covered into an ethonla plant… a rail spar was built from where the loading ramps where at to load auto racks to the glass plant…and the loading ramps have long since been torn down when the redevlopment of the yard was started some time ago…
csx engineer
I was wondering when someone would bring up the Westmoreland plant. It seems funny to me that VW had an American venture before, only to give it up in hard times, and now they want to do it again. One of the things I remember about the Westmoreland plant was that VW wanted service from two carriers, which were, I believe, Chessie and the N&W. Is my memory correct? Wasn’t the plant on a Chessie line, perhaps a former B&O line, and the other line accessed it via trackage rights.
Remember seeing a lot of autoracks full of VW Rabbits, back when you could actually see what was on a autorack.
VW folded up shop when the county wouldnt renew its tax exempt status…which is what sony is about to do… they offered sony tax exempt status for 10 years…when that 10 years was about up…sony made some rumbles of shutting down all together and the county renewed it for i think it was another 5 or maybe even 10 years…but that date is drawing closer and they have downsides opporations there to the point that its only a matter of time that they shut it down all together tax exempt or not… as far as the line it was served by…it was and old B&O branch that came off the main line at broadford PA and went up the valley through Mt pleasent PA… the old line use to end at standerd shaft which was an old coal mine that closed up in the 30s i think it was…but from what some of the old heads have told me regarding the line when chystler that built the plant in the first place was talking about breaking ground on the plant…they wanted rail service… the old PRR grade was to steep to bring a branch line to the plant off that line…so they where able to find a better grade by extending the old B&O line… the railroad didnt pay for the extention from what i was told it was payed for by the county and state goverments to help “seal the deal” to get the plant built and bring jobs into the area… but as soon as the plant was built…ch
I believe the plant was originaly a joint venture between chrysler and VW
volkswagon started out building 4 cylinder engines at the plant to use in chryslers small
cars (K cars) since chrysler had no small engines
after VW started building cars for U.S, market there