United Harvest Elevator, Moccasin, MT
So maybe this post’s title is a bit presumptuous but in Central Montana having a multi use track in 2010 is pretty big news. In a January 11 article, the Lewistown News-Argus (covering Central Montana like the stars!) reports that Central Montana Cooperatives is planning to build a fertilizer hub on the loop track at Moccasin (known as Grove, symbol GVE to BNSF). The loop track is currently home to United Harvest’s elevator which loads unit grain trains throughout the year. The two facilities will certainly make Moccasin a much busier stop on BNSF’s Laurel Sub and will increase its importance to agriculture in the area.
Coming Soon – Fertilizer
This new facility will likely improve Central Montana Cooperatives’ delivery efficiency thanks to reduced costs to ship bulk product. Obviously lower or steady production costs will make farmers in the area quite happy.
With all this good news I want to stop for a minute and consider the other player in the railroad game at Moccasin, the Central Montana Railroad. They make their living on the carload business distributed to smaller communities along their line. With the addition of the fertilizer hub what’s going to happen to them when a co-op in Geraldine decides to truck fertilizer from Moccasin because its cheaper? CMR and the State of Montana are already in a tussle with BNSF over subsidy payments so I’m afraid that the grain shipping business already lost, the subsidy payments lost, and now the potential for the fertilizer business to be lost may not be good for the future of the CMR freight business.
Moccasin Loop
As a railfan I certainly don’t want to see the CMR lose more business and disappear. Their line is one of the few operating pieces of the famed Milwaukee Road that still operates 30 years gone and has many scenic highlights that are hard to find anywhere else. On top of that they host the Charlie Russell Chew Choo that is not to be missed on a visit to the region.
The CMR aside the fertilizer hub is still good for business in Central Montana and should be looked at positively for Central Montana and Moccasin. It may however be one straw too many for some in the region.
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