The End of an Era| The End of an Era |
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| Written by Larry Gibson | |||
| Saturday, 01 May 2010 00:00 | |||
 Charlotte, MI, March 31, 2010 – On March 30, 2010, Owens Illinois closed its glass plant, which had been in operation since 1963, due to the decline in glass bottles needed in the food industry.The plant required 3.5 hopper car loads per day of sand, soda, and lime to manufacture the glass for baby food and pickle jar production. Production ended as scheduled on April 1, and approximately 150 jobs were lost once operations wound down. The plant has a 3 rail siding design. Two tracks were for raw materials arriving and at one time another track was inside the plant for shipment of finished bottles. At the end of operations bottles were trucked out and only raw materials arrived by rail. The plant also had its own Shuttlewagon to move the hoppers around the unloading bin under the elevator. The final hoppers have been unloaded and await pick up by the CN Railroad. An end of an era is at hand. The OI plant was the last rail shipper in this community.
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