MICHIGAN CITY — It’s been well over a half century since trains were powered by coal but a landmark filling station for railroads is still straddling the tracks, but apparently not for much longer.
Plans have emerged to tear down the over 100-foot tall coaling tower along U.S. 12 in Michigan City just east of the Uptown Arts District.
Amtrak, whose trains now run on the rail line, is seeking an exception to the city’s noise ordinance to demolish the deteriorating reinforced concrete structure built in 1923.
Lorenzo Perez, project manager for Amtrak, said the tear-down is planned over a 14-day period beginning at the earliest in September of 2025.
He said the work can’t begin sooner because of the amount of time anticipated for the demolition to receive final approval from the Federal Railroad Administration.
Perez said the demolition was moved up by at least one year because of the hazard the structure from continued decline in its already deteriorating condition might start posing to the eight passenger trains running underneath it daily.
“Safety is really the driver of it,” he said.
The city’s noise ordinance prohibits such work from occurring between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.
The plan by Amtrak is to work around the clock to avoid extending the amount of time required to complete the tear-down since no trains will run on the line during the demolition.
Buses will be used to transport passengers between Chicago and New Buffalo, Mich. until the job is finished.
Skyler York, Director of Planning and Inspection for the city, said the tower is cast-in-place concrete construction reinforced by rebar inside the concrete, which requires demolition to start at the top and work its way down pieces at a time.
“They looked at three to four different methods and this is the way it needs to come down,” he said.
Any break in the work would add to the risk of collapse before completion because there are no beams within the concrete for enough stability to pause demolition between eight to 12-hour shifts.
“Once they start, they’re just going to keep tearing it down, essentially, and then clean up,” he said.
Perez said much of the noise will be from jackhammers breaking up the concrete to expose the rebar, which are steel rods that will be cut and removed.
York took the request during a November 18 public hearing under advisement, saying later that he expects to grant an exception to the noise ordinance as long as Amtrak agrees to conditions he will submit to the railroad in writing.
The conditions include notifying nearby property owners about the demolition in advance and having a plan to control dust.
Noise is not expected to be a major issue with a scattered number of homes in the immediate area dominated more by industries such as chemical makers Shell Catalysts and Technologies and USALCO.
Perez said U.S. 12 will remain open during the teardown.
According to history, the tower was erected by the Michigan Central Railroad to service the steam-powered engines on its trains carrying freight and passengers with fresh loads of coal and water.
Burning coal heated the water to create the steam that powered the engines.
At the time, the tower was among the first ones to allow trains to pull underneath to refuel instead of switching to another set of tracks to reach a coaling station.
Perez said the tower stopped being used in the early 1960s once the engines on trains started being powered by diesel fuel.
People who appreciate the history of trains might be sad to see the coaling tower disappear from the landscape.
Michigan City resident Tommy Kalavik, though, welcomed the decision.
He views the structure as both a safety threat and an eyesore.
“I’m glad to this structure finally going down. It should have been torn down 30 years ago, if you ask me,” he said.
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