STEADY NICHE page 61

12 MONTH
CERTIFICATE

5.75'

rail cars to ship heavy materi-
als hire private, non-railroad
contractors to handle their rail
needs.
In the world of rail industry,
Mr.Trunsky has turned being
small to his advantage. Local
contractors coming up a few
rails or bolts short of complet-
ing a project turn to Crown Steel
to fill orders that are far below
minimum requirements of larg-
er rail supply competitors and
rail mills. In effect, Mr. Trunsky
has positioned Crown Steel as
the full-line railroad hardware
store for small to medium con-
tractors. They only supply; they
do not manufacture or install.
"We go after the orders no-
body else wants," says Mr. Trun-
sky. "You can't call up a rail mill
and say, 'I need 10 rails tomor-

INTEREST RATE

5270

A.P.Y./*

60 MONTH
CERTIFICATE

6.00%
6.13'

INTEREST RATE

promised a comfortable, steady
living. Harold Trunsky's pre-
dictions proved right for his son
and grandson, Rodger Trunsky,
34.
There are no advanced de-
grees in rail steel. Kasle Steel
trained Mr. Trunsky from the
bottom up, sending him to West
Virginia in 1947-48 to observe a
major mill fabricating steel rail-
road tracks and tie plates. Mr.
Trunsky remained at Kasle for
the next 30 years until the com-
pany dropped its rail line in
1978.
Realizing he wasn't going to
receive an equity stake in an-
other family's business, Mr.
Trunsky took life savings of
$60,000 and started Crown
Steel Rail Co. at the age of 52.
"I was very nervous because

A.P.Y./*

These are fixed rate certificates of deposit that are insured by Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC). A minimum opening deposit and balance of $500.00
is required to obtain the stated Annual Percentage Yield.

4111b ".

FZIA557 .4..#1R
1.1 sm
BANK

EQUAL HOUSING
OPPORTUNITY

LENDER

CALL (810)338-7700 or (810)352-7700

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Deix.it•

4 4,

*
Federally Insured*
A
to Swo.000

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Main Office 2600 Telegraph Rd. Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302

Leonard Trunsky has found a niche market with railroad rail.

*1.44***
'Annual percentage yield when compounded quarterly. Rate is accurate as of 6/20/97. Penalty for early withdrawal from certificate accounts may be assessed.

assic

CCOU
Minimum $5,000

Minimum $500

*Unlimited Checking!

(810) 380-6590

21211 Haggerty Road at 8 Mile.
Next to [he Novi Hilton.

AIL

NI ICHICAN HERITAGE

FDIC

IENDFF

Insured

75

Annual Percentage Yield is effective as of April 24.1097. Penalty
for early \vithdrawal. Business or brokered accounts not eligible.

row.' Mills have minimum or-
ders of 40,000 pounds and most
people don't need that much."
Mr. Trunsky is a prominent
member of the fading commu-
nity of independent railroad
middlemen called "jobbers." In
the spirit of diamond merchants'
legendary handshake deals,
Crown Steel takes rush orders
from long-standing customers.
Price is not discussed.
"Len supplies small amounts
of parts. That's one of the rea-
sons we like to do business with
him," says David Maga, presi-
dent of Armond Cassil Co. in
Warren. "Leonard is probably
the most respected person in the
Detroit area as far as railroads
are concerned.
"When you're bidding on job
and you have a price in mind
and you have to count on some-
one, you need someone you can
trust from the past. He's never
failed as far as delivering rail on
time."
Mr. Trunsky began his rail
career in 1947 as an employee
of Kasle Steel Co. after a three-
year tour in the army. Mr. Trun-
sky's father, Harold, a former
Michigan representative for
West Virginia Rail Co., advised
his son to work in rail because
the field was small and

I always worked for a large com-
pany all my life and I didn't
know if I could handle all the as-
pects of running a business,
from financing to engineering
and purchasing," says Mr. Trun-
sky. "When you want something
done at a big company, you just
write it down on a piece of pa-
per and give it to someone and
it gets done. When you go into
business on your own, you have
to do everything yourself."
The only real safety net for Mr.
Trunsky was a patent for an
inexpensive type of track he
designed to smooth railroad in-
tersections. He called it Flange-
master. Frequent bumpy drives
into work over railroad tracks
prompted Mr. Trunsky to con-
tract an engineer in 1960 to help
him put his ideas on paper. Al-
though Flangemaster isn't the
smoothest crossing material,
says Mr. Maga, it remains a
world standard for an inexpen-
sive alternative to costlier prod-
ucts.
Flangemaster and overhead
factory crane track, the rail en-
abling cranes to slide back and
forth across a warehouse, are
Crown Steel's staples. Because
overhead cranes are typically in
constant use, compared to train
rail receiving 20-30 trains