I am intrested in modeling the auto industry however i dont know what how or where im suppost to model where thay load the auto racks. if someone can supplye me with pictures that would be very helpfull.
go to the bing maps web site. look at wentzville mo. find the gm assembly plant and get the aerial view. zoom in and click on birdseye view. the loading area is north west of the main building and you can rotate the view to see it from different sides. it shows the rail cars, the ramps used to get the vehicles in to the cars, and a bunch of new gm vans parked in the lot awaiting shipment. if you know the location of other assembly plants, use this same method to check them out.
grizlump
Thank you so much this was a BIG help.[:)]
glad it helped you. i went and tried my own advice at the st louis ford and chrysler and the chrysler plant near rockford ill and the birdseye feature would not work at those location.
grizlump.
Arlington, TX loads them.
Westfield, TX unloads them.
if you would like to see a small, compact unloading facility go to bing and enter brooklyn illiniois. just north of the town proper there is a small operation along the west side of 4th (ill hwy 3) just north of the massage parlor district if you are interested in such things. it is between the south end of the big railroad yard at madison and the power plant on the river. they have a portable ramp in use there so they can unload/reload or whatever from both ends of the same track.
grizlump
Spring Hill, TN, intersection of Main (U.S. 31) and Saturn Parkway - then pan just south of due west.
Loading facility for the Saturn plant - ten parallel tracks, each long enough for five auto racks. Lots of parking (and vehicles) all around. The loading tracks connect to a small yard via a fairly tight curve. Quite a bit of open space before you hit the first building.
Good vertical view, no 360.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Spring Hill, TN used to be the Saturn plant. However, when doing research a couple of years ago, I found GM built Saturns at other plants (Wilmington, DE; Doraville, GA; Fairfax, KS; and Lansing, MI). Also, Spring Hill makes parts for other GM cars at Spring Hill.
According to GM’s website, Spring Hill is no longer an assembly plant.
The GM plant in Ft.Wayne In. makes the pickups for Chevy and GM. Its in SW Allen County along I 69 and I 469. Kevin
Keep in mind they have to unload the cars too. Not far from my house in Cottage Grove MN is a small yard (several tracks) where autorack cars are unloaded to be hauled by truck to their final destination. A site like that would be much easier to model than a full-blown auto assembly plant, which tend to be rather huge.
Automobile assembly factories are going the way of the Dodo bird in the San Francisco area. Instead, automobiles are loaded onto autorack cars from a huge parking lot in Benicia along Suisun Bay (immediately east of the UP(SP) Suisun Bridge), previously driven off ocean-going ships.
Mark
The OP did not indicate what era he wants to model? Autos have been transported by rail since their inception, first in box cars, sometimes on flat cars in the early days, and on “modern” auto racks for the last 40 plus years.
So that leaves a wide range of modeling possiblities, dispite the current state of the auto industry. And while a fair number come from overseas or across the north or south border, many even with those “foreign” names are built/assembled right here.
I suspect like a lot of things, California is not the most economical place for such industry. High living costs that mean high labor costs and high levels of government regulation are generally not good for such industries.
I model the auto industry, in the early 50’s when autos still traveled six at a time in 50’ box cars.
Sheldon
Since you mention auto racks, I’m assuming you are thinking something modern. If you want to get the flavor of a facility, without the auto plant, you can model an unloading facility as others have mentioned above. There is one of them alongside US 322 and I95 just south of Chester, Pa., and another one just south of the Harbor Tunnel near Baltimore.
Basically they seem to consist of a large concrete and/or asphalt paved area to park the cars, plus a couple stub ended spurs for the bi/tri level cars. You also need the unloading ramps. Walthers produced these at one time, but they are not currently listed in the Walthers catalog. The kit was Walthers number 933-3106. Here is a link to a picture of one that someone is offering for sale: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/walthers-auto-loading-ramp-933-3106-87566905.
I pass the facility at 322 and I-95 every day. They seem to do their thing at night since I never seem to see them during the day except for an occasional truck hauling some out. I did a job once at the now closed Chrysler plant in Newport De. Loading the cars was a similar setup.
A string of auto carriers with a paved track section at one end. They simply drove the cars onto the carriers.
The Benicia facility has been around awhile.
Autos and light pickup trucks from overseas were loaded on autoracks at Benicia when I lived in Fairfield more tham 30 years ago.
Just located a photo of the facility my girl friend took on an Amtrak trip from Sacramento to Martinez. It shows the parking/storage lot and autoracks (with Suisun [Sue-soon] Bay and mothball fleet in background). The ships’ dock is out of sight to the right.
Mark