My regional distributer has a RR siding but it has not been used for over 20 years and that was the same way in the distributer in the town before that in Richmond VA at Acca Yard…So I was surprised that beer and wine acording to the Train Mag Artical “Boxcars still matter” that alcoholic beverages are in the top 5 boxcar commoditys.
I live in the Richmond Va. area, and as far as I know the biggest beer distributor around here, Brown Distributing, gets the stuff by truck even though they’re pretty close to Acca Yard.
Anheuser-Busch has a brewery down by Williamsbug, and they MAY get the raw matierials in by train. The old C&O, now CSX, runs by there, but I’m not sure.
PS: I don’t drink Budweiser, I like Miller.
The Coors side of Miller-Coors still ships heavilly by rail and an awful lot of some popular mexican beer comes to Denver in boxcars. North yard Denver has a major rail served beer warehouse next to it near Utah Junction. A-B still ships quite a bit of finished product by rail out of Ft. Collins.
What town is that in?
Most no longer receive by rail. Brewers are shipping from regional warehouses by truck, not by rail to the Distributors. A fair amount of beer is shipped in tank cars as concentrate to regional bottling plants that add the carbinated H2O and package/bottle it.
Bob
Ok, so I corrected my post so it may make sense now
One of our local distributors is located right next to the tracks, but I doubt rail delivery was ever a consideration. There’s no room for a siding between the tracks and the building.
ive
Sierra Nevada Brewing receives grain via rail at most of its facilities. Petaluma Brewing receives grain and ships product out (to where is unknown).
Unless you are located next to a shortline, railroad cooperation is difficult at best.
Hauled beer for 7-1/2 years, AB rarely ships finished product by rail, MillerCoors ships a little. There are a few larger distributors that have a rail siding, most have quit receiving or built new facilities away from the tracks…
The Des Moines Budweiser distributor used to receive by rail, but I think they discontinued that some years ago. About 15 years ago I worked the switch job that pulled/spotted cars there. Beer would come in both MRS and UP family box cars. I hated riding those MRS cars, the grab irons, while meeting regs, were placed closer to the car body. Made it harder to get my size 13s on them.
Still see a fair amount of wine in box cars. One train I had one time, wine made up 10% of the loads.
Jeff
When I was alive…I mean, working…a lot of Corona beer used to come from Mexico to a distributor right by Proviso (don’t know whether it was in Yard 9 or south of Global 2). Toward the end of that time it all came in standard 50-foot box cars. It had previously come in RBLs during the colder months to protect it from the cold. I used to love seeing these cars, because they were mostly the old incentve-per-diem box cars that originated with every shortline imaginable.
As they came here from Mexico, my assumption is that they came via Kansas City. Jeff, do you still see beer on any trains headed for us?
East Syracuse NY there is a branch line that served Carreir Airconditioning that also served a Beer Dist. Also in New London CT there was a distributer at the south end of the Central Vermont Ry.
WELL! I guess I might add a little here. Seems that what got missed here is the addition to Virginia Beer Drinking Culture… It used to ride in on the Norfolk Southern : Specifically, Coors Beer.
Back in the late 1970’s There was a little labor kerfuffle that erupted in Golden Colorado at the Home of Coors Brewing. I think, I remember it lasting in the neighborhood of about a decade(?).
An outcome of that unpleasantness was the arrival about 1978(?) in Rockingham County, Va. of a ‘Packaging Operation’ for Coors Beer to package, and ship to East Coast beer drinkers their Coor’s Woblin’ Water: " Brewed with Pure Rocky Mountain Water" .
The deal was that the beer arrived in tank cars via NS to the packaging plant. Mostly, the bottles, wrappings and other supplies got trucked in, and trucked to quinch the thirst of those that had acquired a taste for it…Mostly gotten from trips to the 10 or 11 states out West where it could then be gotten legally, and those whose tastes for it had been quinched via various bootlegging activities. [:-^]
It was about 88 or 89 when the previous kerfufle was settled, and later(2007 ?) when Coors Brewing merged with Molson ( YEP! OH! Canada!), and now they call it MillerCoors, and they are apparently brewing some of their Woblin’ Water in [Elktron] Virginia. [:-,]
Once in a while. I see more wine. I used to see tank cars of whiskey going to Peoria, but it’s been a while for that.
I used to enjoy reading the hazardous response info for the whiskey/alcoholic beverages. About the same as regular alcohol, but it seemed funny to read some parts of the warnings for something meant for human consumption. Things like avoid exposure, if exposed flush with large amounts of water, etc. I always thought if exposed, it should be flush with large amounts of black coffee.[:D]
Jeff
During a recent “hazmat” refresher class we discussed that a milk spill is a hazmat incident. Runoff, especially into waterways, is a real problem…
Were people in the class crying? [}:)]
I always thought these Corona beer loads came into Proviso on MASPR (Manifest, Alton & Southern to Proviso IL). Train often had a block of FXE-marked boxcars on it. This was 2000-2007 when it ran regularly on the Peoria Sub (ex-C&NW).
“Blowed up good!” Boy, I thought I was the only that remembered that skit with John Candy and Joe Flaherty on SCTV.
Some random comments on this interesting topic -
A few years ago when Inbev bought Anheuser-Busch, they virtually ended outbound rail transport from St. Louis. Prior to that, I know a place on the north side of the Twin Cities (Coon Rapids, I believe) was getting boxcars of Bud. Prior to that place’s expansion- in the early to mid 90s at least, Mankato (where I live) got cars of Bud in boxcars. So, in my immediate area, it’s been a gradual decrease. I think places in the Twin Cities still got beer by rail, but I’m not sure who or where those distributors are located.
I think City Brewing in LaCrosse, WI still hauls boxcars loads out.
Coors does ship a lot by rail still, but I fear with InBev buying it that may change. They do send tank cars across from Colorado to Virginia with a beer-like substance.
I’ve driven around Miller in Milwaukee - couldn’t see much for tracks there. They may get in raw materials, but I couldn’t tell.
Anheuser-Busch has a lot of distributors with apparently unused sidings - Dubuque, IA for one. I’ve seen many others around the midwest.
InBev isn’t buying Coors (which merged with Molson several years ago)-Molson-Coors is buying the Miller operations from AB when AB buys SAB Miller. Coors is still a major user of rail inbound and outbound from the Golden brewery