Blue Circle (Lefarge) and Rail Shipments

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Can anybody give me some background on the merger of Lefarge and Blue Circle. I understand that Blue Circle is the giant British cement company and that Lefarge is the giant French cement company. Did Lefarge take over all of the Blue Circle plants or just the ones in say N. America, America, or even just Georgia?

I have also noticed that in Georgia every ex Blue Circle plant has a rail siding. This is the only concrete company that I know of that is tied to the rail in this way. In fact, it is the only one that I know of that gets its ingrediants by rail at all! Are their any Blue Circle plants that do not reieve their cement, sand, etc by rail? I also know that Blue Circle seems to have quite an extensive railcar fleet. (Their open hoppers all seem to be pretty old, though.) Is the reason that they are tied to rail due to the size of the company or what?

Thanks!

2

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I was refering to the concrete plants where they mix the ingredients. It seems that all of the ex Blue Circle concrete plants in Northeast Georgia get their sand and cement by rail. I do not notice this with any of the other companies.

3

Mark, Natural Gas is the fuel for heat in making the cement rather than it being made from. Our local LaFarge plant is testing the idea of burning tires and other combustibles in their kiln. They also ship cement by boat , rail and truck!

4

The Lafarge plant in Zorra, Ontario takes 2 bay powerflow hoppers of something and is delivered by CP. I don’t know if anything loaded leaves the large plant because the amount of hoppers is few. I think it might be additives like lime or something because most of the gravel is mined there and is moved by truck contracted to Laidlaw. The plant overlooks the busy CP Galt Subdivision between London and Cambridge Ontario.

5

In Ontario, alot of cement from St.Mary’s Cement is transported by rail. Ontario and Quebec is riddled with many cement plants of Lafarge, St.Mary’s, Inland and St.Lawrence.

6

No problem, I just saw that line (made from NG) and had to say something.

7

Once, there was a very nice little opperation, in Rome, Georgia USA, a rock quarry, terminating the old Rome & Northern Railroad.
The pit, carved out of rock so solid they used dinamite to break-up the walls, just to be able to (steam) shovel it into huge off-road dump trucks.
What rock could be crushed, was loaded into first air dump railcars, then Blue Circle used a low side gondola, rotary dumped.
I’ve seen the classic five unit four axle Southern Railway System power lug the thirty-nine loads up out of the mine.
The cars were loaded by a company GE centercab, at the pit end, and parked on the upgrade, with five or so handbrakes to hold the cut, until the afternoon G36 switch job pulled to the concrete plant, in Atlanta.
The G36 usually brought eleven “little big red” ortner two bay hopper cars of clay out of Coosa, GA, off the old Central of Georgia.
Time changed the power to two SD40’s, and a GP38-2. Thats eight-thousand tons behind eight-thousand horsepower.
The train obtained track rights south, between other movements at Fox Junction, in North Rome, and scooted south, as traffic permitted, taking Braswell Grade, without a pusher.
At the big A, The train was yarded, for Blue Circle, and Chattahouchee Brick.
The return, was thirty-nine empty gons, straight back to the Rome Rock quarry owned by Florida Rock.
The pit is now closed, after reaching a depth of onehundred fifty feet, because it began to fill with water faster than could be managed.
So, the mine was closed, the run done, the D11 Cat trucked off.
To Douglas, Georgia.
The train still runs, on the Atlanta-Birmingham line, for Blue Circle.
The little big reds, still move clay, via the Run 2 switcher, delivered by a merchandizer, out of Forrestville Yard, N. Rome.
When I lived in Rome, I was soooo tempted to watch both the pic-up, and return, of the G-36. I managed to see the train pull Braswell Grade, one afternoon, after a days work clearing the Georgia Power