What would be the “Major” carriers of cement in the midwest? Major in who does the most in the area or would be prototypical.
If you mean what railroads would have cement hoppers, look at a map and see what railroads run through the midwest. All of them would be carrying dry cement from the manufacturers to distributors. Ones that I can name offhand are Union Pacific, Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Norfolk Southern, Illinois Central (now part of CN), and CSX.
What era?
This depends on your era. Up until about 20 years ago, the cement industry was very localized. Those 2 bay cement hoppers usually work in a under 400 mile radius from the industry that made the cement. For example, there were major cement producing plants in Mason City, Rapid City, Ft Dodge, etc…
For the most part, we still see a lot of localized plants/customers, but we are starting to see overseas shipments.
Right now, UP services two large cement plants in Mason City. These were originally service by C&NW/M&StL/CGW. DM&E services the Rapid City plant(ex C&NW) and Ft Dodge is service by UP/CN(IC) at this time. I would think that most of the ‘big’ railroads service a cement plant somewhere on their system…
Jim Bernier
The Great Lakes saw a constant stream of lake steamers carrying bulk cement through out the lakes region that was unloaded to other means of transit to its final destination. Perhaps some research into the era and the places that had cement plants would be in order to determine where raw materials orginated, where it was processed and where it was then transported to.
Will
I want to model one(small terminal) and I was curious I see at alot of CSX and NS hoppers and wondered if they make it to the midwest. I stick with UP and throw some variety with CNW, CHTT, MP hoppers.
I forgot to mention its modern and I never see any IC hoppers…sometimes WC do these carry cement?
One of the big bulk cement companys now is Blue Circle.They have taken over alot of other cement companys. Walthers does make their 100 ton cement hoppers lettered for them.
One shortline carrier that runs through my neighborhood is the Ellis & Eastern. They haul the raw materials that go into making concrete and cement and are owned by Concrete Materials of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A good share of the Ellis & Eastern’s open and covered hoppers are ex-Chicago & Northwestern. Their locomotive fleet consists of a single SW1200, an SW900, and two GP-10s. The paint scheme of these engines is maroon with white lettering. I have also seen DM&E covered hoppers in the consists of the Ellis & Eastern Railroad.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
XG01X,
Most of those WC 2 bay covered hoppers were purchased for hauling ‘roofing granules’. They have some older 70 ton cars and that new fleet of 100 ton capacity cars.
Jim Bernier
Just down the road from me, here in South Beloit, IL there’s a small cement company. I think even Walthers “Medusa” model would be a little big, but it would be perfect to reproduce on a layout. They’re at the end of a spur that’s serviced by the UP on what’s left of an old CNW line. Also on this spur is, I believe, a quarry and a grain elevator. There’s also a company that produces precast concrete, though I don’t know if they utilize the railroad or not. Kind of an odd setup because this small stretch of track isn’t conected to the UP proper - they use the IC&E to get to Janesville, WI. These businesses must generate some revenue since the UP hasn’t sold off the line.
Very interesting…Thanks for the replies
CP- So the DME carries some, ellis eastern and my railroad on my layout share the same roster minus the SW900
jrbernier- ok that makes sense about the WC hopper I see alot of them on UP trains going south so I wondered.
Chris- I know what you mean, my prototype is a two silo complex in St. Louis so Medusa is big for me too. You wouldn’t happen to know the address on the complex in S. Beloit would you? I would like to try to look it up on terraserver for some aerial pics.
Again thanks to everyone
Travis
13700 Dearborn Ave, South Beloit, IL 61080
or
N 42.460710
W 89.020382
Sorry about the late reply.