I hope this works…
The above link should put you at a Google maps location of 386 East Benson Road, Sioux Falls, S.D., looking north. There is a stub spur that ends right there. There is a row of high fence on the right side that perhaps curves over the top of the tracks a bit. What is that fence for?
I would suspect that rather than being for a fence, those poles would support a safety line for crews working on top of cars.
Perhaps. Wouldn’t that have some sort of horizontal rail between posts to tie off to? The business to the left is a cardboard box company that gets boxcars of cardboard in. The one to the right is a manufacturer of industrial fans. I believe the silos are from a previous tenant. I’m not sure what type of cars or products would require the safety lines for crews unloading.
There may have been something like a rail system there - I certainly don’t know as I’ve never been there…
Any car which would potentially require workers to be on top (covered hoppers and tank cars) would require fall protection.
im thinking that may be a catch fence for loading gondolas or hoppers with cardboard scrap from the box company. Judging by the bent fence on the left side, it sure looks like some sort of equipment hit it a few times. Perhaps a front end loader?
Somewhere in my photos I have a picture of a guy atop a covered hopper loading grain. He is wearing a tether to prevent him from falling should he make a misstep. It only stands to reason that employers should be required to provide such protection.
Looks like they unloaded plastic pellets there into trucks…and it does look like a safety harness tie off.
Moving the view around and looking from different angles, it looks like there is something running horizontal at the top. It certainly isn’t like the heavy duty rigs I’ve seen elsewhere.
If the building was previously used by a different manufacturer, perhaps it’s leftover from that previous use.
Jeff
I went back and played around with the views and I can see it now, especially in the straight overhead view.
I did some reasearch and found the building to the right used to be home to Bedford Plastics, who made solid things out of plastic, like parking lot curb stops.
It may have been an early iteration of fall protection - there more in spirit than in fact…[swg]
Not sure I trust Google maps to be accurate in their photos, condisdering it was taken outside the fence…