I one time saw a unit train that contained flat cars loaded with brand new John Deere tractors. I didn’t get to see the road name because it was rather dark and I was driving. I couldn’t identify which road was hauling them. Which roads haul these pieces of machinery?
Thanks in advance.
If it was from the Waterloo works (As I remember mid sized tractors and above, utilities come from Europe I believe). They start out on the IANR then go to UP in Cedar Rapids then to where ever, some go to west coast ports and Asia I believe. The floods of 2008 took out an IANR bridge in Waterloo, I don’t remember if it’s above or below Deere’s loading point so I don’t know what they are doing about that now. I think they finally got money to rebuild the bridge but it’s gonna be a while before they get it open I believe. I’ve seen a lot of Deere loaded on various TTX flats, and I’m sure other companies flats. Someone will correct me if I’m wrong here.
What time period are you modeling? That will be part of your answer. But the other part is, it could be any road. Not only was Deere equipment shipped from the plant directly to dealers but also between dealers. So the orginiating railroad could be anywhere there was a Deere dealership. Even today dealerships will call other dealerships to find the right product rather than order it from the factory. And at one time almost ever rural county in America had at least one equipment dealer handling Deere (and many time other manufacturers) equipment.
I am modeling modern BNSF. Thanks for the replies. It is very interesting. I think I could easily make a unit train. It would be great to show visitors.
I thought about creating one of these trains too and it as well would be BNSF. I only can say that I’ve seen UP pull a load of tractors on the webcam of Rochelle, IL. I can’t remember if those tractors were JDs or not. To long ago.
Now I have seen military vehicles on BNSF trains through Montana and since I plan on modeling BNSF and MRL I’m really going to try to put together a BNSF train like that!
Were I a wagering man, I’d put my money on TTX reporting marks. If you check auto racks, the rack may have a railroad herald but the car under it will be TTX.
HOWEVER, if you’re going to model a present-day military movement, most of the cars will have DODX numbers.
In either case, the only thing(s) likely to have BNSF painted on them are locomotives.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Most dealer-to-dealer transactions involve single units of equipment that move by “low-boy” over the highways, usually only the factories ship by rail. As for the factory shipments, well they start out on the railroad that owns the track that connects to the factory. From there it goes to any railroad that it needs to ride on to get where it’s going. The combines from the Deere East Moline Harvester Works start out on the Iowa Chicago and Eastern (ICE), but from there they go north to the UP, south to the BNSF, and east-west via the IAIS. So any road is fair game.
Today all transactions involve a low-boy and that was true starting in the 70s also but before that many units were moved by rail. In the era of LCL single units moving on a flat car was not unusual. My step-dad remember single units coming in via flatcar to the feed dealer in Pt Jefferson NY behind LIRR steamers. He worked at the dealer as a kid.
That is one reason I asked him what era. At one time John Deere had factories in other areas prior to the mechanized ear they manufactured items in many parts of the country (For Example the Syracuse Chilled Plow company in Syracuse NY was a JD sub) so there is no blanket answer to the question.
Everything you say is correct. However you may have missed the post where the author replied that he models the BNSF. So the modern rules apply. [:D]
I’ve never seen a whole train with just farm machinery up here in Canada but every once in awhile I see some flat cars loaded with heavy machinery. Dodge Sprinter vans as well since they don’t fit in Auto Racks. Both make interesting loads on my layout.
Here are two photos (of 5) I took in Berea, OH of a solid farm equipment train the NS was taking to the east coast for forwarding to Europe.
Thank you all for the responses. Are those 89 foot flat cars?