Ok, so I have a problem. I have plenty of scattered industries all across my layout and I did something kinda of unique. I enjoy operating, but dont have the time to orgainze anything fancy with cards or paperwork so I made most of my industires car-type specific to keep things easy when putting together my trains to run out of the yard to the locals.
So, I have a track, location for an industry and a bunch of ribbed sidded covered hoppers… what do I put in them?
Help me figure this one out… Here some guidelines
Location is central Arizona, present day-ish.
Rather it not be grain. I have a good sized grain operation on the otherside all ready usieng smooth-sided hoppers.
Cars come in in 3-5 car blocks.
Frequency? Could be 1-2 times a week or once every other week.
Could be coming in, could be coming out.
Imagantion can be in full effect as I admit, I take some pretty creative twists to keep my “free-lanced” railroad operational.
You can actually put almost anything in a covered hopper - rib sided or not. Sugar from sugar beets is one thing that comes to mind. White Sands NM is actually gypsum - any gypsum deposits in your area? Plastic pellets for making just about anything made from plastic. The list goes on - it would be easier if you told us what industries you would like to have.[C):-)]
To be honest, what ever industry allows me to make the neatest building. Wow, how’s that for being vain huh?
The plastic pellet is one that I had been sorta doing. I have a track lead next to it that O use the big 4 bay covered hoppers (64 foot?) and I run those with plastic pellets.
I could make a gypsum deposit… for a dry wall plant? Hmm…
Whether it is a ‘rib’ side or ‘smooth’ side really makes no difference. Shorter 2 bay covered hoppers usually carry ‘dense’ materials. Cement or Bentonite are typical loads. The longer 3 bay cars carry grain or fertilizer for example. The grain cars usually have long loading troughs on the roof and simple unloading gates on the bottom. The really long 4 bay cars may be assigned to plastic pellet service or ‘DDG’(Dried Distillers Grain) that is produced as a byproduct of corn ethonal production.
Then there are the specialty cars like Airslides or Pressure Differental cars that use an air system to ‘fluff’ up fine/granular loads so that they will flow and/or force the product out of the car. Flour is a good example.
Most new covered hoppers are have a capacity of 100+ tons product. The longer the car, the greater ‘cubes’ it can carry. The shipper want to ‘fill’ the car with the full 100 or 112 tons capacity of the car. If the car is not big enough, he may ‘cube out’ the car(fill it full) before he gets to the rated capacity.
You’ll probably hate this one, but here goes. How about a transload facility for the latest in cattle feed - the mash cake from ethanol plants somewhere off-layout? I know that Arizona used to be cattle country, but don’t know how much is left.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - using ethanol bottled in Tennessee)
My brother created the idea for this about 50 years ago, then, when I finally had the room, I created the industry, shown below, specifically to generate traffic - mostly covered hoppers and boxcars. The product is imaginary, but used in almost everything, from foods and medicines, to agriculture, metal refining, and just about anything else you’d care to model. Well over a dozen other modellers in various parts of the world are modelling their own version of this industry, which can be sized to suit any layout, in any era. Most of the product is low-density (a 100lb. bag of the stuff weighs only 75lbs.) [swg], so big covered hoppers would be right at home. My layout is set in the '30s, so mostly boxcars and smaller covered hoppers are used. If you want more info on this, contact me via PM.
The January 1965 issue of Model Railroader was the first one I subscribed to (before that I bought at a newsstand) and to this day I remember every word in the issue! So I hope you will believe me that I remembered a question being asked in that issue
“What commodities are hauled in covered hoppers?” – here is MR’s answer again from 1965:
Now that the OP mentioned it, do any current North American railcar manufacturer still produce Rib-Sided covered hopper - (open-top rib-sided hoppers there are plenty, including aggregates & ore cars - and of course coal cars galore)?
I checked ACF - apparently they have retreated to mostly railcar parts and custom fabrication.
I checked GreenBrier - no ribbed sided covered hoppers there.
I checked FreightCar America - nothing there.
I checked National Steel Car - and their site sucks - flash animation of some random blonde woman going on about how great National Car is, then random images of freight cars displayed with mid-80s style electronica music (apparently centerbeam flat cars exude “RAW POWER!” and well cars traverse the desert racing against camels. Anyway at the end they should some models, and going by those, no rib-sided covered hoppers
And finally I checked Trinity Rail Car - yep, no ribbed covered hoppers there either.
At this point I couldn’t remember any more major railcar maufacturers…and then I gave up [:P]
Not silly at all. Truth is, I guess it doesn’t matter. Only hang up for me is to help in the search to find a good structure for the industry to put there. But then again, I might be all set for a grain feed plant (good idea Chuck) then find a cool factory that would do the dry wall plant. But you guys have been great with the ideas.
As far the 2 bay hoppers go, I have a cement/heavy materials plant for those.
This has been a great thread and it feels good to active on this forum once again. Been too long as life always seemed to get in the way these last few months
Also, thanks for all the links on the car makers. That is way cool and checking out the sites was very pretty cool. Almost afraid to ask what one of those costs. I am not surprised they dont make them anymore but I still see them on the road. Weathered hard and rusted most of the time. perfect!
The ribs make absolutely no difference to what’s in the car.
What makes a difference is the top hatches and the bottom outlets.
Are the hatches on the top round and spaced down the center?
Do the bottom outlets have a tube running across the bottom?
Are the hatches on top long oblong shapes or long rectangular down virtually the entire center of the car?
Are the bottom outlets rectangular and flat on the bottom?
The first hatch/outlet combination says the cars handle plastic pellets or resins. They would go to a company that makes plastic things (bottles, jars, toys, auto parts, kitchenware, tool handles, coat hangers) or coats things with plastic (waterproof bags, dog food bags, book covers, raincoat material, tarps).
The second hatch/outlet combinations says dry bulk commodities. Grain, soda ash, potash, fertilizer, bone meal, dried distiller’s grain, hops.
So what do the tops and bottoms of the cars look like?
OK, well since you brought up so many questions, I will try and respond to them.
Well, kinda does for my layout. Goes back to first post. I try and keep my cars to there specifc industries by car type. I then switch out full/empty for the other empty/full. Lame operating basis? Yeah, kinda but its easy since it may be a few weeks between times for me to get out there and my 8 year old son can keep up with me. Simple, but it works.
Agree.
A little of both I think. Most of the cars I got cheap at swap meets/freinds. I had the road name or color I wanted, good to go.
Honestly, couldnt tell ya. They all roll pretty well with metal wheels and Kadee’s installed though.
It seems like there are a few cement plants in Arizona. You could model one of these, a terminal, or large concrete batch plant. I have seen cement hauled in two bay Center-flow and rib side hoppers, and in three bay Pressure Differential hoppers.
It looks like you already have the cars. Can you give the links to the manufacturers’ pages for them?
I do have a cement plant on my layout that I got inspired from the cement plant south of Chanlder Arizona. I have about 18 2- bay, ribbed covered hoppers. They are a mix of several different types. Athearn, Bowser, MDC, and even a few Atlas model in there. Some of them are older and out of production, probably by a few decades.
I think that is a old MDC one. Most of them I picked up used at train shows or swap meets. I did the weathering.
www.AtlasRR.com might be a godo spot to look. They have some nice ones out.
Back in the 70’s I worked a project in an area known as Nelson Junction in Arizona. About 60 miles east of Kingman just off of old route 66, down this old gravel road about 30 miles long was Nelson. It was a siding in a small quarry with a rock crusher building similar to the walthers kit and a couple of mobile homes. Down the road a little farther was a calcined lime plant. Both of these plants received and shipped hoppers daily. 2 or 3 from the crusher and maybe a dozen or so from the lime plant.
There’s a plastic bag company here in town. A pretty EZ thing to model. I’ve got to go by there today. I’ll get some pics of their unloading track and silos and post them tonight.
Big John, how about this idea for a neat industry, as well as a cool loading for a covered hopper.
Ammonium nitrate.
Add a little fuel oil, and BOOM! a mining grade explosive.
If you have, or are planning to have a mining operation as part of your layout planning a supporting explosives company is a great way of showing that the mines are huge.
Silos hold the AN/FO for distribution in trucks. Fuel oil can be delivered by rail, stored in tanks, or even in a “rolling storage” the tank cars parked on a siding, passing the fuel oil to the trucks that will deliver the stuff to the job site.
