As a bonafide baby boomer and transition era+early 1960s modeler, I love the old days (mine) and the various industrial and commercial logos that represent that period (in my recollection). I was planning to use the “Formica” logo on a car as a kitbash of sorts. Question: what type of car- box car, covered hopper or tank car would be most appropriate (in a fictitious world) for use of this symbol? Chemicals in a tank car (perhaps related to use with plastics production); a particular type of pellet material in a covered hopper, or something that might be most properly moved by box car?
Just want some feedback before I go ahead- I am not very familiar with the plastics industry.
When I was a boy – a cub scout to be precise - in the early 1960s we toured a small local factory, Mitchell Mfg, that made large, heavy tables with folding legs. The kind used for church/Masonic Lodge suppers and such. The factory building was previously The Midland Company which made a variety of light farming/gardening implements as well as some castings used in the rail business such as baggage car door hangers and latches. The factory was rail served by a spur on the C&NW in So Milwaukee WI
Anyway, the factory received raw materials via boxcars. And as I recall – from the perspective of 50 years later mind you – the formica for the table tops was received in large rolls in the boxcars, likely unloaded via fork lift. In the factory itself the formica was cut to size and glued to the heavy wood table tops and sides using a very pungent hot glue that itself came in large barrels (or drums – can’t recall which) – and which was applied and then clamped in place to set.
I recall pretty much plain-Jane 40 or 50 foot boxcars in this service. It may be that the glue and wood tables and metal leg assemblies also arrived by rail. Outbound shipping was likely by truck however.
So what I am talking about is an end user of Formica, or a generic equivalent. But I definitely recall the rolls because I was surprised as a kid that the stuff would bend. I’ll bet those rolls were heavy, and of course Formica is somewhat easily chipped and is somewhat fragile. I don’t recall if it came wrapped in some manner – what we saw on tour was unwrapped rolls of the stuff.
Our own church had tables from Mitchell Mfg and while I have not seen one (a table that is, not a church) in eons, my recollection is that they were really sturdy, really heavy tables, that could be stacked on a wheeled holder and shoved out of the way.
“Wiki” just informed me that Formica was made from “a thick paste of cellulose powder and phenolic resin”. Tank cars to handle the resin, box cars as mentioned above to handle the finished product… I doubt that entire car loads of wood chips would be used for the cellulose, which was likely processed elsewhere from wood chips into the powder for the process. I’ve never been a chemical engineer, but it seems that on your layout you could also justify some covered hoppers bringing in that cellulose powder - and thus the potential of three different car types to carry that big F logo.
If you are speaking of the 50’s, the materials would have been delivered by box car. Maybe a tank car for the chemicals if this was a really large plant. Covered hoppers were very expensive and most at that time were of the 70-75 ton capacity range.
If you are looking at the mid 60’s, covered hoppers were getting quite common. Plastic pellets many time were dilivered in large 4 bay hoppers(the Athearn 5250 cf Centerflow or the Atlas 5701 cf Centerflow are appropriate).
Formica is generally made from large sheets of a paper product soaked in a resin. Multiple sheets are bonded together and a final decorative top sheet is bonded to the stack. In the case of Formica, I suspect that covered hoppers are not really used for transport of the basic materials.
To add to this, if your manufactureing the Formica, for sale to the table manufacturer, it starts with huge rolls of heavy kraft paper, which is hauled in box cars, like rolls of paper for the print industries, and then impregnated with the phenolic resin. The main ingredient for the resin is phenol, which is hauled in tank cars, and I think it has to be kept at a certain temp. Also, phenolic resin can be in pellet or bead form, but I think that is in smaller quantities.
I guess it depends on which end of the process your modeling, but I would agree that box cars and tank cars would be involved.
Mike.
EDIT: Ooops! Jim snuck in there while I was typing, and I would also agree with his post.
I wonder if an Equipment Register of your period wouldn’t answer your questions? A person could look up “Formica” or whatever the parent company’s nane is and see what cars they owned or leased. You might not find a register for the exact years you want but close would be good enough for me. Probably someone on the forums has access to to this info. Just an idea.