Industial Favorite

I voted other, as I am in process of modelling a Meat Packing facility that will cover 8’ of layout. That’s a lot of reefers, boxcars, tankcars etc.

Paul August

Other. Where’s ore? Other things I like are coal, steel, grain, lumber and coke.

For modern, i.e. 1970s and later modeling I like grain in covered hoppers. For 50s and 60s modeling I prefer refers hauling produce to grocery wholesales, boxcars of appliances and manufactured goods shipped to regional distributors and manufactured goods shipped out in boxcars. Petroleum products and/or vegatable oil or corn syrup in tank cars is “good railroadin’” in almost any era.

Cheers,

Ed

Oil and gas.

When I was a young kid living in Casper, Wyoming, I remember seeing long strings of tank cars waiting their turn in the loading racks at the Standard Refinery on the west end of town.

I plan on seeing them again, this time in my basement.

Canning and lumber are my preferences–both in the “other” category here.

Paper mills - Wood Chip Gons and Tank Cars in. Box Cars for news print out.
Off layout saw mills - Bulkhead and centerbeam flats
Wood chips destined for export - off line.

Being a chemist, I had to vote “chemicals” - but grain products will be on the layout, too.

In fact, my Clinton, IA section will have a DuPont plastic plant as well as an ADM plant (as Clinton really had in 1996).

Did you know that the chemical industry dwarfs all other industries ???

The Old Dog would suggest Wholesale, Warehouse, and Light (multi-story) Manufacturing. The Old Dog likes industries that ship and recieve in closed cars.

  1. Grocery Wholesale Company. Maybe limited packaging of wheat flour, Corn Meal and so on.

  2. Produce Wholesale Company

  3. Independent Meat Wholesale Company

  4. Malt Beverage and Wine Wholesale Company with limited bottling capability.A home for your three and six domed tankers! Also, you are not limited to one brand of beer reefers.

  5. Produce Bottling Company. A home for your pickle tankers, your vinegar tankers!

  6. Newspaper/Magazine Printing Plant. Baggage Cars???

  7. Textile Mills

  8. Office (and Home) Furnishings Wholesaler

  9. Downtown Builders Supply

  10. Large sized Commerial Bakery

  11. Animal Feed blending plant

  12. Bulk Chemical repackaging Company

  13. Industrial gases repackaging Company

  14. Fish/Seafood Wholesale Company

  15. Paint Manufacturing Company

  16. Independent Dairy Product Packaging/Wholesale Company

  17. Electric Power Plant/Central Steam Plant (Oil Burning)

  18. Office Furniture Manufacturing Plant

  19. Freight Forwarding Company Terminal

  20. Auto Upolstery (Seat) Manufacturing Plant

  21. Clothing Manufacturin g Plant

  22. Shoe Manufacturing Plant

  23. City Water Works

  24. Small Appliance Contract Assembly Compang

  25. Mattress Manufacturing Company

Have fun

Doesn’t Equistar have a plant there?

Tomato processing plants still ship large quantities by rail out here. According to the California Tomato Growers’ Association, California is by far the largest processor of tomatos in the world, processing about half of all tomatos processed in the world (http://www.ctga.org/newctga/facts.htm), so the processing plants out here ship large quanities by rail to all over the US. In addition to cans, the processed tomato products may be in jars, pouches, barrels, drums, or bags-in-boxes. Some are even shipped by tankcar, the only place I have seen this is at the ConAgra plant in Oakdale (next to Hersheys).

In addition to trains, one of my interests is industry, therefore I plan to have many industries on my layout. Currently, I have an oil refinery, dry bulk terminal, lumber mill, tomato processing plant, intermodal terminal, and a team track. All are in the planning or construction stages. I am trying to fit a packing house in there also. When I am able to expand my layout, I will add a mini-mill (steel mill that uses scrap metal as the feedstock); a citrus processing plant (probably in conjunction with a citrus packing plant); natural gas liquids fractionation plant; and a plant that will received corn syrup, flour, corn, sugar, and vegatable oil by rail. I will probably also expand some existing industries.

I had a difficult time deciding between agricultural related industries and oil/gas. I ended up choosing oil and gas.

Yes - they make polyethylene, among other things.
I had a tour of the plant a few years ago with my local ACS section - very interesting !!!

But they are a bit out of town (to the West) to have on my layout.

The ADM and the old DuPont (sold now) plants were close - and will be even closer on my layout !!!

The Old Dog may not know about that. But the Old Dog understands that the old Campbell Soup plant in`New Jersey used to recieve tons of tomatoes from Pennsylvania shipped in stock cars. The fruit was placed in baskets and placed on planks that were placed between the slats in the Pennsy stock cars. The plant got tomatoes instead of tomatoe paste. And the Pennsy got some use out of the stock cars out of season.

Have fun

My vote went to other.

Tack me up for “Beer!!”