Hey I have a question… But first before I asked I did a brief search on the forum concerning industries based around railroads… Now my question is what type of industries are based around railroads… I can understand auto plants, different types of mills, oil refineries etc etc… But what else could be based around a railroad… I’m sorry if this is a newbie type question I tried to search on google as well but I didn’t really come up with anything besides the railroad industry its self…
where i grew up in milwaukee it was breweries
jeff
coal and grain are pretty heavy. Chocolate is also moved by rail (both Whitmans and Hershey’s have rail service). Steel is moved by rail as well. It also helps if we knew what time period or area of the country/world you were intending to model, as industries served by rail change over time and by location. For example, cattle was once frequently moved by rail, but is rarely if ever moved by rail now.
Around the 80s, or 90s… I’m trying to get some ideas on what to do… Also what area I’d like to model I’m thinking some where along the lines of either the Detroit area (where I’m from) or the Chicago area (home away from home)…
The most important question that you’ve got to answer is “What era are you interested in?”
The ability of railroads to transport goods, as well as alternate transportation systems, have both evolved over time. 50 years ago, much of what now moves around on long-haul trucks was carried by railroad, and 50 years before that pretty much everything that went a long way went by train.
Next, think about what part of the world you want to model. In the US Midwest, you would have seen stock cars in the first half of the 20th century, and now you would see grain hoppers. You would not see ore hoppers carrying iron in Florida, but you might in Michigan. Piggyback trailer service could be seen almost anywhere in the United States starting about 1960 or so, but that sort of thing is normally container carriers now.
Mostly, though, consider the efficiency factor. Railroads are very good at moving large amounts of something from one place to another. Coal is probably the best example, but also consider lumber or furniture, anything that can be carried around by the box-car load. Fruit from California has been moving east by rail for a long time, and the only thing that’s change is the evolution of the refrigerator car (or “reefer”) from an ice bunker to mechanical cooling.
An last, don’t forget the “human factor.” Trains have always carried passengers, and it’s yet another “cargo” to consider as you design a layout.
Thanks Mr. Beasley…
I know a manufacturer of diapers that ships by rail…
There are lots of industries that ships or receives by rail.Once modelers learn there are shippers and receivers beyond what is normally modeled the better they can choose industries.
Canning copanies are good industries that located around railroads. In Ohio the towns of Leipsic and Napoleon had numerous canning companies located on the DT&I, Wabash and NKP railroads.
Loads in would be canstock, fuel, food products in Refridgerator Cars, RBL’s etc. along with local grown produce (tomatoes). Most cars out were in Insulated box cars and empties of the previous list.
In Toledo another massive shipper was General Mills, Grain cars and boxcars in and Cereal out in Box Cars. The DT&I had a three track yard that serviced that plant.
Rick
Thanks guys for the suggestions… Please keep them coming…
Cotton mills I use to work for in NC had some boxcars. Also saw alot of tanker cars near a plastic plant called PPG. You can do like you see in real life, and have several cars at a warehouse and have no idea what goes on in there. Just have the cars lined up on the outside, making it look like its a huge industry.
Any kind of machinery, storage tanks or similar items that are overweight or oversize loads for highway trailers can be shipped from fabricator to distributor (or end user) by rail. (I mean things that fit within the normal loading gauge for trains, but too wide/high/heavy for ordinary highway transit.)
I also recall a club railroad featured in MR which had a rather plain-looking squat structure identified (by signage) as Humongous Industries, that shipped ??? either in or out or both in box cars.
Back in the real world, major chain retailers frequently have rail service to their distribution centers (which tend to be plain, rectangular, boxy structures with few or no windows.) The only way you can tell if the company is Wal-Mart, Smith’s (food) or Toys-R-Us is by the logos on the trailers backed up to the loading doors on the other side of the building.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Plastics factories.A building,some silos,and covered hoppers on a siding unloading plastic pellets.One place I deliver to even has their own GE 25 tonner.
Meat Plants had all sorts of rail.
I recall with perfect clarity the bunch of randomly (Or is it planned?) spotted cars that I had to work around to get to a particular dock. That one gondola that was buried in flies was NOT a welcome sight or smell. That particular Meat plant was very heavy into rail and trucks alike. At the time Hides was my trade and they went to the border.
If you look up Canton Railroad in Baltimore, you will find a Distillery called Seagrams that has a web of tracks here, there and everywhere.
In Union Bridge Maryland there is a Cement Plant that was fed by rail and trucks take the stuff away. Trying to work the truck around the Maryland Midland Railroad’s F unit inside the property at 5 Am in the morning while it switched covered hoppers pregnant with cement… was something else.
I also recall MANY places I have gone into that no longer do rail. However you trip over the rails sunken into the dirt or stumble across the old massive docks and platforms “Just this high” which happens to be as high as most boxcars of the time.
There was one place which actually had a boxcar spotted inside the building. The tolerances and clearence was so tight I was inside the thing and wondering why was this room made of metal? The doors formed the part of the forklift hallway that also served to connect both halfs of the building. It took a moment before the light came on in my head. That place managed big rolls of newsprint.
Even warehouses had boxcars and such side by side. Sometimes several tracks were spotted and people crossed empty boxcars to get to the one they wanted to unload or reload. Those are definately “Blue Flagged” and not to move.
Lumber is a big RR shipped commodity, both on centerbeam cars and in boxcars. Not so common to find lumber yards that buy by the carload anymore (most lumber cars are unloaded and reloaded for shipment to the yards on trucks at large reloading centers), but in the 80’s they were a little more common. Bricks are another item shipped by the boxcar, along with steel products such as I-beams (flatcar), telephone poles (flat), and of course scrap metal in gons or hoppers.
Manufacturing companies that produced cleaning products were big users of rail. Bleach was expensive to ship (heavy product weight wise) via truck long haul. Tank cars brought the bleach to regional manufacturing sites and bottled, boxed and ship regionally by truck.
Distirbution centers for manufactured goods received products by rail and reshipped via trucks to customer’s warehouses.
Covered hoppers carrying plastic pellets for injection molding to on line companies.
How about dairy? Was it moved by tanker cars or in bottled form often?
Being from Michigan myself, a Bit further north(Flint area) but familar with Sterling Heights and the Detriot area You could have Diamler-Chrysler, GM, Ford. Ford its self would be fun to model becuase you had the Ford Assembly plant, Rouge Steel, Rouge Stamping, Rouge Glass, I don’t know if they made tires there but theres alot to be modeled in detriot.
If you want to do Michigan stuff but not automotive… take a look at the Kellogg’s plant in Battle Creek. They were a huge user of RR’s. (GTW or NYC).
A lime plant…Ships bulk by cover hopper or bags in boxcars.
A paint manufacturers…Tank cars and covered hoppers.
Frozen food manufacturer.Meats,veggies,cooking oils,salt.Reefers tank cars
Produce Distributor.Reefers
Grocery distributor.Boxcars
Asphalt plant.In tank cars
Automobile subcontactor…Floor mats,plastic molding etc.Boxcars,plastic pellets or rubber.
A Recycling Company…In scrap rubber out ground rubber…Boxcars and covered hoppers
A Hardware distributor…Nails,screws,paint,drywall compound,light bulbs,tools etc.Boxcars.
One needs to get off the beaten path and realize railroads still carry tons of general freight beyond what is normally modeled.
Hi Mr Morbid
Basically if its moved in bulk it can be moved by rail.
In days passed less than car load freight was also moved by rail it all depends on the time frame your railroad is set.
regards John