I am planning my new layout. It is a 2 X 8 modular layout. I need an industry idea. I have purchased some new Kadee 50 ft single and double door boxcars.
What industries would use 50 ft single door, 10’ 6" IH boxcars and what would they carry?
What industries would use 50 ft double door, 10’6" IH boxcars and what would they load in them?
This newbie needs a lot of help and advice. Please help me.
How about if I go halfway in between your specifications, not one-door nor two-door but one-and-a-half? Apparently the only PS-1 50’ ONE-AND A-HALF-DOOR boxcars were used by the U S Navy to handle ordnance and explosive shells. I modeled one such car to transport bombs and depth charges to my blimp base railroad.
Lumber sometimes carried in DD boxcars.
The short answer is just about any industry shipping just about anything. The 50 box, unless very specifically equipped (like the all-door car for lumber loading, or one outfitted with special racks for a particular product like auto glass etc.) is a truly general purpose car capable of handling pretty much any load that needs to be protected from the elements. You’ll find anything from bulk grain (into the 1980’s!) to high priced electronics shipped in boxcars. With the growth of containerization, more valuable commodities tend to ride the rails via intermodal, but there’s still an awful lot of paper, machinery, and other products the ride in boxcars.
You might want to “narrow your search” and talk about what part of the country you’re modeling, and maybe some specific industries you might be interested in.
Lee
You might want to look at Walthers “background buildings”. On my layout (currently just 16" wide switching layout) I’ve used three of them along the backdrop with good results.
Walthers Background Building Kits.
Also check out their Cornerstone Modulars decal sheet, which offers lots of different company names etc. for (at least right now) a very cheap price.
WCUBoy,
I plan on having industries on my new layout that’s served by 40ft and 50ft boxcars.
Great suggestion by WJStix. Here’s an example that links with his comment:
Click on the Walthers link provided on his post above and check out the Commissary Building. It’s currently on sale.
I plan to purchase this kit, remove the name, and use it as an industrial / business furniture manufacturer. The time period I’m modeling is the 1960s, so it will fit in nicely as a business that uses both, boxcars and trucks for shipping. Though not deep I’m going to have the doors open and provide a little detail to the interior to give it depth. There will be a will call desk, pallets, and forklift trucks present. I also plan on adding exterior lights as well.
Since my layout is a wall “shelf type”, the backdrop structures fit in quite nicely.
Hope this helps!