I’m starting the design process of what will be a small yet highly detailed n scale rr.What I need to know is about when did they stop hauling cattle on railroads?
Thanks,
Gary
I recall MILW hauling cattle to a local packing plant in the late 70’s in my hometown
The hauling of livestock on railroads is extremely regulated. Trains carrying livestock had to stop every 33 hours (IIRC) and the animals had to be unloaded and rested. Handlers had to travel with the animals as well.
Livestock shipments by rail decreased when the meat packing industry moved slaughterhouses and processing plants to the regions where the livestock are actually raised. (The near-disappearance of rail livestock shipments coincided with the closing of the great big-city stockyards, such as those in Chicago, in the mid-to-late 1960s.) This allows for short-haul transport by truck. Modern refrigeration and packing technologies allow packed meat to be quickly shipped to market without sacrificing food quality.
Sometime they still haul livestock in australia
They stopped hauling livestock about the mid 50’s t0 early 60’s. Traders today are responsible for having sufficient cattle trucks to haul the cattle to the slaughter. I have had the experience of hauling meat by truck and I have seen a few cattle cars but everything is by truck these days.
However, If you like stock cars you can model them by using a “feedlot” using AltonFan’s information on resting every 33 hours. You may like to have a spot on your railroad to drop off and pick up stockcars without having to model the large meat plant. In this hobby, there is no reason not to model something similar.
As a side note, there are now Digital soundcards inside model stockcars ($99- retail) that will give you the Moo and the Squeal. There is also rumors of passenger cars with talking, music, snoring, dishes etc and related sounds as well.
Good Luck!
Lee
I would say early '60s if your operation is pretty much based on just livestock hauling and late '60s (maybe early '70s-depending on the railroad you are modeling) if you just want an occasional car or two in your consist.
They still do? I just the other day heard an engineer say they were running late and needed to clear the crossing before the intermodal ran through. He said they were really hauling donkies. FRED