I’ve seen metal office furniture that was made in a state prison. Does anyone out there know anything about how the steel was shipped in and how the furniture was shipped out? Could either/both have been shipped via rail? And the paint and cardboard cartons for packing.
Any information would be appreciated,
Jcopilot
jocpilot, do you have a prison on your layout, or is this still in the planning stages ?
I’d like to see a photo of it. Someone posted a photo, I believe on the A board, of a small prison with a basketball court, with a game underway. Very unique addition to the layout !
Keith.
I suppose it’s feasible in the fifties that a siding could have been put in for prison industry. In this day and age it would probably be done by truck. The New Haven used to have a siding from the Maybrook line to the power plant for the NYS prison at Fishkill where they dropped coal hoppers usually from the B&O. Fences and gates to seperate the powerplant from the prison and fences and gates for the track. Hope that helps. J.R.
Ceiteach1,
I don’t plan to model the actual prison, just a building flat with loading dock for the furniture factory portion. There’ll also be a power plant that will require coal deliveries.
Jcopilot
The Minnesota Stae Prison at Stillwater, MN had rail service into the prison(through a gate). At one time the prison made farm implements and I suspect materials were delivered by rail. The spur is now gone, and a new prison a Oak Park does not seem to use any rail service.
Jim Bernier
I see trucks in Pennsylvania with their trailers lettered
“BIG HOUSE INDUSTRIES”
Apparently its office furniture for institutional use by state and local government facilities produced by prison(s) in PA.
Mark B
Having a model prison would be a good addition… and give you a place to send you’re little scale graffiti “artists”!!
Lee
A bit off topic I admit, but the old New York Central mainline up the Hudson from New York City ran right thru SingSing prison. You can still go thru there on the commuter line that runs it now (Metro?? can’t think of the name right now.)
BTW that’s where the expression “being sent up the river” comes from, criminals convicted in New York would be sent up the Hudson by train to SingSing for imprisonment.
I would think that a prison factory would have such a small input and output that it would be unusual for shipments to come and go by rail, even in the day when LCL was shipped by rail rather than truck. On the other hand, there are probably exceptions to every rule, so there is probably a prototype example of this somewhere. If you are freelancing, you get to make your own rules.
My own layout has the county workhouse represented by a building flat on the backdrop opposite my main yard. It is just a filler on the backdrop and has no spur servicing it. I used a wall from an old discarded structure and I thought of what type of building it might represent and the small windows made me think of a prison, so that is what I decided it would be.
All materials and products for prison work projects are taken in and out by truck here.
Folsom Prison in central California had a quarry served by railroad. Among other things, the quarry supplied stone for dam projects, and the Folsom Prison Rock Crushing Plant was the first to produce gravel for paving roads in California. Seems to me a quarry would produce many more railroad car loads than a furniture factory.
(Trivia bonus: Folsom was also the western terminus of the Pony Express.)
Mark
I know a lil bit about this as I’m employed with Prison Industries (staff member, not a convict). In any modern prison (last 50 years or so) most if not all shipments would be made by truck. Security concerns make the use of rail impractical and the amount of raw material consumed would make it impractible. Most shipments from prison industries probably go to individual locations, more suited for LTL truck carriers. But hey, invoke some modeler’s licsence and why not have a gondola of coil steel or a center beam flat of lumber delivered to maybe outside the “fence” and it would be the responsibility of staff to “truck” the materials inside the “fence”
I don’t usually respond directly to humor, but that one truly deserves an LOL!
Best!