Downtown Orlando, Fl

[Paulman]

There are quite a few big box warehouses along the Silver Star Branch, but their sidings seem to be used more for car storage than spotting these days. Some of these I've documented in this thread (update: the circus flats are still in residence).

What I couldn't figure out is where those colorful re-liveried fallen flag cars were going. I'd see 'em idling in Modello or rattling into Orlando toward Taft Yard—former Southern, Sabine River and Northern, and Nacionales do Mexico 50 footers, most of them contemplating their third or fourth decades in service. Cars, ah, freighted in history.

Well, as I discovered today, they were hanging out at the local beer joint: Schenck Company Distribution Center. Figures. Even more intoxicating, there is an accessible parking lot that parallels the siding, permitting full side views of most of the cars. Yay, me.



Some shots of the dock. Lots of interesting business to model here. I thought all would be quiet the Sunday after Christmas, but folks were out unloading cars in freezing, frost-bite-inducing 42 degree weather. Beer is money, I suppose!




Here are a few snaps of today's line-up. No Ferromax cars today, alas, but there were some well-loved Railboxes and a former SRN car in the mix.






Schenck is actually an exciting discovery for me, as I have (probably foolishly) resolved to model only cars that have ridden the home rails (I shall dive into some projects very soon). That most of these vintage boxes are all going to the same spot makes adding Schenck to my eventual layout a no-brainer. Tool World accounts for my covered hoppers, Louis Dreyfus Citrus my reefers, and now the exotic box cars have a home. (The muggle BNSF hi-cubes can go to Dixie Plywood & Lumber Company along with the centerbeam flats, while CMC Recycling takes the gondolas; I'll cover these businesses in another post.)