Trinidad Benham Corp

[FCIN]

While looking around on Google maps at various industrial spurs, I found this facility in La Vergne, TN. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s...5&t=h&z=17    
Thought it could make a great industry for my ISL, because of all the grain type (gravity discharge) covered hoppers spotted at a "shoe box" building but couldn't figure out what they would be receiving in covered hoppers and shipping out by truck.

Google Maps identifies it as Arrow Industries [EDIT - As of 2010/12/14 Google now correctly identifies it as Trinidad Benham], but thanks to Google Street View, I found out that the company is actually Trinidad Berham Corporation http://www.trinidadbenham.com/ and that this facility packages, dry beans, rice and popcorn for various distributors. That explains all the covered hoppers (and trucks), and could make a perfect industry for my fleet of grain covered hoppers that would not be seasonal in nature. Per their web site, Trinidad Berham has several of these facilities around the country in addition to some processing plants.

I was going to have a feed mill on the layout as they tend to not be seasonal like small grain elevators, but this would be far better. A nice simple to scratch build modern "shoe box" type structure with a small covered unloading shed attached to it, and scaled down to handle 2 or 3 cars.

Maybe others may be interested in a "different" industry like this.

Oh yes, across the track from Trinidad Benham is Conard Logistics http://www.conardlogistics.com/ a rail to truck transfer facility and Hood Distribution http://www.hooddistribution.com/, a hardwood and plywood distributor. Two nice model railroad size industries. Bing's Bird's Eye View is available in this area, so you can study the design of all these structures quite well.

[Gary S]

I like it. Nice large industry. On the upper right in the googlemaps view, are those truck trailers backed in at an angle to the building? If so, they got'em stacked in like sardines!

[FCIN]

I like it, Greg. Nice large industry. On the upper right in the googlemaps view, are those truck trailers backed in at an angle to the building? If so, they got'em stacked in like sardines!

Yep, they sure are semi-trailers angled toward the building. In one bird's eye view on Bing maps, looks like a yard tractor has a tight squeeze making a turn to park another one!

[Brakie]

Ed,That's a geart plant to model..

Of course me being different I would add shipping doors for boxcars.

[FCIN]

Ed,That's a geart plant to model..
Of course me being different I would add shipping doors for boxcars.

Larry;
Sort of thought about that myself - at least one box car spot and room to unload a couple of covered hoppers. I prefer my railroad customers ship and receive by rail even if they don't in reality! But there are two facilities across the track that would spot box cars.

The more I look at that particular industrial spur the more I think about making the end of my ISL similar to that. Got to thinking about the rail to truck transfer across the track from it - good place for using more box cars!!! Only thing is, I'm not sure about having a structure - higher than a box car - located on the front edge of the layout.

Potential problems I can see are you couldn't see what was on spot behind the building and it would be difficult to uncouple cars there too, as I manually uncouple all my cars. Any thoughts on placing a structure at the benchwork edge like that?

[Brakie]

Ed,I will be placing a 12½" x 7" x 5½" building in the lower left corner of the layout.

Here's the beast-the one with the boxcar.

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I am using the crafts mill as a small municipal power plant.


I am not sure how well that will work since I have never place a Godzilla size building on the front of my ISLs.

[FCIN]

Ed,I will be placing a 12½" x 7" x 5½" building in the lower left corner of the layout.

Here's the beast-the one with the boxcar.

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I am using the crafts mill as a small municipal power plant.

That is one impressive structure! Well, actually two impressive structures. That "crafts mills" would make a perfect structure for a small municipal power plant - like the one in Columbia, Missouri. The "Main Mill" could be any number of suitable rail served industries. Maybe I need to spend some time looking at structures Walther's has produced to see what could be kit-bashed in to larger against the backdrop or layout edge structures.

Actually I'm wanting to scratch build my own "shoe box" modern structures, to see if I can come close to some of the work I've seen on this forum. As it is, I've got a couple of boxes with structures I've acquired over the years that will never see the light of day on my proposed ISL.

[Brakie]

Ed wrote:That "crafts mills" would make a perfect structure for a small municipal power plant - like the one in Columbia, Missouri.
---------------------------------
There's where the idea came from..We talked about the Columbia Terminal in one of the topics and I looked it up using Bing maps and followed the track and found the power plant.

[FCIN]

Here's a little update on Trindad-Benham Corporation that some may find useful. Was looking around at some of their other facilities around the country (where decent aerial views are available) as a possible inclusion on the layout and found this one in Chino, CA, that is very interesting. Here's a Google link to the facility for closer study: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.011455...6&t=h&z=19 and some image captures that I made:
View looking South:     View looking East toward end of siding:     And view looking North:     What I find interesting about this facility is that you wouldn't need to model any portion of the structure, making it a good candidate for a foreground industry. You only need the track in the pavement along with the two unloading pit areas and the fall restraint system for modeling it in the current era (these would be omitted in an earlier time) and then of course have the area fenced off. Here's another view of the facility, obviously taken before the fall restraint system was installed and showing three covered hoppers on the track and one being unloaded:     Note that the siding is single ended, although it looks as though it might have been double ended at one time. Also note that the unloading pits appear to have gratings that are spaced to match a typical C113 type covered hopper and don't require moving the cars to unload, other than to move another one in to place.

At the closest Google view, it looks like there are electric cable car movers placed at the east and west ends of the two unloading areas, although I don't see any cable near them. Would be a nice detail to model. For those not familiar with what I'm talking about here's a link showing one of these devices http://www.saferack.com/capstans-and-railcar-movers.cfm. They used them extensively at the distilleries around here along with the manual car movers you see on that web page.

Not sure what those two loading ramps would be used for, other then perhaps to unload trucks of beans or rice or perhaps a rare box car of those commodities shipped in bags.

I've been looking for a good industry for my fleet of covered hoppers and one that would justify receiving several cars at a time and this one might just fill the bill.

Incidentally, Chino, CA, has some really interesting industrial spurs and industries. Look around...

[Russ Bellinis]

"Incidentally, Chino, CA, has some really interesting industrial spurs and industries. Look around..."
You are right, Ed. What has happened is that the "Inland Empire" which extends from Chino and Ontario east through Riverside & San Bernardino has been developed for warehousing and heavy industry. Many companies that were once located in Los Angeles and needed to expand had a problem. There is very little room to expand in much of Los Angeles or northern Orange County. Chino, Ontario, Fontana and areas surrounding Riverside and San Bernardino were mostly agricultural with vineyards, and orange groves that have since been abandoned. That meant cheap land to build large industrial buildings and warehouses on. In addition Kaiser used to have a huge steel mill in Fontana. It closed down 20 years or so ago. The Fontana race track where NASCAR races is located on property that used to be part of Kaiser Steel, but there is a lot of property remaining that was part of the steel mill that was sitting empty just waiting for redevelopment.

[Sumpter250]

Just for grins and giggles, that Trinidad Benham Corp. building ------ if modeled in HO scale ---- would be about 12 feet long !!!!! ( assuming those are 40' cars, if they are 50' cars the length goes to 18' in HO )
This is one of those scenes where a little "judiciously applied" selective compression might be mmm...."helpful ?"


Unless, of course, your layout room can be measured in .............. Acres !!!

[Mr Fixit]

The Chino facility looks interesting from the point of view that it is an angled building to fit an odd shaped alotment due to a road/rail alignment and as such provides a "tight corner" solution as well as visual interest because it is not just another "boring box" industrial building. As such it could mean having an extra industry to model and serve in an otherwise difficult location.
Mark

[FCIN]

Just for grins and giggles, that Trinidad Benham Corp. building ------ if modeled in HO scale ---- would be about 12 feet long !!!!! ( assuming those are 40' cars, if they are 50' cars the length goes to 18' in HO )
This is one of those scenes where a little "judiciously applied" selective compression might be mmm...."helpful ?"

The structure in La Vergne, TN, is indeed a whopper! That's one reason that I was happy to find the facility in Chino, CA, where you'd only need to model the paved track area with a fence on three sides.

Some of their other facilities have structures that resemble grain elevators or feed mills with tall buildings and storage bins and that wouldn't be a good choice for an industry on the front edge of a layout. Incidentally, those covered hoppers are typically 54-56 feet in length.

In either case, some compression is certainly required. The track I have designated for this industry is 72 inches in length from the switch and that only allows me to have the two unloading spots with space between them for one car and one on each end for another car waiting to be unloaded. Does make for some interesting switching on a simple track arrangement.

One of my main industries, if modeled to scale length would have a structure 80 inches long with a siding 97 inches long! As it is, I've reduced the structure length to about 60 inches with a siding about 72 inches long and it still takes up a lot of space! Selective compression is the order of the day! Darn few rail served structures can be modeled to scale length in the space most of us have for a layout.