What ya think?

[Brakie]

I been thinking about a tire recycler that ships old tires to a reclaim operation that makes rubber pellets..I realize this would be trucked but,2-3 gon loads a week seems be within reason.The tires is readily available.

How would they load these?


Any suggestions?

[Russ Bellinis]

I suspect the easiest and least expensive method would be to use a front loader and load from a pile of pellets either directly into an open hopper car or with the use of a front loader loading into a conveyor belt system to load the car.

[tetters]

I think he's asking about how the tire recycler would load the used tires into a gon. However, I think a front end loader would also be the easiest and cheapest way to do it. Without knowing anything about it, I imagine the tire recycler would resemble a scrap yard, except it would be full of rubber donuts.

[Puddlejumper]

If I remember correctly, and I probably don't, the scrap metal dealer near here cut the tires of the rims with some sort of hydraulic snip attachment on a track hoe, the metal went into one pile, to be loaded by magnetic crane, the rubber another pile, to be loaded by a front loader. If you are going to model a scrap tire company or recycler may I suggest having cut tires and whole tires to simulate tires that had to be cut off rims and those that were dropped off or collected whole, already off rims.

[MountainMan]

The shipper probably would not use a front-loader. Tires are essentially hollow donuts taking up a lot of space if inefficiently loaded. I've seen trucks carry used tire loads many times on the Colorado highways, and they are always loaded carefully and compactly with an eye to using every available space in order to maximize the load. Tires loaded into gons would be loaded the same way, or chopped into large chunks if loaded by front-loader. Space=weight=money.

[Charlie B]

This is gaining some momentum for tire recycling.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.eagle-equipment.com/enviroblock.html">http://www.eagle-equipment.com/enviroblock.html</a><!-- m -->
I have seen the system, and it really works. Plans were in place to encase them in concrete and use them to build levies. That would make a nice modern industry.
Charlie

[railohio]

They'd probably be shredded and loaded in bulk in retired coal gondolas or woodchip cars, just like household garbage and construction debris.

[Brakie]

They'd probably be shredded and loaded in bulk in retired coal gondolas or woodchip cars, just like household garbage and construction debris.

Sounds good..Now I need a tad larger building..

[hillyard999]

Hello all,

This is my first post, I've been hanging around for awhile and have really enjoyed Big Blue.
Up til now I really haven't had much I felt was worth sharing. I have to say that I am very interested in industries which ship by rail, and have been photographing local sites since I got my first digital camera. The postings in "Industries Along the Rails" are great!

re recycling of rubber tires:

check out website for RB Rubber Products in McMinnville oregon.
see <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rbrubber.com/">http://www.rbrubber.com/</a><!-- m -->
They grind the tires into a grit, then use for mfg of rubber playground mats, truck liners, etc.
They apparently also ship surplus as "tire derived fuel" (TDF) to power plants.

I scouted out their location in McMinnville in the 90's and unfortunately have no photos.
Operation was basically a shed where they ground up tires and (if I recall correctly) loaded into gons.

Doug C in Salem, Oregon.
Willamette City Belt Line (HO)

[Ralph]

Thanks for the link Doug and welcome!
Ralph

[Sumpter250]

Hillyard999

[MountainMan]

I have watched this operation a couple of times on the Science Channel, and the recycle part is fairly complex, since thew tires must be shredded, metal and plastics removed, and then the remaining rubber loaded into gondolas and shipped off to the company that makes the pellets, or in the rubber mats or other products. Those that skip the pellet stage grind the rubber down to a powder on site as part of their own process.

Just a side note, but another industry that is very interesting is the one that converts plastic bottles and other high-density polypropolene items into railroad ties, and another converts used rails into T-poles for fencing, millions of them per year.

[FCIN]

For what it's worth - here are some video's of waste tire recycling plant operations.
No evidence of rail service involved in the first two:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WxYaNSIPz8
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KZEakYAXL4
Still no sign of rail cars in this one, but it does appear to be located near a rail line:
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfaPJvifyt0
Note that in two of the video's the waste tires are being handled with a bucket loader...

[Brakie]

What I had in mind is a collection company that buys old tires and ships them to a recycling plant that chops them like the videos show however,I may change to a recycling plant that ships the rubber pellets in covered hoppers.

A background building along the backdrop or on the front edge of the layout with a covered hopper loading area should suffice.

[MountainMan]

Your layout - your rules. If you want rail service, it will be there.