paint factory

[postman]

Hi!
I´m looking for info about paint factories. What cars do they get?

[Mike Kieran]

Tank cars (chemicals, solvents, and dyes), covered hoppers (chemicals and pigments), and box cars (chemicals, cans, and packaging)would be my guess.

[postman]

Thanks Mike.

[Brakie]

You may want to change that from paint cans to can stock especially if the company manufacturers their own cans.

Labels may be printed in house or by a contract printer..These would probably be trucked as JIT.

I suspect color pigments would arrive in gaylords(a large open top shipping box) for easy dumping by a forklift equipped with a dumping clamp..I suspect these would be trucked as JIT .As far as rail shipments the manufacturer would probably receive solvents in tank cars..

[Mike Kieran]

True on the cans Larry. I should have said can stock. Plastic cans can come in box cars though. Pigments can be sent in covered hoppers though. We're talking a big paint operation here. I was told by someone that worked at Dow Chemical in Delaware that it received a lot of it's paint ingredients by rail. I wish that I can double check with him, but he's no longer with us.

[Brakie]

Mike,Yes,it would depend on the size of the operation but,following "modern" guide lines J-I-T seems to be a standard method of receiving production supplies since nobody seems interested in having in house warehousing for production material.

I recall when Swan Hose was going 24/7 covered hoppers of carbon black would arrive daily.After Swan closed their Banbury department rubber arrived by truck 24/7.Rail shipments dried up for 2-3 years and returned with loads of plasticizer.This lasted until the plant closed around 5 years ago.

[Mike Kieran]

Agreed, but what if the plant was producing quantities that were received and shipped that there was very little, if any, warehousing done. Rail transportation could be viable. If it wasn't, the industry would disappear except for intermodal.

Personnally, I would opt for a food processor, a chemical plant, or a GERN plant for the mix of cars that postman wants.

[MountainMan]

True on the cans Larry. I should have said can stock. Plastic cans can come in box cars though. Pigments can be sent in covered hoppers though. We're talking a big paint operation here. I was told by someone that worked at Dow Chemical in Delaware that it received a lot of it's paint ingredients by rail. I wish that I can double check with him, but he's no longer with us.

Try contacting DOW's public relations manager. Every outfit has one, and it's their job to field questions from the public. You can probably do it over the 'net.

[Mike Kieran]

It's worth a try, but companies are being a little tight lipped about volatile materials and their quantities being shipped in high security areas nowadays. Damn terrorists!!!

[Brakie]

Mike,I agree with your industry suggestions..I would shun a paint manufacturer.A manufacture of steel grave vaults would be easier as far as rail shipments.Sheet steel,paint pigments and various chemicals.

[TTRAK_andrew]

G'day All, Titanium Dioxide slurry is a notably rail carried ingredient of paint. One paint manufacturer I `surfed up' a few years ago had rail sidings for several tank cars stenciled with "titanium dioxide". I was able to find it on Google and/or Bing maps (urban California location) and there were two tracks with three or four car capacity on each track.
At present I have been able to locate a Sherwin-Williams plant at:
1891 Duffy Rd, Fernley, NV 89408
that shows multiple tank and hopper cars.

There are nice paint schemes for the tank-cars used in the present day:

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plus decals are available in HO and N scales:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mgdecals.com/F-290.htm">http://www.mgdecals.com/F-290.htm</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mgdecals.com/FN-290.htm">http://www.mgdecals.com/FN-290.htm</a><!-- m -->

An overall survey of paint production form the rail point of view (albeit British) can be found at:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.igg.org.uk/gansg/12-linind/paints.htm">http://www.igg.org.uk/gansg/12-linind/paints.htm</a><!-- m -->

This is a very useful web-site for introductory articles on rail served industries - from a British point of view:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.igg.org.uk/gansg/12-linind/012-index.htm#consume">http://www.igg.org.uk/gansg/12-linind/0 ... tm#consume</a><!-- m -->

Hope that this helps,
Andrew G.