Brakie Wrote:Did you know some short lines still uses the term "team track" ?
As do many of the big roads. Team track/House track are common terms in this area. If the track is where the Freight house used to be, well it's still the house track, etc.
I'm aware of a few short lines that are existing almost exclusively off what they can get off line shippers to take delivery of on team tracks along their lines. There are also some that are developing trans-load facilities on their line in order to get business.
Brakie Wrote:Ed,I'm not so sure you should give up the team/transloading track since it still plays a vital roll in some areas in servicing off line customers-unless you want to give those customers up to the truckers..
Just don't think a team/trans-load track fits my industrial spur, but if worse comes to worse, I can certainly go with it. None of my customers ship their finished product by rail, as is so often the case these days and of course shipments of lumber/building products are taken care of by the Lowes facility. If for some reason, I did want to have the rare odd ball shipment of something, that car could just be left at a handy location near a street crossing, even have the crew spot the car on the crossing and wait for it to be unloaded. Have seen that done more than once.
I did want to have the rare odd ball shipment of something, that car could just be left at a handy location near a street crossing, even have the crew spot the car on the crossing and wait for it to be unloaded.
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Ed,I knew of a short line that did that .All to sadly this short line lost its customers to trucks and a plant closing..They used a tan colored GE70 tonner with no road name and carried the number 22...The road was 1.5 miles long and served IIRC 7 customers in its heyday..When I visited this short line in '77 they was down to 3 customers and was working 2-3 days a week..
Brakie Wrote:Ed,I knew of a short line that did that .All to sadly this short line lost its customers to trucks and a plant closing..They used a tan colored GE70 tonner with no road name and carried the number 22...The road was 1.5 miles long and served IIRC 7 customers in its heyday..When I visited this short line in '77 they was down to 3 customers and was working 2-3 days a week..
An all too familiar story Larry. Countless short lines have seen their customer base fall off to practically nothing and eventually folded. Many depended on a single major customer that closed their doors and with the customer went the railroad. Others have managed to stay in operation for years by operating on an as-needed basis. A few others have managed to literally come back from the dead by working with their communities and getting new business on their lines.
There are a few that I know of today, that exist on the basis that traffic "may" develop and have yet to turn a wheel. Unfortunately, unlikely to happen in our current economic state. But one can always hope for the best.
I suppose my issue with the team/transload tracks is that it takes a fair amount of space to model them convincingly, something that we usually don’t have on an industrial switching layout. It is usually squeezed in with little planning on how the final scene will look. It’s not that it can’t be done (see Gary S’s “BNSF team track”), but rather we don’t have enough, or want to dedicate enough, real estate to make it happen in a credible manner. In Gary’s case, he has enough room for all sorts of trucks, unloading equipment and details to model it realistically. It is and will be a very believable scene.
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FCIN Wrote:If for some reason, I did want to have the rare odd ball shipment of something, that car could just be left at a handy location near a street crossing, even have the crew spot the car on the crossing and wait for it to be unloaded.
IMO, this is an excellent solution for getting those unusual shipments onto or off the layout. Does that power company up the road, without rail service, need a depressed center flat car with a new transformer for the substation that got hit with lightening last week?
Mark
Brakie Wrote:I did want to have the rare odd ball shipment of something, that car could just be left at a handy location near a street crossing, even have the crew spot the car on the crossing and wait for it to be unloaded.
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Ed,I knew of a short line that did that .All to sadly this short line lost its customers to trucks and a plant closing..They used a tan colored GE70 tonner with no road name and carried the number 22...The road was 1.5 miles long and served IIRC 7 customers in its heyday..When I visited this short line in '77 they was down to 3 customers and was working 2-3 days a week..
Which short line was this?
Mike Kieran Wrote:Brakie Wrote:I did want to have the rare odd ball shipment of something, that car could just be left at a handy location near a street crossing, even have the crew spot the car on the crossing and wait for it to be unloaded.
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Ed,I knew of a short line that did that .All to sadly this short line lost its customers to trucks and a plant closing..They used a tan colored GE70 tonner with no road name and carried the number 22...The road was 1.5 miles long and served IIRC 7 customers in its heyday..When I visited this short line in '77 they was down to 3 customers and was working 2-3 days a week..
Which short line was this?
It was more of a switching service and was simply known as "Terminal Railroad"..
Justinmiller171 Wrote:FCIN Wrote:the Coca-Cola bottling plant that is one industry I'm going to include on my layout for all those corn syrup tank cars I have!
:-|
Well Justin, things changed since I made that statement, as they often will as you develop a track plan. It would make for a nice model railroad size industry, at least the plant that I'm near, but the chocolates plant is a better choice as it not only receives corn syrup tank cars, but also Airslide covered hoppers and 100 ton gravity discharge covered hoppers. One industry that handles three of my equipment types. More operation than just picking up/setting off a couple of tank cars.
I have also went with the soda beverage industry as a factory. My plant recieves corn syrup via tankcars and plastic pellets via covered hoppers. Im also thinking box cars for pallets/skids.
Oh, that makes sense Ed.
I was just looking back through this thread and was reading about how the Coca-cola plant was one of your "must-have" industries, I agree that the chocolate plant would be better.
The soft drink plant I had in mind is G&J Bottling (Pepsi) in Lexington, KY shown here:
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qb7t7p7...orm=LMLTCC
It's an ideal model railroad size industry. The short spur can hold 4 corn syrup tank cars, but only two can be unloaded at any one time, thus the plant is switched nightly by R J Corman. I like the way that the main plant is well back from the spur and it would certainly be a perfect industry in the location where I currently have Lowes Lumber, but then I'd have to find a new destination for my fleet of Airslide and gravity covered hoppers, not to mention my bulkhead flats and double door box cars.
The one industry that receives three different types of cars/commodities that must be placed at specific spots provides far more operation; thus I decided not to model the soft drink plant.
Justinmiller171 Wrote:Oh, that makes sense Ed.
I was just looking back through this thread and was reading about how the Coca-cola plant was one of your "must-have" industries, I agree that the chocolate plant would be better.
Justin,I have also changed industries on my planned Slate Creek for the reasons Ed mention-more switching operation.
My latest deletion was the produce distributor in favor of a Krispy Kreme Donut batching plant.The produce distributor is now truck served.I already have the building so,why not use it?
I am having second thoughts on Landstar Elevators which handles grain and soy beans.
BTW..The construction of Slate Creek is on hold until I move..
Ed, Have you decided on a theme yet?
Are you doing an L&N industrial spur or a freelance switching company?
Justinmiller171 Wrote:Ed, Have you decided on a theme yet?
Are you doing an L&N industrial spur or a freelance switching company?
My ISL is a freelance L&N industrial spur. I simply call it the "City Spur" and it could be located in any number of places that the L&N served. Could be an industrial spur on the outskirts of a large city or even located in a smaller town along the line. I prefer to go freelance, since it doesn't tie me to modeling specific industries/structures and specific commodities. Thus I've selected industries that appeal to me, support my equipment fleet and provide a good amount of operation.
Ed,90% of my past layouts have been ISs and every one was generic since this gave me the opportunity to model more then one road-yeah always had a oddball engine.
Even Slate Creek can be N&W,Southern,NS,CSX or C&HV. :o