11-01-2009, 09:12 AM
Brakie Wrote:In choosing industries we need to consider the era we model.
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Is bigger better?
I think so..I fully believe 5 or 6 large industries beats 20 small industries that is drawf by a 40' boxcar.Unlike small industrie the larger industries can have more then one spot or can use more then one type of car.
In considering the era, remember that the further back in time you go the more likely your industry, regardless of size, would be served by rail. In the days before the Interstate or Provincial Highways improvements, truck traffic was a tiny fraction of what it was today. In 1931, there were 165,855 "privately owned and common carrier motor trucks" in Canada (according to the Report of the Royal Commission to inquire into Railways and Transportation in Canada (1931-32)). The vast majority of these would be concentrated in the major cities - Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. There was no cross-country road network resembling anything we have today so these trucks were involved in very short distance hauling. The report notes that this is the very impact the railways were concerned about. Small towns at a distance from major centres, as well as cross-county hauling were still the domain of the railways.
So even small industries would be rail served, providing they were located in the "right spot" - i.e. along the tracks in a town or village not served by decent, year-round roads. The railway might not build a spur across town for them, but they might offer the industry some land near existing trackage, or where a short siding could be easily added.
Remember too the "less than car load" concept which is "extinct" today.
Andrew