Industries -A Open Discussion.

[FCIN]

...and it doesn't even have to be an actual "trans-load" facility or team track. I like Lance Mindheim's idea of just spotting a car on the line to feed an off-line customer

Mike;
That sort of thing that Lance talks about in his article may be more common then folks realize. About a year ago, a local lumber company received a centerbeam load of lumber. A very rare event around here these days. This company used to have its own rail spur, but it was removed when all the downtown yard tracks were removed some years ago.

Since you must have clear access to both sides of a centerbeam, R J Corman had their crew actually spot this car in the middle of a very busy street downtown on a Saturday morning and the lumber company unloaded it right there. Friend and I watched this little event and they would take a row of lumber off each side of the car, then the crew would move the car a few feet to allow traffic to get by, then repeat the procedure. All told, it took them about an hour and a half to unload the car.

Haven't seen or heard of this being repeated, but would sure make for an interesting, now and then, operation on a model railroad.