Peanut Butter Plant

[FCIN]

So do we think the covered hoppers these days are all peanuts or do we think they still get a few carloads of sugar? I had always presumed them all to be peanuts but your post about the sugar cars made me wonder if those cars on that second track back in the plant was a different commodity.

Its my understanding that the company in the Young warehouses that gets the plastic pellets is also associated with the peanut butter product perhaps providing jars ect? Thats also an interesting part of the line with boxcars spotted at a few of the doors and pellet cars in the part that is home to the plastic company. Would make an additional prototypical industry to model that would provide some interesting switching.

You're one up on me. I wasn't aware that there was someone at the W. T. Young Warehouse that was receiving plastic pellets and associated with Smucker's. Hadn't considered that they might be producing the plastic containers for the peanut butter these days, or perhaps a subcontractor in town could be making them; but that would sure add something to such a facility.

As for what is being received at Smucker's these days, I'll have to get hold of a couple of the fellows I know that work for Corman and see if they can verify what they are getting today. Driving through the plant yesterday on Zesta Pl in the rain, I could only see the ends of the covered hoppers that were on spot so very hard to say what they might have contained. Should have jotted down a couple of car numbers to see what they were.

I'm heading out this weekend for a three day rail fan trip out west, so would be sometime next week before I can see if I can get some better information pertaining to current rail traffic.

Based on what they "used to receive" and the era that I would model; I'm assuming that they must be getting commodities other than just peanuts by rail. Sugar, salt, vegetable oil and of course peanuts are the main ingredients of peanut butter. So we have several potential commodities that "could be" received.

I'm still tinkering around with a possible switching layout based on this as a main industry, but so far, I'm not too happy with how it's working out for my layout space (18in X 20ft). Probably trying too hard to make it resemble the actual facility and track arrangement and it just won't fit quite right. Of course, if it's freelance, then I could arrange it however I want and perhaps I need to search around some for other such facilities for ideas.