Dirty Dirt

[jwb]

A couple weeks ago I took some grab shots of a local in Southern California (the "Paramount") that includes trash flats loaded with what are conventionally called municipal solid waste containers. Matt Snell had an article in a recent RMC about modeling these as they apply to municipal solid waste in New Jersey. However, I discovered based on a West Coast Rail Forums post that the containers out here are used for "dirty dirt" (i.e., contaminated dirt), not trash.
   
I believe the Snell RMC series had dimensions and instructions for scratching the low blue style of container. It also had instructions for converting the 20-foot ISO style for waste, too. The flat car is just the Atlas Trainman trash flat prototype, which is interesting too, because Snell talks about converting piggyback flats, which are 70-ton, while the purpose-built trash flats like the Atlas are 100-ton and better for the heavier dirt.

TC Smith on the West Coast Rail Forums pointed me to the loading facility in Paramount, CA at 7722 Jackson St so you can find that on Google. Reinhard and others interested in an industry that doesn't take much space, here's one for you!

[cv_acr]

Actually the flatcar in your photo above is a modified former Canadian National TOFC flatcar, and not the Atlas flatcar model. The raised edges along the sides are the "rub rails" to keep trailer wheels on the flatcar.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

This is the second largest industry on the local industrial track by me. I see plenty of the flats, as well as articulated spine cars that seem to carry a bunch of the small blue containers (some of them are green around here). They also haul municipal waste, but I was under the impression it was a lot of construction debris.

[jwb]

It's an interesting industry and definitely a change.

[shortliner]

I know of the Atlas Trainman HICube Trash containers, but does anyone make something like the small ones in HO? Or any others? JWB, any info available on those scratchbuilds?
For anyone interested in a small space container/box/etc Transload facility - look at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://forum.mtimag.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=9769&sid=4545473588a04be59494e6138ee119db#9769">http://forum.mtimag.co.uk/viewtopic.php ... 119db#9769</a><!-- m -->

[jwb]

Matt Snell had a series of articles in RMC earlier this year on modeling New Jersey-style trash transload facilities, containers, and trains. I think it was the June 2012 issue (I don't have it handy) where he discusses scratching the low blue type in my photo. He also discusses converting Walthers 20-foot ISO containers to trash service, as shown in the photo in my post above. Elsewhere outside New Jersey, though, the dirty dirt transfers seem to be just roadside deals -- looks like the containers get trucked in to a transfer point like the one you can find in Paramount.

But also there's dirty dirt shipped in gondolas, both low-side GB type and older unit coal gons, and I think I've seen dirty dirt in hoppers, too, like the Walthers 2-bay Greenville cars especially. It's all another arrow in the quiver for modern operation, it seems to me. I like dirty dirt a little better than trash, simply because I can find trash in the trash cans out in back and don't want to think about even modeling it in the house -- and dirty dirt takes up a lot less layout space for a transload.