E.R. Godfrey warehouse layout in N scale

[Dave Schneider]

I came across some photos of a very cool warehouse at a recent meeting of Milwaukee Road Beer Line modelers and thought I would share this with the group. This is the E.R. Godfrey warehouse, a wholesale grocery dealer located along the Beer Line in northern Milwaukee. I am thinking about building this as a stand-alone switching module with staging at both ends. The warehouse was served by both the Milwaukee Road and the Chicago & Northwestern which would add to the operational interest.

Here is an aerial photo from 1970. That is the Beer Line along the right side of the image. North is toward the bottom.



Vertical aerial photo and obliques from Bing circa ~2007.







Here is the track layout if one was to model it at full scale. It would fit perfectly in a 2 x 6 foot module, with staging cassettes for the Milwaukee Road on the right and the C&NW on the left. As you can see, there are 4 enclosed unloading tracks, and 9 other outdoor spotting locations (not easily seen) at this facility. The smaller facility at bottom of the plan may have had spotting locations as well. The varied roof lines  and firewalls would make for some very interesting modeling. This facility was switched daily by both lines and received boxcars, reefers, and an occasional load of coal. I think that I will give this a go this winter as I have a module frame already built.



Best wishes, Dave

[tom mann]

Awesome.  Is it still there now?  I don't remember seeing anything like that on my tour last year.

[seusscaboose]

i really like that...  i am interested in seeing your progress....

i may have a place for something similar on my home pike...

[Dave Schneider]

Glad you guys like it. Tom, part of the building remains, but it has been remodeled. If you look through the historical images on Google Earth you can see the changes over time. It is just north of Capital Drive along the Beer Line (obviously). This is just south of where Continental Can and the large Schilitz elevator was located. The coordinates are:  43.091988°, -87.914598°.

Here are some photos taken by Dick Cecil in the mid-1980s after the name changed to Becker Foods and rail service ended.









I am thinking about building this with Gator Board and styrene overlays cut with the Silhouette.
Best wishes, Dave

[Dave Schneider]

One more photo, this time from 1963 showing the variety of places where cars can be spotted.



Best wishes, Dave

[Bremner]

cool find, you can even run it as a switching puzzle for fun, like the Inglenook puzzle

[DKS]

Bing maps works in strange ways. Depending on how you approach an area in birdseye view, you may get images from entirely different eras. Here's the complex from all four directions, "before" and "after"...

North, old:


North, new:


East, old:


East, new:


South, old:


South, new:


West, old:


West, new:


I also agree, this would make a cool little switching layout all by itself.

[mcjaco]

Very cool, Dave! (And nice to finally meet you at Trainfest).

Was this right by that old monstrous grain silo that they demolished about ten or twelve years back?

[Dave Schneider]

Hi Matt,

It was great to meet you last week. I admired your patience in dealing with the guy who was complaining about your layout being too high. I never realized that you guys were responsible for the decline in young and/or short people developing an interest in model railroading. Then again, anyone who is drinking Miller Lite at 10:30 in the morning may have "other issues".

The Godfrey warehouse was about a mile south of the large Schlitz elevator. Here are a couple more maps and photos of the area. We had a great Beer Line slide show last weekend at the Depot Restaurant in Oconomowoc, including photos of the demolition of the Schlitz elevator. The explosive charges failed to bring it down on the first attempt, so the demolition guys had to go back in a second time and were very happy about it. After the second attempt, it stood for about 30 seconds before finally collapsing.







Best wishes, Dave

[packers#1]

Dave, I'd go for it, especially with the MILW and CNW serving it 

[MichaelWinicki]

Boy, it's stunning how much industry was situated along those tracks and how fast it all went away.

And while I don't want to hijack this interesting thread to talk about it, I wonder how much the railroad itself played in the decision of so many of these companies to either close shop or stop shipping/receiving by rail.

I've had a lot of discussion with employees of the PRR/PC/CR during the 60's & 70's about their relationship (as a transportation company) with their customers... And needless to say it's really opened my eyes about how the whole RR/freight customer relationship worked during that time period–And it probably applied during the 50's also.

[SAH]

I've really enjoyed your Beer Line posts Dave.  Well researched and presented.  Such a cool prototype too!  Looking forward to seeing more.
Steve

[Dave Schneider]

Thanks Steve. I really enjoy the research part of the hobby. Actually building what I research is always a bit of a challenge. The Godfrey warehouse is my attempt to make some progress on the Beer Line. 

The Beer Line is a very interesting prototype and I have enjoyed learning more about its history and operations. As Micheal pointed out, there were numerous industries located along the line. Tens of thousands of high paying jobs disappeared as the factories were closed in the 1980s to 90s. Trying to preserve a portion of the industrial history of my hometown is the main motivation for choosing this line.

Best wishes, Dave

[mcjaco]

Hi Matt,

It was great to meet you last week. I admired your patience in dealing with the guy who was complaining about your layout being too high. I never realized that you guys were responsible for the decline in young and/or short people developing an interest in model railroading. Then again, anyone who is drinking Miller Lite at 10:30 in the morning may have "other issues".

The Godfrey warehouse was about a mile south of the large Schlitz elevator. Here are a couple more maps and photos of the area. We had a great Beer Line slide show last weekend at the Depot Restaurant in Oconomowoc, including photos of the demolition of the Schlitz elevator. The explosive charges failed to bring it down on the first attempt, so the demolition guys had to go back in a second time and were very happy about it. After the second attempt, it stood for about 30 seconds before finally collapsing.

I was in school when the attempted the first demolition of the Schlitz elevator.  It was big news, and they told us all to not be alarmed by the sound.  If I recall they decided to do it on a Saturday.  I remember hearing the charges, but not the building coming down. 

I used to drive right up Port Washington on my way to the Indian Head Lines layout every Wednesday and Thursday night from school.  I had no idea at the time, that I was driving by this line, but was always on the lookout for those sharp Wisc. Southern geeps patrolling the area.

[MVW]

Wow. This may be the single most informative thread I've ever seen in regard to modeling a single industry. And perfect timing (for me) as I was thinking of including a wholesale grocer (smaller) on my new addition.

Thanks for sharing the info!

Jim