Industry Ideas

[h2w]

hello newbie here,  i'm looking for industry ideas for my ho scale shelf layout, i'm looking for a small to medium sized industry that uses 2 bay covered hoppers and boxcars from the 1960s to the present especialy helpful would be names of protype industries pics etc
thanks
mark in sunbury pa

[Philip H]

First thing that comes to mind is a plastics plant. Passed one in Indiana (around Elkhart) yesterday right along I-80 that has rail service. Think it's called 20/20 advance plastics. A brewery is another option - grain in in the hoppers; beer out in the boxcars.

[Ian MacMillan]

You could also do powdered cement in 2 bay hoppers. Or fly ash. Fly ash in in hoppers, out packed for sale in boxcars.

[cv_acr]

Plastic pellets are light and shipped in fairly large cars, not 2-bay hoppers.

Of course capacities have gotten a lot bigger too, so in the 1960s you'd have all sort of smaller 2-bay 55 ton hoppers running around still. Probably never used much for grains, but cement is an obvious one, also salt, powdered limestone and dried clays (used for various things including coatings for high quality glossy papers and white pigments, and NOT shipped as slurry in tank cars very often in the 60s-70s yet), various dry bulk chemical products, etc.

[Bremner]

hello newbie here,  i'm looking for industry ideas for my ho scale shelf layout, i'm looking for a small to medium sized industry that uses 2 bay covered hoppers and boxcars from the 1960s to the present especialy helpful would be names of protype industries pics etc
thanks
mark in sunbury pa

Cement, lime, potash, HEAVY bulk products....

[Pomperaugrr]

I agree with the limestone shipping suggestions.  Here are mock up shots of "Specialty Minerals" on my N scale Housatonic RR layout.  The prototype plant ships out powdered dolomite.  The industry can be linear, rather than deep for your shelf layout.  This industry is a work in progress, and pretty rough right now.  Even though it is N scale, these shots might give you some ideas to think about.






Eric

[h2w]

 I like this idea with the speciality minerals  would they also shipped bagged products in boxcars?
ty
mark

[Bremner]

Mark, a lot of the time, these minerals would be delivered to a plant, be it cement, fertalizer, some other manufacturer....most of the time, they are shipped out via truck for local distrabution. I have 3 fertalizer plants within 20 miles of me, they get tank cars and hoppers in, trucks out

[Pomperaugrr]

I like this idea with the speciality minerals  would they also shipped bagged products in boxcars?
ty
mark

Yes.  Specialty Minerals is located in Canaan, CT.  They have a couple of local quarries and their limestone is processed at the plant, powdered and shipped out in covered hoppers.  This is not the stuff you spread on the lawn.  The Specialty Minerals dolomite deposit at Canaan is a true dolomite—calcium magnesium carbonate, not just a magnesium-containing dolomitic limestone. The ground and screened dolomite products are used for filling and extending cast polymers (cultured marble), asphalt roofing shingles, vinyl tile flooring, joint compound, masonry products, pool plastering, caulks and sealants.

They do have a bagging plant, so you could ship out bagged product in box cars as well.

Eric

[h2w]

thats cool i will do some more research on the plant and the product itself do you know of any of the end users, company name etc?
ty
mark

[Pomperaugrr]

I'm not sure of the end users names, sorry.

If you go into Bing Maps and enter this address:  24 Daisy Hill Rd, North Canaan, CT 06018, you can get some decent Birds Eye views of the plant.  Zooming out a bit will show you the quarry locations, which you can't miss because of the bright white areas.

Eric

[mu26aeh]

Though it may be on the larger side of an industry, I think this screams paper mill !  Tons of boxcars, inbound and outbound, covered hoppers for lime or clay, though also comes in tank cars now, along with many other types of cars.