Concrete batch processing plant deliveries: which by rail, which by truck?

[mmagliaro]

I am re-using the concrete batch processing plant complex from my previous layout.

It is a scratchbuilt collection of structures loosely based on the appearance of the popular
Faller kit where you have 3 tall silos, some bins for aggregate, and a small building where
cement, sand, and gravel and mixed, and some supporting bins and conveyors to depict the movement
of the aggregates into the mixing building. 

My question:  Cement comes in via covered hopper, gravel by hopper.

What about the sand?   Sand could come in via hoppers also.  But it seems to me that like the cement, they wouldn't want the sand to get wet or contaminated, so might the sand also come in via covered hopper?   Can it be unloaded from a covered hopper with a blower or is sand way too heavy for that?

Thanks.

[wazzou]

Sand could be and is/was delivered in two bay ACF and PS Covered hoppers.  There really is no need to keep the sand dry at the plant, although dry sand is pretty light, so often it is lifted by elevator conveyor from unloading hopper between rails to storage in silos. 

[CoalPorter]

I can't really think of any "batch plants" that use or need rail service... that would
be allot of concrete!!

I can  think of several Portland Cement production plants that ship  OUT cement poweder
by rail, but get almost no loads of any kind coming in.

[wazzou]

Our family owned a Redi-Mix plant and we received all of our cement by railcar.  The plant still does to this day.
Sand occasionally came in by rail as well.  Aggregates were always hauled by truck.
We also received drilling mud, loaded in super sacks by rail.  These were shipped in boxcars, sometimes in NACC boxcars from Dresser-Magcobar.

[jpf94]

Model Stone and Aggregate in south Minneapolis received cement by rail as recently as 2012.  They received everything else by truck, but not from a lack of trying on our part.   60th Street off lyndale Ave in Minneapolis for those wanting to view it.  5 car spot.

FWIW

[Bruce Bird]

It depends on your era you are modeling.  It used to be quite common that all three ingredients came in by rail, but after 70-80s I would say that trucks took most of that.

Wet or dry stone or sand does not matter. Both are (or should be) measured for water content prior to batching, and the amount of water added adjusted accordingly.

[Dave Schneider]

Tews Lime and Cement in Milwaukee (along the Beer Line) received aggregate and/or sand in gondolas through the 1960s. Unclear whether cement was delivered by rail or truck.



Best wishes, Dave

[mmagliaro]

Everyone, thank you for all your thoughtful input, and especially the specific examples!
The era for this is about 1950.

From what I'm hearing, it certainly sounds plausible to have the cement, sand, and gravel delivered by rail.

I'm not sure about the pneumatic unloading of the covered hoppers.  Did they have that in the early 1950s?

[Ian MacMillan]

A good example is Boston Sand & Gravel on the North End of Boston. New Hampshire Northcoast ships trains of sand/agg in 100t hoppers from their pit in Ossipee, NH about 4-5 days a week. Trains in the winter are about 20 cars and about 40 in the summer. During the Big Dig trains were about 80-90 cars and 6 days a week.

[wcfn100]

I'm not sure about the pneumatic unloading of the covered hoppers.  Did they have that in the early 1950s?

I think you're probably looking at a pit with an auger to move it inside but that's based on some very incomplete research for a plant in Waterloo, IA that I know was served by rail in the 60's.

Jason

[pnolan48]

I'm pretty sure there's a plant here in Decatur, AL that receives everything by rail, as the only thing I've ever seen are cement trucks entering/leaving the plant. The streets leading up to it are residential, and I've never seen a road hauler on those streets. Everything seems to be delivered by covered hopper.

[mmagliaro]

I'm pretty sure there's a plant here in Decatur, AL that receives everything by rail, as the only thing I've ever seen are cement trucks entering/leaving the plant. The streets leading up to it are residential, and I've never seen a road hauler on those streets. Everything seems to be delivered by covered hopper.

Would you happen to have the name of the business, or the street it's on?   (Aerial Google Maps, here I come!)

[Chris333]

Would you happen to have the name of the business, or the street it's on?   (Aerial Google Maps, here I come!)

This:
http://binged.it/1jAJzmD

?

Where I live we have this place:
http://binged.it/1jAK7sz
It was built right on top of an old blast furnace so that is what the left over trestle is for. To the right is where they un-load:



I think the small yellow crane goes on top of the cars to shake them while unloading.

I have no idea if they do everything by rail, just thought I'd share.

[pnolan48]

Chris binged it! I travel up and down 4th Avenue a few times a day, and have never seen anything but a mixer, and those are not that regular. I'm not here in Decatur more than five months of the year, am a relative newcomer at three years, and haven't asked around. The CSX local office is in the same area, so this facility may not be a concrete plant, though it sure looks like one!

[wazzou]

This was our old plant.  Still in operation, but by Cal Portland. 
The spur also had a trestle where we unloaded 100T Hoppers of Coal from Utah or Wyoming for the locals that burned coal for heating, a business my Uncles ran and delivered the coal.  I see in this image the trestle is gone as well as the building where the extra coal that we couldn't handle at the retail location was stored.

http://binged.it/LHCowX