Need an industry idea

Many Trains Sep 28, 2020

  1. Many Trains

    Many Trains TrainBoard Member

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    I need some ideas for an industry to include on my layout.

    The specifics:

    I'd like to have a reason (an industry) for 2 bay covered hoppers, and I'd really prefer that it NOT be cement related.

    I am a number of Atlas 2 bay covered hoppers (n scale) and the layout is set in the 1950's to 1960's. B&O is the road I am aiming for, although anything that would be appropriate in the eastern U.S. would work.

    I would ideally like something that would include more than one car type, so in this case it would use the 2 bay covered hoppers and also use some other care type - I am flexible on that, it could be any car type.

    Layout is meant to be a switching layout with an urban, or at least industrial area, theme.
     
  2. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    It depends, I'm assuming you mean the PS2 2-bay and not the ACF Centerflow 2-bay just based on your timeframe. They could be carrying pretty much any dense granular product. If you don't like cement, sand or limestone are more options. Atlas mentions soda ash (sodium carbonate) on their website too. That is used in glass production. A glass plant could be a relatively large industry on your layout and could be tied in with automobile production too. Limestone can be used with cement to make concrete, but it can also be converted into quicklime, an ingredient used in oxygen furnaces during the steelmaking process.

    If the cars have smaller 50-ton trucks, lighter products would make sense too. Before the instruction of 70 and 100 ton cars, they could be carrying sugar. Maybe your industry has a light track weight and requires smaller cars. The Airslides took some of that cargo since they were popular with food products. The PS2s are usually associated with cement and industrial powder service though.

    Modern 2-bay unit trains are often carrying sand for fracking operations, although that isn't exactly a postwar industry.
     
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  3. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett TrainBoard Member

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    One industry that I thought of is a plastic manufacturing company using 2 bay hoppers for plastic pellets, tank cars for processing chemicals and boxcars for finished goods.

    Joe
     
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  4. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    Transload facilities use a huge variety of cars. Plastic cars, salt cars, centerbeams, box cars.. No limits to business opportunity.
     
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  5. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    Plastics are usually carried in larger hoppers since they are relatively light. The large 4-bay hoppers in use today are plastic hoppers. A 2-bay hopper would probably load out before it weighed out if loaded with plastic pellets. I can't speak for their uses in the past though. There is a prototype for everything.
     
  6. OlyPen

    OlyPen TrainBoard Member

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    Plastic pellets are relatively light and are typically carried in large, four-bay covered hoppers.

    Two-bay covered hoppers are for dense, heavy materials, so cement, sand, lime, ground sandstone and the like are more appropriate ladings.

    Sand being shipped to a glass factory is one idea. Glass was a going concern in West Virginia, where the B&O roamed.

    Another idea is ground sandstone, a product that kept the Winchester & Western in Virginia a profitable shortline. It was carried in two-bay covered hoppers.
     

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