Hi
Any ideas on where to find a plan for a small brewery. I don't want it the size of a major brewer like Schlitz, but something along the lines of a mid-size brewery. So far it appears the structures might consist of a 4 story building that might be used for storage. I had planned to use a Walthers furniture structure I got a few years ago. But what other structures might I need. I am reading the MR March issue on the Milwaukee brewery as a starting point. Anyone have pics of a brewerr or plan let me know
This is the plan for a smaller brewery in the Milwaukee area. Tight curves, 4-axle power only. The brewery has a trackmobile to move things around as needed.
Bldg 58 loads product, 4 cars in the building, no engines-need to use a spacer. Headroom on the switchback for 1 engine and 9 cars - 4 loads, 4 empties, 1 spacer.
Bldg 68 is keg returns, 2 car capacity.
Track 14 is corn syrup unloading, 2 cars on spot, room for more. Malt cars can be staged here.
Building 27 has a door or two, usually just staging of malt loads/empties.
Tunnel can hold 3 cars, usually just two.
Hope this helps.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
The old National Brewery in Baltimore was a very compact location that received its inbound shipments by rail, but only used trucks for outbound. There was a large, maybe 8 story brew house at the corner of O'Donnell and Conkling Streets, with the older brew house directly behind it.
The tracks came up behind the old brew house, roughly where the sidewalk and driveway are in the view linked above. The grain bins have been removed for the parking lot, and there was an elevator that carried the grain up into the top level of the brew house. The building to the right was the bottlery, and there was a warehouse just north of the brew house at Dillon and Dean Streets... it appears to be under demolition in the image... I guess it's gone by now. There was an overhead connection between the brewery and the warehouse that crossed over Dillon Street. You can see more or less where it would have been in this rotated view of the same location.
In that same view you can see the ghost of the railroad track crossing O'Donnell Street, just past the crosswalk.
The building complex across O'Donnell street on the right is also a former brewery, originally Gunther's, later Schaeffer. If you follow the path of the tracks, you can see a little bit of how it was all tied together. Again, several key buildings have been demolished, but you can see the other brewhouse facing Conkling Street. If you continue down to the right, you can see where the spur tied in to the old Boston Street industrial track, which is now the big swath of dirt between the breweries and the former tank farm site. The connection to the main line goes off to the upper left.
This is a shot from about 1987/88 at roughly the location where the brewery spur comes toward you from the left. You can see the tank farm on the right.
Same location looking the other way. The spur track would be behind you to the right. In the second Bird's Eye you can see the arc of the siding and the ghosts of the rails in the pavement where it crosses the street.
Hope this information is helpful.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Thanks. This is real helpful. Looks like I probably need to get some grain bins. That building would be fun to scratch build.
Take care
Joe
It is a cool building complex. Just remember, the big "Mr. Boh" on the roof is a recent addition... I'm sure the thousands of guys who live in the neighborhood who used to make their living there are ambivalent about him staring down at them from atop a largely empty office building full of yuppies... The brewery stopped working about 1980, and all the cool tanks and equipment were gutted from it about 10 years ago.
Thanks. This looks like there were no need for any external storage tanks but just buildings.
There were some grain bins near the track spur, but I can't remember exactly where. I'll have to see if I can root up some pictures. I'm pretty sure they were between the track and the main brew house. There was also a lot of steam pipes and what not that went between the brew house and the bottlery, and I believe there was a big boiler back there too.
Here is a aerial view. You can zoom in pretty close and see railcars spotted, except the ones in the buildings.
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF-8&q=miller+brewing+milwaukee&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&cid=17531400817567745379&li=lmd&z=14&t=m
Switch to satellite, and zoom in.
The malt and syrup are between Highland and State Streets, and the south yard is bounded by State, Wisconsin and Wells.
3cflviI don't want it the size of a major brewer like Schlitz, but something along the lines of a mid-size brewery.
I don't want it the size of a major brewer like Schlitz, but something along the lines of a mid-size brewery.
The Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Yuengling Brewery, is right up your mid-size brewery alley, and; is serviced by the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern, in the middle of the old "Reading Cluster" trackage in Southeastern PA. See the lower 1/3 of this webpage...
http://www.readingnorthern.com/photos.shtml
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
If you are planning to ship the beer in refrigerator cars, and you are modelling the Transition Era and before, then you might think about an ice station for the reefers before they are filled with beer. Before mechanical refrigeration became standard, the railroads shipped perishables in ice-bunker cars. These had hatches on the roof ends, into which large blocks of ice, shaved ice and even sub-freezing brine were dropped. Before loading, and every few hundred miles thereafter until delivery, the cars needed to be cut from the train and re-iced.
This gives you the opportunity for a second industtry, which can be modelled some distance away. The reefers can make a stop at the icing station (or icing platform, which I think is what Walthers calls their kit) before delivery to the brewery. This station can serve multiple other industries, like produce or a packing plant, and can also re-ice in transit reefers "passing through" your layout.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley If you are planning to ship the beer in refrigerator cars, and you are modelling the Transition Era and before, then you might think about an ice station for the reefers before they are filled with beer.
If you are planning to ship the beer in refrigerator cars, and you are modelling the Transition Era and before, then you might think about an ice station for the reefers before they are filled with beer.
Beer, after Pasteur's theories were put into practice, need not be iced for transit. Nevertheless, refrigerator cars would be useful to keep away extreme heat and cold, and could be used in heater service when temperatures were extremely cold. Insulated box cars were more efficient because steam-era refrigerator cars were limited in capacity.
Mark
A larger version of this drawing of a small brewery
is available on this website
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19699/19699-h/19699-h.htm
This particular brewery is English but one can easily imagine the exterior looking like the Old Port Washington brewery in Port Washington WI
This website has lots of small brewery photos and info
http://www.sudswineandspirits.com/wisconsinhistory.htm
Dave Nelson
Here is a picture of my brewery complex:
It consists of Walthers Prarie Star Mill, Praries Star Grain Elevator and Geo.Roberts printing company. The brewery itself is attached to the grain elevator and the structure on the right is the bottling plant.
Walthers also used to sell this structure as a brewery but it has been discontinued:
It's a shame this building was discontinued since it is a great looking structure that could be used for many purposes. On my layout, it will be a newpaper publisher. You might still be able to find one on ebay. I believe the name of it was The Milwaukee Beer and Ale Co.