Building a small switching layou I have a stupid question. Which type of boxcar would you see at a bakery? I have a few different types in my roster but how do you tell them apart? What advantages do the different style doors have?
Heres the few types I have
What area are you using the boxcars? I model the 1980s, so can't help much, but can still have them on a consist with grain cars at a grain elevator. Here's an earlier discussion on the topic (prob copy and paste if link doesn't work):
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/t/276325.aspx
Most likely the SSAM car.
The CNW, BN and SSW all have wide doors and are intended for loading wide things, like lumber, auto parts, appliances.
For inbound to a bakery, the most likely product would be bagged flour or paper goods/packaging. They might be in the SSAM car too. Pretty much any 50 ft sliding door boxcar would work.
Outbound baked goods might be in a plug door boxcar. They have a smooth interior and so there is less chance for the load to shift or be damaged on the door interior. A 50-60 ft car could be used.
Here is a picture of a Kellogs boxcar that was used to ship cereal. We used to see them all the time at the ceral plant here in Omaha. Its a 60 ft double plug door car.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
kasskaboose What area are you using the boxcars?
What area are you using the boxcars?
Roughly 1990-2000
If it's a large bakery, it might be getting one (or more) covered hoppers with flour and shipping the product out in plug-door boxcars. Some plug-door boxcars are heavily insulated and can be pre-cooled so they maintain a steady cool temperature inside for days.
A small bakery might be getting flour in a boxcar in sacks (more likely in transition era or earlier than c.2000). It also might not be shipping a finished product out. Raw materials (flour, sugar, syrup (in a tank car) etc.) come in by rail, but the end product is distributed by trucks to the surrounding communities.
Ringo58, in the 1990-2000 time frame, most of the boxcars you would find at a bakery would be exterior post, 50 foot, either plug or sliding single doors. By the time you are modeling, most bakeries large enough to still use rail service, were receiving their flour and sugar in covered hoppers. If any goods were shipped out by rail, it would be in damage-free, loader equipped, plug door cars. Goods were usually shipped by truck which could be halfway through a 400-500 mile run before a switcher showed up to pull the loaded car from the shipper's dock. Baked goods have a shelf life the shipper does not want them to waste in transit so, by your era, rail shipment would be highly unlikely. As noted, packaging material would be the main item received in boxcars which would be of the general service type. Looking at the cars you posted as examples, my first choice would be the SSAM/WC car, followed by the BN combo door car. The CNW car is better used for large, bulky freight. The SSW car also has a large doorway but also a plug door which when closed, provides a smooth wall, the entire length of the car. Depending on the load, coopering and dunnage will be required to fill in the doorway on the CNW car.
The covered hoppers used in the transport of flour and other granular ingredients in the 1990-2000 time frame would be either General American "Airslide" or ACF Pressure differential Center-Flows. Models of 2600 cu. ft. Airslides with the gusseted ends are produced by Athearn but, by your era are becoming long in the tooth and losing favor to the higher capacity 4180 and 4566 cu. ft. cars as produced by Tangent (4180 only) and, Scale Trains. These are the cars that look like 50 foot; exterior post boxcars without doors.
Atlas imports the ACF Pressure differential in HO and Walthers and possibly others offer models of later offerings by Trinity and others but they are beyond my zone of interest which has a 1986 cutoff. I hope this helps
ac
50' boxcars that are general service so, any boxcar can deliver bags of sugar,flour and cardboard boxes.
The thing to remember not all bakeries are equal. There are smaller bakeries that still recieve boxcars instead of covered hoppers even in 2020.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Boxcars in food service like flour are usually lined with an anti vermin compound and they usually have an XF designation rather than an XM or XL designation. For example the DT&I served the General Mills cereal plant in Toledo and had three groups of boxcars for this service 40' with a plug door, 50' with a sliding door and 50' with double plug doors all XF type cars.
Many railroads had boxcars in flour service that I have modeled like Buffalo Creek, Lehigh Valley, Missouri Pacific, PC, and NW among others.
Rick Jesionowski
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