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Running Stock Train On Modern RR

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Posted by DSchmitt on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 12:54 PM

joe323

I have been trying to get the address of the Perdue chicken plant in Salisbury MD with no luck I want to Google Earth it to see if it is rail served.

 

Perdue Inc

Farm · 521 Wailes St
Open until 10:30 PM
 
 

Perdue Agribusiness Inc

Storage Facility · 6906 Zion Church Rd
Open until 3:00 PM
 
 

Perdue Farms

Food Processing Company · 521 Willow St
 
 

Perdue Farms

Association or Organization · 31149 Old Ocean City Rd
Open until 5:00 PM
 
 

Perdue School of Business

Business School · 1101 Camden Ave
 
 

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

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Posted by BRAKIE on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 10:49 AM

caldreamer

A 4 or 5 man crew, BOY was that featherbedding.  But that was the rules back then.

 

Really? There was no featherbedding to it.

Every man had a job to do even if that meant he had to ride the roof of boxcars in order to relay hand  signals to the engineer. The conductor's main job to supervise and ensure work and safety rules was followed.

The engineer ran the engine while the fireman tended his firing duties.

Two brakemen did the actual switching.Recall one might be riding the top of boxcars to relay hand signals and that left one man on the ground to do the work.

Same for the diesel era and some railroads had firemen into the 70s and he still had a job to do..

Where's the featherbedding?

That man with that RCL can not do the amount of work we did.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by dehusman on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 8:10 AM

caldreamer

A 4 or 5 man crew, BOY was that featherbedding.  But that was the rules back then. 

Really.

Lets see you switch a 30 car cut without RCL and without radios around a curve where the engineer is on the off side.

 

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by caldreamer on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 7:59 AM

A 4 or 5 man crew, BOY was that featherbedding.  But that was the rules back then.

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Posted by BRAKIE on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 4:37 AM

cx500
 
BRAKIE
If the packing plant is close to the yard and if it isn't and the urban local is gone then what? Railroads got out of that business for a reason.

 

Very often the packing plant and the terminating yard were close, since both were in the industrial part of a city.  If they were separated, the through train might set the cars off directly to the slaughter house, or at a satellite yard that had a yard engine that would do the necessary final spot.  Most major cities had multiple local yards at strategic locations, complete with yardmasters and local based industrial assignments.  Mostly gone now, just as the livestock business has vanished.

 

If the work rules and job classification allowed a yard crew to do another man's job which they would not. A yard man's job was not to deliver cars but,to make up trains..Even a major terminal would have a  five or four man crew (depending on era) that added and removed cabooses from trains plus switch the caboose service track.

However,some roads used a traveling switch engine to cover a ice house track and a slaughterhouse stock pens and switch out reefers. This is all that crew did. A five man crew  made one trip a day to do around 4-5 hours of work.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by cx500 on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 11:25 PM

BRAKIE
If the packing plant is close to the yard and if it isn't and the urban local is gone then what? Railroads got out of that business for a reason.

Very often the packing plant and the terminating yard were close, since both were in the industrial part of a city.  If they were separated, the through train might set the cars off directly to the slaughter house, or at a satellite yard that had a yard engine that would do the necessary final spot.  Most major cities had multiple local yards at strategic locations, complete with yardmasters and local based industrial assignments.  Mostly gone now, just as the livestock business has vanished.

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 8:52 PM

caldreamer

Good possible resource.  Unforunatly no one made a poultry car in N scale.  I do not know  of one in HO either.

 

Westerfield models makes some double deck cars, dont know what service.

 NVM, you said you were in N scale..

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Posted by caldreamer on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 8:39 PM

Good possible resource.  Unforunatly no one made a poultry car in N scale.  I do not know  of one in HO either.

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Posted by NHTX on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 6:14 PM

    Could the answers to some of your questions be found in Kalmbach's book that covers the livestock and meat packing industry?

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Posted by dehusman on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 11:58 AM

Americold Logistics in Fremont, NE is a rail served chicken processing plant that ships frozen chickens outbound.

They also have a facility in Russelville, AR for frozen chicken (Tyson foods plant to the east).

 

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by mbinsewi on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 9:27 AM

It doesn't look like it is, Joe.

https://www.perduefarms.com/

31149 Old Ocean City Rd., Salisbury.

Scroll just a little North, and see the huge Perdue Agribusiness, which is rail served, but deals in grain.  It's all the same company.

Mike.

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Posted by BRAKIE on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 8:42 AM

caldreamer

I guess that if the local is out somewhere , the yard engine would have to move the stock cars to the packing plant.  You DO NOT want to have to pay for dead animals.  You DO want to get the m to the   packing plant s soon as possible.

 

Nope it doesn't work like that..There are company and union job classifications and work agreements that must be followed by both parties.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


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Posted by caldreamer on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 8:26 AM

I guess that if the local is out somewhere , the yard engine would have to move the stock cars to the packing plant.  You DO NOT want to have to pay for dead animals.  You DO want to get the m to the   packing plant s soon as possible.

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Posted by BRAKIE on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 7:09 AM

cx500
Stock cars would get unloaded as soon as possible on arrival at destination. That is why they would often be handled on the head end of a train; the yard engine would be standing by, ready to spot them for unloading as soon as the road power cut off.

If the packing plant is close to the yard and if it isn't and the urban local is gone then what?

Railroads got out of that business for a reason.

Truckers don't want it but,they're stuck with that business.

There's Government regulations that's needs to be followed and of course there's PETA.

 

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


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Posted by joe323 on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 6:41 AM

I have been trying to get the address of the Perdue chicken plant in Salisbury MD with no luck I want to Google Earth it to see if it is rail served.

Joe Staten Island West 

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Monday, June 11, 2018 8:51 AM

There is an interesting discussion on TrainOrders a few years ago which stated when the real railroads ran stock trains.  D&RGW, my RR ran them into the late 1970's or early 1980's - can't remember exactly when the last train was.  So my time frame being around there I could protypically run a stock train but the hard part would be finding stock cars that work for that time period.

 

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3216919

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Posted by caldreamer on Monday, June 11, 2018 8:29 AM

Your suggestion about the se[erate pens for the different types of animals is a good one.  As I said in a previous post the yard engine will move the stock cars immediat;y to the packing plant upon arrival (See my prior post, about 3 posts back from this one).

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Posted by cx500 on Sunday, June 10, 2018 11:20 PM

If you are getting several cars at a time, the livestock would likely first get unloaded into outdoor holding pens rather than going directly into a slaughter house.  The several hundred animals will need to be inspected after the trip for health before entering the food chain.  I also suspect there are valid health reasons for keeping separate holding pen areas for each type of livestock, with very thorough cleaning required if the use changes.

Stock cars would get unloaded as soon as possible on arrival at destination. That is why they would often be handled on the head end of a train; the yard engine would be standing by, ready to spot them for unloading as soon as the road power cut off.  Stock traffic required precision scheduled railroading, something the railroads used to do quite well.  Now it is an empty buzzword. 

John

John

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Posted by dehusman on Sunday, June 10, 2018 8:22 PM

csxns
Chickens has to eat and the chicken food around here comes by unit train.

But that's not even close to what he's modeling.

The largest poultry farms get unit trains, several in Arkansas and N Texas got them.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by csxns on Sunday, June 10, 2018 2:50 PM

dehusman
know chicken processing plants ship frozen chicken out (chickens in by truck).

Chickens has to eat and the chicken food around here comes by unit train.

Russell

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Posted by DSchmitt on Sunday, June 10, 2018 1:27 PM

 HOGX car 1990's

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

 Model of car built by Ortner 1966

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

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Posted by caldreamer on Saturday, June 9, 2018 6:59 PM

I model the BNSF from Richmond, California up to Klamath Falls, Oregon.  The stock train would run from Klamath Falls down to my hump yard (major yard) at Sacramento, where the stock cars would be cut off the Z train and put on a local and run directly up to the Bieber yard which is adjacent to the packing plant. The stock cars would be immediatly taken to the packing plant and the other cars would be left in the yard for the Beiber local to deliver later that day.  Outbound cars would be returned to the hump yard for sorting and put on the appropriate outbound trains. The Z train would proceed to the intemodal yard as soon as the stock cars are cut out and power is put back on the train.

 

 

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Posted by dehusman on Saturday, June 9, 2018 6:50 PM

caldreamer
My only other question is did the packing plants get stock cars every day? I need to figure out how often to have the stock cars moved on my railroad.

Well technically the current answer is they don't get stock cars any day.

Since you aren't modeling anything real, then the answer to your question is moot.  You can have stock cars spotted every 4 hours if you want. 

You have said you are modeling a very large packing plant.  Very large plants need a lot of cattle.  Small plants need a small amount of cattle.  How many cards do you want to spot?

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Posted by ATSFGuy on Saturday, June 9, 2018 6:06 PM

Regarding Stock Train operations, you might want to do some research on that, I'm sure you'll find the answers.

Even a contemporary railroad allows for the occasional exception. What road is your stock train? From where is it traveling to?

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Posted by caldreamer on Saturday, June 9, 2018 4:53 PM

I will have the five or six stock cars placed on the head end of my Z train, so the livestock will get to their destination as quickly as possible.  My only other question is did the packing plants get stock cars every day?  I need to figure out how often to have the stock cars moved on my railroad.

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Posted by caldreamer on Saturday, June 9, 2018 12:31 PM

Ed:

  There were some great answers, but the sarcastic reply got a sarcastic answer.  I am always open to reasonable suggestions.

    Ira

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Posted by 7j43k on Saturday, June 9, 2018 10:52 AM

caldreamer

Rule 1.  This is MY railroad.

Ruel 2.   Any questions or conscers refer to rule 1.

Since I hve a slaughter house on my layout, assume that what you see is only part of the plant, small thought it is.  All three types of livestock are handled thus creating more traffic for the railroad which is the ultimate goal.  I checked and the siding is 39 inches from fouling point to end of siding. Enough for a number o fstock cars at one time.

 

 

"Would it be too outlansish to run a livestock train to the packing plant?"

 

So, you want to ask the question, but ignore the answer.  Hmmmm.

 

Ed

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Posted by caldreamer on Saturday, June 9, 2018 10:20 AM

Rule 1.  This is MY railroad.

Ruel 2.   Any questions or conscers refer to rule 1.

Since I hve a slaughter house on my layout, assume that what you see is only part of the plant, small thought it is.  All three types of livestock are handled thus creating more traffic for the railroad which is the ultimate goal.  I checked and the siding is 39 inches from fouling point to end of siding. Enough for a number o fstock cars at one time.

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Posted by 7j43k on Saturday, June 9, 2018 8:47 AM

caldreamer

I model in N scale.  I was thinking of 4 0 foot stock cars for cattle, the 50 foot AHM cars for sheep and the Atlas 85 foot pig pen cars for hogs.  What I have is a small scratch built packing plant building,  It was an excellent idea to have a small number of cars brougth in on the head end of a train and delivered to the packing plant.   Tallow, out in tank cars, Offal and meat in mechanical reefers and hides out in 40 foot box cars.    The plant is adjacent to a small yard, so the local brings the cars up from the main yard and then delivered to the packing plant.

 

 

On this forum, if you don't say otherwise, you're in HO.  Since you didn't say that at the beginning, you are now in HO.  So.  You MUST get rid of all your N scale.  Sorry. That's the rules.  NOW you can search for the most excellent cars I suggested.

 

OK.

 

If you had a slaughterhouse that brought in three different kinds of animals, it would likely be the size of a large county.  You don't.  I suggest you pick one.

You could, of course, respond that when there's no stock cars parked at the plant, no one can tell which type of animal goes there.  Thus arguing that, as long as the cars are delivered by animal type, it doesn't matter.  OK.

In the real world, there are no more stock cars.  Undoubtedly, there's a reason.  I applaud your rejection of the reason, whatever it is.  But I do urge you to make the rejection as believable as possible.  Thus, stock cars would have to be "modern".  And you should spend some time daydreaming (using logic and reason) WHY this particular plant bucks the system and pulls it off.  Might be fun.

 

Ed

 

 

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