Brewery & Pork Packing Industries

[Anonymous]

The layout that I'm going to build (circa mid-1950s) has a brewery and a pork packing industry on it.

1) The brewery produces bottled and keg beer. I don't believe these need to be kept cold, but how did they protect these products from extreme temperatures during shipment and what cars would they have used...reefers, boxcars, insulated boxcars?

2) The pork packing plant pickles some of it's products. What car types did they use for shipment by rail?

Any knowledge of this would be appreciated. Thanks, Jerry K

[dknelson]

Beer has been shipped in insulated boxcars. These cars can maintain a cool temp for long periods even if they run in hot areas. The load is cooled and I think the car might be cooled too. Don't forget the grain products that breweries received by rail, once in boxcars later in covered hoppers. And really large brewers could even fill open hoppers or gons with busted bottles.
Do not know that much about pork. Canned hams would probably be shipped using insulated boxcars, other products would need actual refrigeration. Don't forget that tallow is a biproduct and is shipped in tank cars. Some of these cars are marked "edible tallows" and "inedible tallows."
Dave Nelson

[orsonroy]

I'm modeling Peoria in 1950, a big pork and beer town (and whiskey!). All distilled spirits at this time were shipped in reefers, partially for the icing capability, partially for the general insulation, and partially for the more careful handeling reefers got. Generally, whiskey was shipped without ice and beer was shipped with ice (Beer has a tendency to explode if it gets too hot). Busch and several other distilleries leased 36' reefers for moving their product. Sunshine makes the only correct kits (resin) for various "booze cars". In the 1950s, a distillery would get almost all boxcars in and reefers out, with an occasional gondola for scrap glass (if the distillery didn't make the bottles on site, which was pretty common).

As for pork products, some sausages and "other pieces" (ears, feet, snouts, tongues, which were all more common in people's diets 50 years ago) did get pickled. The primary ingredients for pickling were brine (salt water; produced on site) and vinegar, which was transported in odd wooden tank cars (vinegar would eat through a steel car) that lasted into the 1970s. AHM and Sunshine both make correct models for vinegar cars, but you'll have to repaint the AHM car, and only Sunshine makes correct decals. One loaded vinegar car would last a week or more for any general meat packing plant, so the car doesn't have to show up often. For outbound loads, ALL meat was transported in 36' meat reefers, even canned dog food (you can DIE if you eat potted meat that's been heated and cooled uncontrollably in a can). Heat will damage canned goods, either by boiling the contents or by exploding the cans. ALL meat loads were iced. Be sure to only use meat reefers for the packing company that owns both the plant and the cars (actually, they leased them). Unlike boxcars, reefers could only be used by the company that "owned" them. Strings of cars could be mixed up in a train or at the unloading point, but NEVER at the loading point (major fines were levied).

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Thanks "loads" Dave and Ray. This helps a lot! Jerry

[orsonroy]

Glad to be of help, Jerry.

I did some digging last night, and came across a reference to a beer reefer class leased to Anheuser-Busch during the 1940s-1960s. Basically, it's a 36' reefer WITHOUT roof hatches. Budweiser was apparently the first nationally distributed beer, and so these cars went everywhere. Sunshine makes resin kits for three different versions, but you can come close by using the Roundhouse old-timer reefer (with trussrods) or meat reefer (same car, but without trussrods) and changing the roof to remove the roof hatches. Sunshine does sell decals seperately, so you can have great-looking stand ins. Apparently, Manufacturers RR (Busch's railroad, and still around today) also had some beer reefers, but I haven't been able to dig up pics of them.

Good Luck!