I just finished reading America's Shortest Interstate Railroad by Richard Schmeling. This is the history of the industrial railroad operated by the Ideal Cement Company at Superior, Nebraska. The line was only 4 miles long, but went down to limestone quarries in Kansas. The closing chapter was about the relationship with connecting railroads and it was there that two interesting operational practices were described.
First, dating from the 1950's, the CB&Q trains serving this large cement plant traveled with a company tank car of water which was equipped with a hose and buckets. With the covered hoppers of cement being very heavy, they were prone to hot boxes. The Burlington always positioned this water car close to the loaded cement hoppers in the train in case of a fire from an overheated bearing. While we know of water cars or "fire cars" used on logging lines, this was a new operational practice to me. A photo of this water car is in the book. If your model railroad serves a large cement plant, adding a water car could add some operational interest. Does anyone know of similar water car special use?
Second, also from the 1950's: The service by the local freight train on the CB&Q through this area was cut back to 3 days a week. The cement plant operated every day and wanted to make shipments, so they decided that several loads could be transported by the daily passenger train to Red Cloud or Oxford where they could be forwarded. Trouble was, the "passenger train" was a passenger motor car ("doodlebug" type). EMD Motorcar #9767 was a 400hp model built in 1930 that could tow 4 cement cars in addition to its usual combination car. When motorcar #9841 was used, a 275hp Winton-powered car built in 1928, then only two cement cars could be handled. For those of us who have been known to use a motor car to do some local switching or haul an occasional freight car, there's a prototype for you!
Bill