What Industries do you have on your layout?

[Anonymous]

Would you guys like to share what industries you have on your railroad? I'm in planning stages and looking for what others have to get an idea. I plan on a rural setting, Reading Railroad in the 40's. I have a lumber yard so far and thinking of Grain, Feed, and fertilizer industries. Also a Growers Express for produce.

[jhoff310]

I have several warehouses and a small chemical dist. You could bundle all of the above mentioned industries together as a co-op. Could even put in a team track to unload those Alis Chalmers or Farmall tractors for your rural area..
Just my 2 cents
jeff

[jrbernier]

I have a 'zinc' mine, meat packing plant, bulk oil distributor, grain elevator, feed mill, lumber yard, 'pickle' plant, produce cannery, bldg materials dealer, a small power plant, and creamery for local industries. The zinc loader and packing plant are the only 'large' industries that generate multiple cars loads on a daily basis. The rest of the industries get maybe 1-2 cars per week, except for the power plant, which gets about 5-6 cars of steam coal each week(6 day operting cycle on my car card system). The creamery really does not even deserve a car a week(in or out), but the structure looks cool. I have been thinking about expanding it and changing it to a 'grocery distribtor' operation like Gateway Foods or Gamble-Robinson - then it would really be getting loads of food stuffs being delivered.
Think about what industries are in your local area or the area you are modeling. Also keep in mind the era or time frame you are modeling. I model Milwaukee Road branch lines in SW Wisconsin, in the 50's. There where lead mines there in the 1800's, but the lead payed out and they started mining zinc or recovering the zinc out of the old mine tailings later on. Many industries are 'farm' related like the feed mill. grain elevator, creamery, pickle(cucumber loading) plant, canning plant, and the meat packing plant. My power plant is a Walthers 'Northern' power plant that fits in with my 50's theme and has a 3 car spur for coal unloading.
Your Reading theme might have some type of small coal loader operation(even a truck to rail car unloading dock). You might want want to go to your local library and look through old phone books for business names and see what was there in the 40's.

Jim Bernier

[fiatfan]

Another industry would be a pet food manufacturing plant. Small foot print and generates two-three cars per day.

Tom

[Roadtrp]

I just have two industries, but they use a fair number of rail cars every week. I have a glass factory and the need for silica, limestone and soda ash keeps my hoppers and covered hoppers pretty busy. I also have an interstate trucking terminal. Darn near anything shipped by box car is loaded on to trucks at the terminal and continues on to its final destination.

I have a small layout and didn't have room for many industries. But I think the two I choose make for a fair amount of rail activity.

[:)]

[Anonymous]

I am modeling a Coca-Cola Plant, Pittsburgh Brewery Company, a Coal Mine, Passenger Station using Walthers Union Station and a service area for ueling and servicing diesel engines.

[Jetrock]

In its current form, my layout has an interchange track, an almond-processing plant, a milk-products factory, a beverage bottler, and a cannery, as well as a team track/freight house.

My engine service facility and caboose track also count as an "industry" in that it receives shipments of sand, fuel, and other supplies, but less often than the other on-line industries.

[Anonymous]

Well, I have a rolling mill, a grain elevator, a gravel-crushing facility, a power plant, an asphalt plant, a coal flood loader, an auto-unloading ramp, and an oil unloading facility. This is all packed onto a 10x10' layout. On my old layout that never was completed I had more industries packed onto a 4x8' layout. I am glad I have more space, but I still want more, more, MORE!!!
Reed

[Hawks05]

right now i have a grain elevator. not much really. i'm hoping to get the ADM towers i have together sometime and put those on the layout.

[MisterBeasley]

I'm also in the planning stages, having unpacked some boxes from the 70's. I've got some oil industry towers ("cracking" towers, I believe they're called) and some surface "piping" I made from balsa wood when I was a teenager. I'm still thinking about coal, with a lot of working Mantua hoppers. Sure made a mess when they derailed, though.

[ericsp]

Here are the industries on my layout (all are currently under construction):
Oil refinery
Portland cement terminal
Lumber Mill
Tomato Processing plant along with a produce packing shed (not just tomatoes)
Small train yard with an intermodal terminal, team track, and light engine servicing facility

[Anonymous]

I model BNSF in the western part washintonon 4ft by 8ft. on my layout, there is small town that ships stuff to the area round about. i'm modelling probably, the easiest industry- warehouses (boxcars with closed doors come pick up, and drop off what ever they are supplying. Also, another industry i like modelling is, like intermodal stuff- stack cars carrying the containers. i just use those DPM buildings and i've got a town where to drop off the containers (there is no container drop off machine-for the containers-but i just asume there is). On my layout, I use lots of diferent rolling stock, hoppers, reeffer, grain car, and gondolas that i don't have industry buildings for. so i hook em up to a trains passing by. at diferent times i thought about having a grain, coal/ore, and others-i can't remember what they are at the moment. those DPM kits are good for any industry, so get lots of them. if you are modelling the 40's you should get the freight depot. but check out your LHS. i'm lucky that i have a LHS that has friendly people who are helpful (LHS is Eastside Trains- http://www.eastsidetrains.com/Home.html). hope it helps!

Alexander

[cwaldman]

I personally and intentionally have kept several of my industries pretty indistinct as to what they are. The type of cars they need are fairly straight forward, such box cars etc. Or are they? But I tried to not get narrowed down to a specific cargo. I may bring barrels in on a gondola or they could be in a box car.

Several well known people have done this, such as John Allen and Sellios. Although the names indicated what it may be, there are no rules to the cargo. I find this allows me to model buildings I like and have cars on the line I like without having them seem out of place. [:p] Besides I was going crazy trying to name logical names and find specific cars. Now I can name the building what ever i want without applying they type of industry. For instance One is named Mcavity and Coyle. Not Macavity and Coyle Plastic Company. Which would limit me to say covered plastic pellet cars. Maybe that is the type of car they will get. Maybe not. What do they make? Who knows or cares! They get two box cars every day.

I do have some specific areas such as an oil company and mine etc. But the smaller branch line stuff is non-commital so to speak.

The concept of my line is a free lanced, interchange line. So I Have switching at industries, with consists eventually being shipped off line. So my mine may receive a set of coal cars along with supplies in a box car and gondola for junk removal.

It keeps the movement of cars less restrictive and allows me to run cars I like.

Cletus

[rogerhensley]

The majority of the ECI (East Central Indiana) customers are small industrial companies (pipes, plastics, autoparts, etc.) as well as several heavy grain operations and one small stone quarry sending occasional shipments off line to dealers nationwide.

In fact the Major Plastics plant has just been enlarged to better serve the Patio Furniture market.

[CBQ_Guy]

I'm in the planning stages, too, but the plan is probably 95 percent finalized and set. I'm actually in the room prep (basement) stage, so the plan is pretty much fixed, though you do get an inspiration or two now and then.

I'll be modeling a rural area, and a small city/industrial area, on the railroad. There will be a two-track CB&Q mainline around the walls, but the rest of it will be a rural branchline of the Burlington winding around from town to town and ending up at an Illinois coal mine and it's town. The era is roughly the late 1960's...HO.

I have been buying structure kits for years to support this type of layout as it was what I had up and running in the old house, though in a much smaller area, so in many cases I kept most of the structure kits in mind as I planned the track, so that I hopefully will be able to use as many of them as possible, and they "should" fit.
I've also left some unplanned areas for structures to accomodate future ideas or if I want to try my hand at scratchbuilding or putting together a craftsman style kit.

Here, then, are the industries I'll have, mostly for sure and some if I don't change my mind or something else fits or comes to mind in the interim.

Whirlpool appliance manufacturing plant complex
A&P Grocery distribution warehouse
Large grain elevator
Metal Products and Tank/Boiler fabrication plant
Limestone Quarry
Frozen Dinner plant
Meat Packing/Slaughter House Complex with Icing Platform
Cold Storage Facility
TOFC unloading track (elephant style mostly with a side lift option for the occasional container)
Burlington Freight House
REA Distribution Warehouse
U.S. Mail Facility
Loco Servicing Supply Track
Municipal Warehouse & Storage
Sears Distribution Warehouse
Paint Manufacturer
Brewery or Soda Pop plant
Bakery or Snack Food plant
Small Chemical plant
Beer/Liquor Distributor
Coal/Oil Dealers
Tank Farm
Bulk Material Transfer (to/from? river barge)?
Injection Molding plant
Automotive Parts Supply warehouse
Furniture Mfg.
County Highway Department Supplies Track
Power Plant
Fertilizer Plant
MOW Supply Track
Junk Yard
Ag Dealer
Rural Grain Elevators
Lumber Yard
Cannery/Packing Facility (for asparagus, onions, etc.)
Dairy/Cheese Facility
Propane Dealer
Feed Mill/Dealer
Possible track to "beyond-the-ridge" Mushroom Growing Facility . . .
(I worked at one of these for several years, and though there was no rail service, there certainly could have been with the huge amount of material coming in to the "farm".)
Cement Plant
Various Interchange, House and Team tracks around the layout

These are just the industries that come to mind as I don't have my layout plan handy to refer to. It doesn't include spaces for industries I've left unspecified as noted above, nor ones I've forgotten to include, of course.

Sounds like a lot, but keep in mind this is in a basement of roughly 22 by 38 feet . . . and I like switching!

[PennsyHoosier]

On my puny layout the major industries are 1) a coal mine; 2) a power house; and 3) the SCHMUCKER BREWERY! Yes, Schmucker bier is brewed only in Germany and you can only buy the trucks there, but it is too cool, so I decided to put it into western PA. [^] What can I say? [:D]

[leighant]

In my modeled town of Johnston:
Dixie Darlin peanut butter plant
Creotex wood preserving plant (ties, utility poles, posts)
Wayne Implement (farm machinery)
Jayco Petroleum (Phillips 66 bulk distributor)
pulpwood loading
Big Piney Lumber Co. Neola Reload (log loading)


On Johston &East Texas shortline:
Big Piney lumber mill
JJ Stone Co., gravel