Sugar Cane

[GDRMCo]

Hi ive been on the forums for a while and i want to model an aussie sugar cane railroad. I call my rr company the Queensland Sugar Co. Anyone got any ideas on what i could include on my layout. So far i have thought of having the layout which is only 2.5ftX7ft divided in half with one side showing the cane feilds and the other showing the sugar mill.

Any ideas are welcome.


GDRMCo

[GDRMCo]

Hi ive been on the forums for a while and i want to model an aussie sugar cane railroad. I call my rr company the Queensland Sugar Co. Anyone got any ideas on what i could include on my layout. So far i have thought of having the layout which is only 2.5ftX7ft divided in half with one side showing the cane feilds and the other showing the sugar mill.

Any ideas are welcome.


GDRMCo

[jrbarney]

GDRMCo,
You said any ideas, so here goes. If you have any place where the railroad track crosses a highway, show a single car accident. Forty years ago when I was stationed in Puerto Rico, sugar cane was hauled to the mills in trucks and ox carts. The Puerto Rican railroad no longer existed. Wherever cane fell off an overloaded vehicle, (they all were), it was crushed by cars and trucks, resulting in a spot slicker than sour owl manure and in turn that would lead to an accident. Think I remember some sugar cane railroad car and engine plans in either Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette or Railroad Model Craftsman. You might want to run a search at the Index of Magazines at this site.
Buenas dias.
Bob

[jrbarney]

GDRMCo,
You said any ideas, so here goes. If you have any place where the railroad track crosses a highway, show a single car accident. Forty years ago when I was stationed in Puerto Rico, sugar cane was hauled to the mills in trucks and ox carts. The Puerto Rican railroad no longer existed. Wherever cane fell off an overloaded vehicle, (they all were), it was crushed by cars and trucks, resulting in a spot slicker than sour owl manure and in turn that would lead to an accident. Think I remember some sugar cane railroad car and engine plans in either Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette or Railroad Model Craftsman. You might want to run a search at the Index of Magazines at this site.
Buenas dias.
Bob

[Anonymous]

I live in the heart of Cane Country, South Florida. You could have cane trucks moving from the fields, over roads and highways, to the mills and some heavy equipment in the fields. The small towns located in or near cane country tend to be somewhat rundown, ramshackle little bergs that always seem to be on the verge of going under, if you know what I mean. There's generally a small section of town, very small section, that's seemed to prosper, but it's surrounded by abject poverty. A real good example would be Belleglade Fla. Right in the sugar heart land, this is a town thats been there since the 20's, is completely surrounded by cane, but 90% of the population, live below the poverty line and require welfare assistance. Pahokee Fla, same way. Also in this area is Lake Okeechobee, a beautiful lake of some 30 miles across, which sports some of the best fishing in the South East. This is also the Vegetable Capital of SE. Lots of vege's grown here. There is also Citrus, Beef, and all sorts of other AG oriented industries here. Don't for get the packing houses that go with these other industries. There is always the ever present small airport, some with grass runways and some with concrete runways, where AG Aircraft (crop dusters) fly in and out of, spraying fields. Also, at least here in Fla. there is a massive network of canals, some for flood control and some for irrigation, running all over the place, thousands of miles of them. Hope this helps some, let us know how it works out.

[Anonymous]

I live in the heart of Cane Country, South Florida. You could have cane trucks moving from the fields, over roads and highways, to the mills and some heavy equipment in the fields. The small towns located in or near cane country tend to be somewhat rundown, ramshackle little bergs that always seem to be on the verge of going under, if you know what I mean. There's generally a small section of town, very small section, that's seemed to prosper, but it's surrounded by abject poverty. A real good example would be Belleglade Fla. Right in the sugar heart land, this is a town thats been there since the 20's, is completely surrounded by cane, but 90% of the population, live below the poverty line and require welfare assistance. Pahokee Fla, same way. Also in this area is Lake Okeechobee, a beautiful lake of some 30 miles across, which sports some of the best fishing in the South East. This is also the Vegetable Capital of SE. Lots of vege's grown here. There is also Citrus, Beef, and all sorts of other AG oriented industries here. Don't for get the packing houses that go with these other industries. There is always the ever present small airport, some with grass runways and some with concrete runways, where AG Aircraft (crop dusters) fly in and out of, spraying fields. Also, at least here in Fla. there is a massive network of canals, some for flood control and some for irrigation, running all over the place, thousands of miles of them. Hope this helps some, let us know how it works out.

[jrbarney]

GDRMCo,
Just followed my own suggestion, and did a search using the term "sugar." Of the 15 citations that resulted there appear to be several that might be of some help to you. Some you may have to request from the NMRA's AC Kalmbach Memorial Library, and you might want to ask them to do a little research for you. Don't know if there are any books on the cane and beet sugar industries, but you might want to check at a large library. Are there any modelers in Hawaii that can help ?
Bob

[jrbarney]

GDRMCo,
Just followed my own suggestion, and did a search using the term "sugar." Of the 15 citations that resulted there appear to be several that might be of some help to you. Some you may have to request from the NMRA's AC Kalmbach Memorial Library, and you might want to ask them to do a little research for you. Don't know if there are any books on the cane and beet sugar industries, but you might want to check at a large library. Are there any modelers in Hawaii that can help ?
Bob

[cacole]

There was a TV episode in the U.S. called "Railway Adventures Across Australia" hosted by Scott McGregor that showed the Queensland sugar cane fields and mill. They use narrow gauge Cook locomotives that appear to be gasoline powered instead of diesel. I have never seen a model of a Cook loco available anywhere. Try to get a copy of this video if you can.

[cacole]

There was a TV episode in the U.S. called "Railway Adventures Across Australia" hosted by Scott McGregor that showed the Queensland sugar cane fields and mill. They use narrow gauge Cook locomotives that appear to be gasoline powered instead of diesel. I have never seen a model of a Cook loco available anywhere. Try to get a copy of this video if you can.

[jrbarney]

GDRMCo,
Checked in my library. I have a copy of a 48 page brochure published by the Great Western Sugar Co. in 1961, titled "Where Steam Still Serves." While most of it is devoted to the Great Western Railway's #50, a Decapod, it does include the track layouts at Loveland and Longmont, CO. It is a beet sugar operation, so I'm not sure how germane it is to cane sugar operations. If you are interested, I will loan it to you. Send me your "snail" mail address - my E-mail address is <[e-mail]>. As the "church lady" might say, "Now isn't that sweet."
Bob

[jrbarney]

GDRMCo,
Checked in my library. I have a copy of a 48 page brochure published by the Great Western Sugar Co. in 1961, titled "Where Steam Still Serves." While most of it is devoted to the Great Western Railway's #50, a Decapod, it does include the track layouts at Loveland and Longmont, CO. It is a beet sugar operation, so I'm not sure how germane it is to cane sugar operations. If you are interested, I will loan it to you. Send me your "snail" mail address - my E-mail address is <[e-mail]>. As the "church lady" might say, "Now isn't that sweet."
Bob

[Anonymous]

GDRMCo,

I am modeling a refinery called Dominos of Baltimore, Md. One of the internet sites I used during my learning of how sugar was made was www.queenslandsugar.com.au it was helpful to me. I hope this will be of assistance to you.

Good Luck,

Lee

[Anonymous]

GDRMCo,

I am modeling a refinery called Dominos of Baltimore, Md. One of the internet sites I used during my learning of how sugar was made was www.queenslandsugar.com.au it was helpful to me. I hope this will be of assistance to you.

Good Luck,

Lee

[Anonymous]

Many, many years ago, I designed and built a power complex for Pepeekeo Sugar Corp. on the big island of Hawaii. The unit was designed to burn bagasse. They had been dumping it into the sea until the EPA stopped them. The Walthers paper mill would do very nice for a sugar mill since Australia's sugar cane industry is a year round concern. If you wanted to go steam, you could get a nice little 0-4-0 from Modelpower for about $28. You could look thru' Walthers catalog for a small diesel if you want to go that way. But whatever you do on your layout, don't forget to leave enough space for your bagasse pile. Sugar mills using cane produce tons and tons of bagasse. Have fun.

[Anonymous]

Many, many years ago, I designed and built a power complex for Pepeekeo Sugar Corp. on the big island of Hawaii. The unit was designed to burn bagasse. They had been dumping it into the sea until the EPA stopped them. The Walthers paper mill would do very nice for a sugar mill since Australia's sugar cane industry is a year round concern. If you wanted to go steam, you could get a nice little 0-4-0 from Modelpower for about $28. You could look thru' Walthers catalog for a small diesel if you want to go that way. But whatever you do on your layout, don't forget to leave enough space for your bagasse pile. Sugar mills using cane produce tons and tons of bagasse. Have fun.

[GDRMCo]

Ive gon for the modern approach with cane bin cars and diesels. My diesel is one of the many engines that i have made up. It is a 6 wheel engine but its the only engine that is going to be on te layout apart from a SW1200 that will haul the big train because the 6 wheeler is going to haul the small train into the cane fields and to the sugar mill.
Any more ideas?

GDRMCo

[GDRMCo]

Ive gon for the modern approach with cane bin cars and diesels. My diesel is one of the many engines that i have made up. It is a 6 wheel engine but its the only engine that is going to be on te layout apart from a SW1200 that will haul the big train because the 6 wheeler is going to haul the small train into the cane fields and to the sugar mill.
Any more ideas?

GDRMCo

[jrbarney]

GDRMCo,
Maybe Emeraldisle or another reader can substantiate this, but I believe that there was at least one attempt to use bagasse to make a product similar to strand board. If that's correct, it's another industry you could locate on your layout. Ship bagasse in using cane cars, hoppers, or whatever and ship out strand board on flats/bulkhead flats. If it failed, you could have a rusty siding with an abandoned mill. What do Emeraldisle or others recommend for modeling bagasse ?
Bob

[jrbarney]

GDRMCo,
Maybe Emeraldisle or another reader can substantiate this, but I believe that there was at least one attempt to use bagasse to make a product similar to strand board. If that's correct, it's another industry you could locate on your layout. Ship bagasse in using cane cars, hoppers, or whatever and ship out strand board on flats/bulkhead flats. If it failed, you could have a rusty siding with an abandoned mill. What do Emeraldisle or others recommend for modeling bagasse ?
Bob

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the strand board thing but probably coarse sawdust would be good for modeling bagasse. It's really whats left over after all the sugar and moisture in the cane has been extracted......D

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the strand board thing but probably coarse sawdust would be good for modeling bagasse. It's really whats left over after all the sugar and moisture in the cane has been extracted......D

[Anonymous]

I dont know if this happens in sugar cane, but thought it would be something cool to see on a MR. How about crop circles? They would definitly add some spice to the layout. An area that got burnt recently and spoiled some of the crops might look kinda nice too..

[Anonymous]

I dont know if this happens in sugar cane, but thought it would be something cool to see on a MR. How about crop circles? They would definitly add some spice to the layout. An area that got burnt recently and spoiled some of the crops might look kinda nice too..

[Anonymous]

I don't think coarse sawdust will really represent bagasse, as I recall the stuff was long and stringy, It clogged the boiler feeders something terrible. Maybe if you went to a store dealing in china you could get some of their packing straw and cut it. I think that would be realistic. As for wallboard, we tried that with a sugar cane plant in Jamaica without a lot of success. The problem was drying and bonding the bagasse. We gave up after 2 years. Have fun.

[Anonymous]

I don't think coarse sawdust will really represent bagasse, as I recall the stuff was long and stringy, It clogged the boiler feeders something terrible. Maybe if you went to a store dealing in china you could get some of their packing straw and cut it. I think that would be realistic. As for wallboard, we tried that with a sugar cane plant in Jamaica without a lot of success. The problem was drying and bonding the bagasse. We gave up after 2 years. Have fun.

[GDRMCo]

Anyone think my layout could feature in model railroader? It could show you how we do it in aus and show that there is a company that is aussie called baldwin (not the us one).

[GDRMCo]

Anyone think my layout could feature in model railroader? It could show you how we do it in aus and show that there is a company that is aussie called baldwin (not the us one).

[Anonymous]

Why not? Just take some 5" by 7" photos and submit them. What have you got to lose?

[Anonymous]

Why not? Just take some 5" by 7" photos and submit them. What have you got to lose?