Brewery Traffic Questions

[Paul W. Beverung]

Metro: I can remember seeing the brewreys loading reefers down town. They used a real short truck tractor to pull short simis to the cars. What was the name of that street that ran along the edge of the tracks in down town? I can't remember. I just checked a map. It was north 3rd st. Of course that was in the 50's.

[mlehman]

I dug around and found a couple threads that cover brewery traffic:
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/850022/ShowPost.aspx
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/303954/ShowPost.aspx

[ericsp]

Here are some links to aerial photographs of some large breweries. You can see several tankcars at the third one. It seems like those are corn syrup tankcars, however it has been a few years since I have been by there.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=38.235652,-122.091815&spn=0.004635,0.01177&t=h&om=1

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=34.219068,-118.477174&spn=0.004879,0.01177&t=h

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=34.126655,-117.938533&spn=0.004885,0.01177&t=h

I would think that a medium sized brewery would not get anything but grain in by rail. Since the brewery is not large and distribution is regional, probably no beer would leave by rail, for the real thing. That does not mean that it cannot be that way on your layout.

It sounds like this is a modern operation. If so, then insulated boxcars would be correct. Athearn Genesis (PCF 8' & 6' double plug door; PCF 14' plug door; PCF exterior post, 10' plug door; PCF interior post [probably few still in revenue service];  NACC 10' plug door[probably none still in revenue service]), Athearn RTR (Evans double plug door, FGE single plug door), Atlas (Evans double plug door), Walthers (FGE single plug door), and Rail Shop, Inc all make models of cars commonly used to haul beer, and several types of canned and bottle foodstuffs that do not require refrigeration. I bought five of the Rail Shop kits back when they were made by Eel River Models. They require more work than most kits (they also come RTR) but they are nice cars.

[METRO]

<BLOCKQUOTE><table class="quoteOuterTable"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/trccs/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif">&nbsp;<strong>Bill H. wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4">I believe <u>all</u> "finished product" would move by truck. Trucks deliver plastic/glass bottles, cans, kegs and paper goods as well, (packaging). <i>Especially</i> a local operation.<br><br>Inbound railcars would deliver hops, barley and so forth.<br><br><img src="/trccs/emoticons/icon_smile_2cents.gif" alt="My 2 cents [2c]" /><br></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not true actually, Miller Brewing here in Milwaukee moves a very signifigant amount of beer out by rail to Chicago (about 90 miles.) Also there was an article a while ago in MR about the cars that Coors uses to ship their product out.

Plus also this entire piece is a bit of a tip of the hat to the Milwaukee Road's Beer Line shortline, which I live half a mile from the remains of. Also as an added bit of respect, all of the covered hoppers serving the brewery are going to be former MILW with just the reporting marks and numbers stenciled out.

As for the boxcar question, seeing as beer does not actually have to stay cold to ship, I'm going to bet that I can just use insulated boxcars for outbound loads, until I'm corrected or something.

Cheers!
~METRO

[Bill H.]

I believe all "finished product" would move by truck. Trucks deliver plastic/glass bottles, cans, kegs and paper goods as well, (packaging). Especially a local operation.

Inbound railcars would deliver hops, barley and so forth.

[mlehman]

Hi Metro,
There was a very lengthy thread on breweries and their inputs and outputs in the last year here, down to calculations of how many cars a day of each commodity I think. Doing a search should come up with it or one the participants may have a link.

[METRO]

I'm planning on putting a medium sized local brewery on the new module of my layout. Distribution would be regional, much like Leinenkugel's is here in the upper Midwest. The brewery is in the middle of downtown, much like the old breweries on the Milwaukee Road's Beer Line. However several questions arose in my mind however as to what amount and kind of freight traffic would be generated?

Since my line is located on the northeastern coast of Lake Ontario, would the finished beer ship in reefers or insulated boxcars?

Other than covered hoppers, what other cars would I need for inbound traffic?

Anything else that might help would be appreciated too.

Cheers!
~METRO