Seems that I cant tell you how many times say we have a Brewery that gets in grain but does not know that a distributer has a railroad siding that can get beer in. Or a plastics manufactuter that does not know that a customer has a siding. Its like having a phone company without phone books.
Who cares what WE know? The real problem is the Traffic Managers (and other personnel that handle shipping and recieving) for their companies don't really have a clue to the rail capability of their own plants - thus when the buy/sell transaction gets discussed between the companies - the parties doing the negotiating have no idea if rail is a viable option.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
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edblysardOkay then, which plastics manufacture doesn’t know if their customers have rail sidings or not?
Probably not the suppliers that cause three cars to be spotted at the Toro plant in El Cajon, CA, for sure. Even if it's not a regular supplier, I suspect that they will ask "how do you want this to get to you?" at some point in the process.
Or maybe I'm just assuming the obvious.
About that phone book.
https://readwrite.com/2011/01/20/study-confirms-death-of-phone-books/
I myself still use the phone book when I can. I also use the internet. I've found both to have erroneous information when looking for a business.
Any business directory, whether printed or on-line, most likely would also be somewhat useless. It would depend on how often and acurately it would be updated. Time is money after all.
Railroads used to have printed directories of industries on line and off line open to reciprocal switching. Some reprints are available for those, mostly model railroaders and historians, who would want one.
http://railsunlimited.ribbonrail.com/Books/shippers.html
Jeff
jeffhergertAbout that phone book. https://readwrite.com/2011/01/20/study-confirms-death-of-phone-books/
They were real kind to me this year. Sent me a phone book on trash day. Didn't have to walk as far to place it in its usual spot.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
That national rail shipper's directory would be about as useful and up to date as your phone book. When I get a new phone book I do what most everyone does- I look to see if I’m in it. I am, even though we got rid of our house phone about 5 years ago. Back to the OP- Any employee that would need the info you’re suggesting in a form compiled by someone else would need to be shown the door. I couldn’t keep a salesman that was so lazy he relied on someone else to do his homework. Those kinds of directories-like phone books- are notoriously out of date and just wrong. That’s why I don’t open any mail addressed to our old owner who died in 2001. I do however take an occasional phone call for him. “Good morning! May I speak to Herb please?” ‘Yeah, now there’s an interesting story. Have you got time for it?”
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
There are admittedly some confidentiality concerns with such a directory as well as the risk that someone will use it to poach customers.
However regional transportation planners would find it useful. They need to know where rail service is because the best way to preserve service to a site is to have the site down the street also have rail service.
If the directory was updated from year to year then it could be a powerful tool for identifying excess capacity, predicting where capacity needs to be added, and spotting long term trends.
Look at the Army Corps of Engineers Port Series maps and you can get a good sense of what kind of ships can be accomodated and what kind of support services are available.
The guide could also be used for planning the locations of new industrial sites (and yes, plant siting does involve a lot of other variables so the use would be limited.)
In a perfect world, entrepreneurs would use the guide to spot opportunities for new transloading services and maybe we will someday get intermodal services of less than 500 miles.
Kevin
Considering how relatively few receiving rail customers manage to take care of their facilities (it's not the railroad's responsibility*), the whole point is moot.
Most client's shipping people are sadly out of touch with the real world.
(*) Amusing and discouraging to see what happens when something gets shipped their way and gets diverted to a team track or cross dock when there is no license agreement/contract. "But the commercial real estate people that leased us this place said it had rail service or was rail ready....)
Folks who need to know can access the Serving Carrier/Reciprocal Switch information. Most railroad on line pricing tools have this information or Railinc has it. https://www.railinc.com/rportal/serving-carrier-reciprocal-switch
This proposed directory can be online. CSX and NS have some infoation maps for bulk transfer having a customer map would be great too along with Pennsy Steam in N Scale.
At its website, Union Pacific offers a grain elevator directory and information on other commodity shippers / receivers such as fertilizer, cold storage and transloaders.
John Timm
Once again, this seems to be a solution in search of a problem. The other replies seem to indicate that this information is out there, you just have to dig for it.
CSSHEGEWISCH Once again, this seems to be a solution in search of a problem. The other replies seem to indicate that this information is out there, you just have to dig for it.
And those whose livelihood depends on it know where to look for the information.
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