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bakeries as RR-served industries

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bakeries as RR-served industries
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, December 9, 2006 1:15 AM

does anybody know anything about bakeries served by RRs? I'm gonna get a Magic Pan Bakeries kit but I don't know ANYTHING about prototype bakeries. Can anybody please help?!

-Kyle Mullen

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Posted by ericsp on Saturday, December 9, 2006 1:37 AM
You can use Pressureaide, Pressure Differential, and Airslide hoppers for flour and sugar. You will probably also need corn syrup tankcars. I don't think that the products are shipped out by rail much. If so, they would be plug door boxcars, probably RBLs.

"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Saturday, December 9, 2006 3:00 PM

In earlier times, flour and sugar would have been delivered sacked, in box cars.  If your bakery includes fruit-filled products in its output, an occasional (or frequent) reefer might be unloaded there.

I seem to recall that Frank Ellison had the Sunshine Bakery overlooking one of his terminal yards.  The prototype (subheaded, "the Thousand Window Bakery") was adjacent to Sunnyside Yard in New York City.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

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Posted by ericboone on Saturday, December 9, 2006 7:26 PM
In Holland, Michigan, the National Biscuit Company was served by rail.  Primarily bagged flour and sugar would be delivered as other stated.  I doubt much was shipped outbound by rail.
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Posted by wjstix on Sunday, December 10, 2006 9:22 PM

Suppose it depends on location, here in Minnesota I would guess flour, eggs etc could have been delivered by truck, with the end products shipped out by rail to wholesalers in a city not in the 'wheat belt'. Conversely, a bakery in another part of the country might get flour (or wheat?) milk etc. shipped in by mail, and the end product distributed locally by truck.

Stix
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Posted by artpeterson on Monday, December 11, 2006 1:00 PM

Hi - as the other responders have indicated this depends on the era about which you're talking.  For example in August of 1918 Al Johnson took some photos on the CStPM&O in Rice Lake, WI (about 50 miles from Eau Claire).  On the platform as well as on the baggage carts in the view, there are boxes from the Eau Claire bakery.

Hope this helps!

Art

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Posted by N737AA on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 3:31 AM

Today Bama Pie Co. in Tulsa, Ok has a corn syrup transload facility.  It is a two track facility that unloads the corn syrup to tanker trucks.  Each track holds six 40' tank cars.  The "bakery" is a few blocks away and the finished product is shipped by truck.

Mike in Tulsa

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Posted by BRJN on Friday, December 15, 2006 7:49 PM
Look for Industries by the Railroad Tracks and read through that for ideas (the chapter on grain will help most). Also walk down the cake mix aisle at your local grocery and read the ingredients on the side of the boxes.  This will tell you what you need to plan for.
Modeling 1900 (more or less)
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Posted by dansapo on Saturday, December 16, 2006 8:53 AM

The local bakery by my house gets airslides delivered regularly.If you look at the side of the building,You'll see flour blasted up the wall. A very simple set up here.

Schwebel's Bakery

Solon Ohio April 2005 

Dan Sapochetti
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Posted by Kurt_Laughlin on Saturday, December 16, 2006 11:34 PM

 BRJN wrote:
Look for Industries by the Railroad Tracks and read through that for ideas (the chapter on grain will help most).

Did you mean the Modeler's Guide to Industries Along the Tracks or is this a different book?

KL

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Posted by leighant on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 8:39 AM

Rainbo Baking Co. in Corpus Christi ca. 1970-1990 was located offline-- about 8 blocks from rail line.  The railroad had a switching district a couple of blocks long with one or spurs serving a number of small warehouses and supply outlet houses-- the prototype for several industires on one spur.  Rainbow leased a one-car length spot on the spur and a pad about 30 x 50' alongside.  An Airslide(r) covered hopper railcar of flour would be spotted and pneumatically transloaded to a "covered hopper trailer" for final delivery to the bakery. 

This could be a prototype for locating an industry on the layout in a spot where it is awkward to reach with a spur.  Very frequently done with cargo such as furniture, boxed goods etc. spotted in railcars on a team track, and carried to final local destination by local truck.  Less frequent for dry bulk commodities.  Of course, liquid cargoes in large enough quantity can be delivered by pipeline from rail spot to an industry which does not have to be butted up against spur.

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Posted by rtstasiak on Saturday, December 23, 2006 9:28 PM

Just a seasonal note here: bakeries that produce cookies (like Christmas Cookies), crackers, and hard biscuits shipped these products by rail carload prior to 1965. In more recent times, this outbound traffic shifted to truck and railroad intermodal (piggyback) My personal (OK, my mother's!) example was Nabisco in Niagara Falls, NY.

Rich
 

 

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Posted by cacole on Monday, December 25, 2006 12:59 PM

The Keebler bakery in Denver, Colorado was the reason the Denver & Rio Grande came up with their "Cookie Box" boxcars that Model Die Casting produced in HO scale.

The latest news I have been able to find out about the Keebler bakery in Denver is that production has been moved to Macon, Georgia and the Denver facility has been closed after Kelllogg's bought the Keebler brand.

Maybe that's why Keebler products are disappearing from supermarkets out here in Arizona, and when they can be found the boxes are smashed in and the contents are just crumbs.  Not a very smart move by Kellogg's.

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Posted by BRJN on Friday, December 29, 2006 8:29 PM

 Kurt_Laughlin wrote:
Did you mean the Modeler's Guide to Industries Along the Tracks or is this a different book?

That is probably the correct title.  I abbreviate long titles when I take notes from a book.

Modeling 1900 (more or less)

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