Northeastern Industry

[Anonymous]

As you may know I am working on a Green Mountain Railroad Co. layout. i am having trouble deciding what industry to work with. The only ones i have thought of are, lumber, grain, and granite mining. Any more ideas? And where could i find information about these and/or other industries(pictures, track layout)? Any help would be great!! Thanx.

[Anonymous]

There is minerals (Stone, sand coal and ores) finished lumber products, seafood and ports, imports, exports, steel related (Aluminum too) the occasional produce and apple outfit (for cider and also maple syrups) as well as the machinery plants and chemicals. The list goes on and on.

If you type in "Port of Balitmore" (Where I was raised, I admit being biased) in broswer you may find more prototype information than you need. I have a thread "Operations Ideas" on this forum as several other people have information regarding various industry and links to websites with information.

Keep in mind that the Northeast is dependant heavily on the rest of the country for much of the materials and food products as well as trade. They as a whole tend to consume raw products and make finished products availible to the USA and the World.

Best of luck!

[ndbprr]

That area is also big on dairys so milk trains were quite common. Milk cars were often unique to the owner and made frequent stops to load milk cans. hence the term "milk run" for a local all stops passenger train.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info, my research is ongoing. I will update if/when i find some good info in case anyone else is in a similar position as i am.

[coalminer3]

Have you looked at Jim Shaughnessy's book on the Rutland? That will get you started. It was reprinted fairly recently and is still available.

work safe

[Anonymous]

Depending on the era you choose to model, you may wi***o include the Windsor Minerals talc processing mill in Gassetts VT. Check out Carstens Publications Rails Beyond the Rutland, pg 47. It is a relatively small business generating bagged talc in boxcars. The book says that this plant relocated to a larger on line facility in Smithville, sout of Ludlow, although it does not give a year. Seems to me this industry was featured in a magazine article with plans.

[Anonymous]

I am doing the green mountain and vermont railway myself and have chosen to do logging as well as farm/machinery. hope this helps

[dehusman]

You also have all the "regular" consumer items. Lumber, coal, heating oil, gasoline, pipe, steel beams, steel plate, scrap metal, boxes, paper, food, consumer items, cars, machinery, cement, sand, gravel, animal feed, fertilizer, textile mills, etc.
These may not be huge facilites, but they can generate dozens of 1-3 car spots.

Dave H.

[CBQ_Guy]

I constantly read about Mills being a big industry out east, though I don't know exactly what type of mills are being refered to. If I were you I would look into this, though.

Take care,

[coalminer3]

In the context of mining, of course, a mill is a place where material is processed, either into its final form or into a product that will be used in another step of an industrial process.

That said, most New England roads terminated a whole lot more freight than they originated, especially if they were close to the coastline. Originating shipments, again depending on the time you are modeling could include machinery, mineral materials such as mentioned above, forest products, and paper. IOW lots of boxcars and covered hoppers. Yrs ago, of course, there was a lot of agricultural activity such as milk (that's a whole subspecies of modeling), and potatoes. I remember celery and other products orginating on the B&M branch line where I grew up; it's all gone now. Textiles began a precipitous decline afyter WWI as many plants moved south. My mother, however, worked in the late 30's for an outfit that made textile machine parts; they were in Providence.

Well, enough rambling for now. Oh, almost forgot, some lines that ran in New England, such as the D&H, set themselves up to handle bridge traffic - lucrative source of revenue; and a chance for you to include "exotic" cars in some of your trains.

Hope this helps.

work safe

[Anonymous]

Wonderful information there coalminer3!! Just like to thank everyone for the help. With the info gathered here, and a few books i have yet to buy, i will be in good shape for planning the industry on my next layout!!

[Anonymous]

My inlaws tell me about working in the shoe factories in NH and the many small precision industries in the area. Instruments, tools, and the like. They needed materials and shipped completed product as well. If you are modeling post WWII remember the building boom and many hardware items like doorknobs and hinges came from New England companies.

[Anonymous]

One more mention about mills. In the North East there were many small feed mills to serve the local farmers. Just about every town at had least one. Feed would arrive in covered hoppers to be unloaded into silos for custom mixing/blending for various customers. Smaller bagged shipments would arrive by boxcar. Bagged feed, fertilizer, tractor parts, lime and even tank cars of anydrous ammonia were common deliveres. Agway, Beacon Feeds, Wayne, Purina are to name but a few. Structures were typically wood framed boxy, peaked roofed with a small "cupola" looking church steeple in the middle. This was the "head house" where the internal piping from the various bins distributed the feed or mixed it. Larger facilities often had expanded capacity with metal Butler bins which Walthers offers. Several good plans for feed mills have been published in Model Railroader over the years. My favorite is the A. R. Gilmore Beacon Feeds building in Lakeville, NY. Plans appeared in the March 81 MR. Another good article with plans is Nickels Milling and Feed Plant which appeared in the June 72 MR. Feed mills were a common sight in every small northeastern town up until the mid eighties and would be an excellent industry and source of traffic for your model Vermont Railway / Green Mountain. Sincerely, Jack Bullard.

[Anonymous]

Check out the 9/89 issue of MR. Also 12/87 for the article on the North Walpole yard (verify both of those dates). Both were by GMRC employee Scott Whitney. Good info on all the GMRC served industries at that time, plus track charts of the various yards/sidetracks. You need to include the talc mill, it has been the key to the railroad's local traffic for it's entire existence.

[ndbprr]

Be careful with the word mill in Northeastern lingo because most towns were built when started at a natural waterfall which allowed waterwheels to "MILL" grains. Later the word became associated with heavy manufacturing like "Textile Mill" or "Steel Mill" or "Saw Mill" and came to mean something entirely different from the original definition. Some research is called for but many of these early heavy industries also relied on water wheels for their power to the machines hence the justification of the word "Mill".