Cotton Gin modeling info?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone!
I'm new to MR and the forums. A little background info before I get to my question.
I got interested in MR A little over a year ago, and started doing some research. I'm still in the planning stage, but I've decided I want to model a ficticious town in central Texas around the 1920's to 1930's serviced by the Texas & Pacific mainly, but maybe also the T&NO and/or Southern Pacific. I would like to model a small to medium sized cotton gin for the main industry. I know I'll have to scratch build it. I've found several pictures on the internet, so I kinda know what it's supposed to look like, but has someone done something similar that could offer some suggeastions/advice/examples? I've already learned a tremendous amount by reading the posts on this forum for the past few months.
Thanks in advance!

[tjsmrinfo]

gjwhitehorn seeing how you live in NE Texas finding an old cotton gin shouldnt be to hard to find. You can also follow US 82 west from Sherman to Wichita Falls then US 287 towards Amarillo, as theres several cotton gins that way, and they are still in operation.
Also I believe theres an old gin here in Sherman and in Denison.

Tom

[Anonymous]

Tom,
Thanks for the info.

Gary

[MidlandPacific]

A guy named E.L. Moore wrote an article on scratchbuilding a cotton gin in Model Railroader in the late 1960s or early 1970s (can't remember exactly when) - you should be able to find it by searching the MR archives - they can probably get you either a back issue or a Xerox of the article.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Rob, I'll check into that.

Gary

[leighant]

published modeling articles
East Texas Gin by Cyril Durrenberger Model Railroader June82 p.70
Gin by E.L.Moore, Model Railroader Sept78 p.54

Historic cotton gins of Brazos Valley,
cotton museums & exhibits, Texas Hwys magazine Apr93 p.12-21.

Cotton production in US during "transition era"
total 13 2/3 million bales
Texas 4 1/4 million
other southern states 6 2/3 million
output to US mills 9 1/2 million bales
(85% of that to 4 states: Alabama, Georgia, N & S Carolina)
export 5 million bales
US Dept of Ag Yearbook of Agriculture 1954 p.449

Where is cotton used?
COTTON BAGS
Textile container manufacturers in Texas:
Houston 7 Dallas/FtWorth 3 Lubbock 1
per Atlas of Texas p.69 (ca. 1960s inforrmation)

aerial photo of Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills plant in New Orleans for cotton, burlap & paper bags Business Week Nov.12, 1955 p.75
(find this is bound periodicals room in large public or university library)

Cottonseed
most sold to ginners, who sell to processors
Linters used in cellulose
Hull for feed
Oil
Cake or meal for feed
Yearbook of Agriculture 1954 p.449

COTTONSEED OIL

Cottonseed mills in 1953
5 in Rio Grande Valley
11 between CC and El Campo
12 in Brazos Valley
10 in Panhandle & San Angelo
4 El Paso
Yearbook of Agriculture 1954 p.457

Cottonseed oil mills 50 or more employees in Texas 1962
Lubbock 2 Ft Worth 2 Brenham Sealy Corpus Christi Alice
none East Texas
Atlas of Texas p.75

description of Dallas Proctor & Gamble plant which
processes cottonseed oil into cooking & vegetable
oils. WPA Dallas Guide , p.349. (depression era book by Federal Writers Program to make work for unemployed writers)

want to model COTTON BALES?
This may not help for your period, but....
"The Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee (JCIBPC) established the following guidelines in 2001 to clarify the dimensions of cotton bales compressed to U.S. Gin Universal Density Bale standards:"

Gin Universal Density Bale*
Approximate Values
Net Weight 500 pounds
Length 54-55 inches
Width 20-21 inches
Average Bulge Thickness 33 inches (or less)
Volume 17 ft3
Note: These are approximate values and some normal variations are to be expected.

*Gin Universal Density and Gin Standard Density Bale tie lengths for approved ties can be found in the JCIBPC Publication Specifications for Cotton Bale Packaging Materials.

(Metric units omitted for us old fuddy duddys who lives in the past. Besides, I don't have a scale rule marked in scale meters....)

[Anonymous]

Wow, leighant!
Thanks. Looks like I'll be doing alot of research at the library.

Gary

[SSW9389]

Personally I am glad to see all this COTTON talk. [8D]

[jawnt]

Hey GW,
For what it's worth --- up until the 60s or later, most ginned cotton was baled, sent to a cotton compress ('nother bidness) where the bales were busted and re-formed in much denser bales, then shipped to cotton warehouses waiting sale to end manufacturing (carpet, fabric, etc. mills).

For a good example of cotton warehousing do a terraserver search on Taylor, Texas and look at the ariel photos of the south side of the rail yards of the UP RR, formerly MP RR, formerly IGN RR. Taylor has been a focal point of cotton business in Central Texas for many years.

Also in downtown Pflugerville, Tx there still stands an old gin (no longer in use) on the edge of a MKT RR line (no longer in existance). Hope this helps.

John T.

[Anonymous]

Burton, Texas.....

Not only do they have a wonderful cotton gin museum, but they also have a restored depot. If you have a chance, you might want to take a day trip. Burton is located on US290 about halfway between Houston and Austin.

Sounds like a fascinating project. My great-grandfather owned a cotton gin in Groesbeck, Texas.

Good luck!!

http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Burton/BurtonTexas2CottonGin.htm

[bwftex]

Lots and lots of cotton moved by rail around here and our area was once the largest cotton-producing region in the world. Besides gins you also can model cotton oil facilities and cotton compresses. You can get of some good traffic movement with the cotton industry. First wagons or trucks would haul the cotton to the gins . The cotton would then often go to a compress to be packed into really tight bails for further shipping to North and East or to the Gulf. Cottonseed was separated and mashed for oil and then shipped out in all directions.

I'm modeling the Texas Midland 1910-1920 Era. It ran from Ennis Texas to Paris Texas right through the heart of cotton country. The TM interchanged with the T&NO at Kaufman. In fact the T&NO took over the TM 1n 1928. Under the ownership of the T&NO (SP) what was considered the most profitable and well maintained short line in the USA was run to ruin and abandoned in 1943. The TM crossed grades with the T&P at Terrell. Both railroads shared the station.

If you ever go to Discount Model Trains in Addison north of downtown Dallas you might see if they still have any copies of “The Journal of Texas Shortlines and Transportation.” There were only 12 issues of this fantastic magazine. The Journal would offer not only some pictures of cotton facilities but loads of photo’s, rosters, track diagrams, year-by-year histories and other info on Texas Shortlines. You might check with Kings in Austin. IIRC I think I saw the Journal there but that was quite some time ago. You may be interested in reading about the Paris and Mount Pleasant Railroad as it sounds like it may have run not to far from where you live and should fit your time frame. Since it hooked up with the six other railroads including the likes of the Texas Midland, Frisco and Santa Fe you could justify quite a few road names on your layout. Having your prototype in the backyard is really great. That’s one of the reasons I ended up modeling the TM. I live south of Dallas not very far from Ennis and also have a home near Quinlin that was also on the TM just north of Terrell.

There are now two people modeling Texas steam era shortlines when cotton was King. Interest is building! This could be a trend! Take care, Bruce

Heres a picture of the Blakenship Gin in Kaufman TX about 1910.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jawnt

For what it's worth --- up until the 60s or later, most ginned cotton was baled, sent to a cotton compress ('nother bidness) where the bales were busted and re-formed in much denser bales, then shipped to cotton warehouses waiting sale to end manufacturing (carpet, fabric, etc. mills).

For a good example of cotton warehousing do a terraserver search on Taylor, Texas and look at the ariel photos of the south side of the rail yards of the UP RR, formerly MP RR, formerly IGN RR. Taylor has been a focal point of cotton business in Central Texas for many years.

John T.

John,
Yeah, there are lots of things I could model in the cotton process. I thought I'd just limit it to a gin, and ship the cotton bales by rail to another town for the other processing. I just want the layout to have a small rural town look to it.

I'm familiar with Taylor, TX. I haven't been there since I was in high school when we played them in football & basketball. I hear they are trying to revitalize their downtown area.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bwftex

I'm modeling the Texas Midland 1910-1920 Era. It ran from Ennis Texas to Paris Texas right through the heart of cotton country. The TM interchanged with the T&NO at Kaufman. In fact the T&NO took over the TM 1n 1928.

Since it hooked up with the six other railroads including the likes of the Texas Midland, Frisco and Santa Fe you could justify quite a few road names on your layout.

Well, this is my first layout, and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew right now, but the potential is there to expand later on. I do like the idea of at least representing several road names with box cars,etc. right now.
One I would like have a few cars of is the Houston & Texas Central that ran from Houston to Dallas. I believe they were taken over by the T&NO in the late 20's before the T&NO went to SP in the 30's.
I'd also like to include the Frisco because my Dad remembered it running by the farm he grew up on in north Mississippi.

Thanks guys for all the help so far. Now I gotta get busy![:D]

Gary