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Balloon track vs siding/spur
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As with everything it boils down to money and space. I work for a company which has several elevators. The biggest constraint is space. An elevator located in a rural area can buy land most of time at less cost than urban areas. Building a balloon track requires several acres, because you buy all the land not just where the tracks run. Depending on the track, it could take about 160 acres. With average farm prices around $2500 per acre, cost of ground alone is $400,000. When you add the cost of track and building, you are probably around $1.5 million. Go to an urban area where a lot cost $20,000, which is just a small part of an acre. For some locations a small yard next to the tracks are their only option due to space and money. <br />If you build a balloon track you need to load several trains a month to justify the cost. The average covered hopper carries about 3500 bushel of grain times 110 cars equals 385,000 bu of grain. If you are loading two to three trains a month you are having to receive a lot of grain in order to load trains. Plus a bonus is that a shuttle can show anytime of the day and you have 15 hours to load the train to get the shuttle rate of shipping grain. Granted the railroad will give you a window when the train will show up, but do delays or weather they can change.
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