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Beer and Wine by boxcar...Does your regional distributer have a RR siding?

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Saturday, April 16, 2016 10:07 PM

http://www.varpi.org/sites/vrpi/files/Z_The%20Receding%20Footprint%20of%20Urban%20Freight%20Rail.pdf

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 3:11 PM

I find the aerial shots fascinating.  Note the lack of parking compared with what you would see today.  Odds are the workers either walked (note the row upon row of flats), or rode the streetcars, one of which can be seen in one shot.

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 3:05 PM

Looks like my old 40 chevy on the far left of the last photo. It was 29 years old when I had it. I wasn't even a thought when it was new.

edit, nope, a closeup looks more like the post war version. Head lights are in the fenders not on the fenders.

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Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 2:09 PM

Nice photos, thanks. Judging from the cars in the last one especially the Hudson, I'd say it was about 1949.

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Posted by wanswheel on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 1:24 PM

RME
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Posted by RME on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 6:20 AM

zugmann
I'll admit I had to look him up.

"Brewed on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay!"

And it sure is better than that Wicomico beer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 5:46 AM

zugmann

I'll admit I had to look him up.  Not being a beer drinker, it looked like the Pringles guy to me at first.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by zugmann on Monday, April 11, 2016 8:53 PM

I'll admit I had to look him up.  Not being a beer drinker, it looked like the Pringles guy to me at first.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, April 11, 2016 8:52 PM

zugmann
BaltACD

The natty boh sign still blinks at you, though.

Natty Boh is a point of civic pride and was brewed by National Brewing Co. in Baltimore; now it is just one of the brands being peddled by Miller-Coors these days.  Natty Boh, until this year was sold at all concession stands in Oriole Park at Camden Yards, now, because AB-Inbev got the Orioles adult beverage concession a civic fight had to take place to force the sale of Natty Boh at a single specific concession stand in the park.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by zugmann on Monday, April 11, 2016 8:33 PM

BaltACD
and endangered creatures - Baltimore once had maybe 10 brewerys, now there is only one 'craft' brewer and they are located in a industrial park outside the city limits.

 

The natty boh sign still blinks at you, though.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by n012944 on Monday, April 11, 2016 3:45 PM

54light15

Balt, I'm a beer geek and just about every "craft" brewer is located in an industrial unit. And, once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Still worth visiting for the beer, though. Historic breweries are as interesing as historic rail facilites, hotels and ball parks. Historic slaughterhouses should be avoided.

 

http://www.greenbushbrewing.com/index.php/taproom

Located in "downtown" Sawyer MI, with a view of CSX's Grand Rapids sub.

An "expensive model collector"

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, April 11, 2016 3:24 PM

[quote user="54light15"]

Balt, I'm a beer geek and just about every "craft" brewer is located in an industrial unit. And, once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Still worth visiting for the beer, though. Historic breweries are as interesing as historic rail facilites, hotels and ball parks. Historic slaughterhouses should be avoided.[/quote]

The area where this craft brewer is located is just 1/2 mile from where the former Carlings Black Lable brewery was located adjacent to the Baltimore Beltway.  In the day, when Carlings was brewing, the aroma of the area left no doubt, however the Carlings plant was demolished about 30 years ago and has been replaced by a wholesale building supply outfit.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by 54light15 on Monday, April 11, 2016 2:41 PM

Balt, I'm a beer geek and just about every "craft" brewer is located in an industrial unit. And, once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Still worth visiting for the beer, though. Historic breweries are as interesing as historic rail facilites, hotels and ball parks. Historic slaughterhouses should be avoided.

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Posted by Sunnyland on Sunday, April 10, 2016 4:58 PM

interesting.   When Dad worked outside as yard clerk for Frisco, he had to check car seals on boxcars to see if they had been tampered with.  He had copy of manifest and paid close attention to liquor and cigs cars.   If he found one, he'd contact the 'bulls" with walkie talkie.He worked 3rd trick on that job, no big tower lights like later years, only a battery lantern to swing so the crews would see him. Very scary and dangerous and this was in the steam era too. Mom was happy when he got enough seniority to get inside the yard office, much safer.    A lot of booze and cigs were shipped in those days, but didn't know if they still were or not.   AB here sold their Manufacturers Railway a few years ago, didn't use it, but some small RR took it over and I do see cars in their yards, I think they do some AB shipping.  

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, April 7, 2016 4:12 PM

54light15

The brewers of Matt's, Utica Club and others in Utica get thier grain in by rail. The track runs down the middle of a residential street like a streetcar. A beautiful old brewery and well worth touring. Also, the Lion brewery in Wilkes-Barre gets thier grain by rail. That's an interesting one also, a 100 (or more) year old brewery still in operation on a vertical scale, malt mills on the top floor, brewing kettles on a lower floor, aging tanks (riveted!) in the basement. Not to turn the topic onto breweries themselves, mind you but old breweries are pretty neat places.

and endangered creatures - Baltimore once had maybe 10 brewerys, now there is only one 'craft' brewer and they are located in a industrial park outside the city limits.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by jeffhergert on Thursday, April 7, 2016 3:45 PM

caldreamer

Wine is a flammable liquid, so they have to have a Class 3 placcard on the car.  The Hazmat  UN number for alcoholic beverages is 3065..

 

When we have wine in box cars listed in train consists they aren't flagged as hazmat or alcoholic beverages.  They just show the contents as wine.  There is no emergency response information given.  

The tank cars of whiskey when we have (or had) them were marked as hazmat.  The emergency response information was given and listed under alcoholic beverages. 

Jeff  

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Posted by caldreamer on Thursday, April 7, 2016 3:05 PM

Wine is a flammable liquid, so they have to have a Class 3 placcard on the car.  The Hazmat  UN number for alcoholic beverages is 3065..

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Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, April 7, 2016 2:45 PM

The brewers of Matt's, Utica Club and others in Utica get thier grain in by rail. The track runs down the middle of a residential street like a streetcar. A beautiful old brewery and well worth touring. Also, the Lion brewery in Wilkes-Barre gets thier grain by rail. That's an interesting one also, a 100 (or more) year old brewery still in operation on a vertical scale, malt mills on the top floor, brewing kettles on a lower floor, aging tanks (riveted!) in the basement. Not to turn the topic onto breweries themselves, mind you but old breweries are pretty neat places.

I recall years ago that eight boxcars were left for reasons unknown on a siding in the Bronx. Someone broke into one of them and found that it was full of beer. The whole neighbourhood got word and cleaned them out.

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, April 7, 2016 2:01 PM

Dasco
Hard to type on 4 hours of sleep.

It's a lot easier on a keyboard....   Devil

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Dasco on Thursday, April 7, 2016 1:19 PM

My bad - I meant Miller, not InBev.  Regardless, Miller isn't a heavy rail user.  Hard to type on 4 hours of sleep.

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Posted by Roscoe Coaltrain on Thursday, April 7, 2016 7:17 AM

My son worked for a distributor.  They told him they went to trucks because the railroad practically destroyed the first layer of product in every car they got.  Preordering and difficulty in disposing of broken lots Just made the situation worse.  They have used trucks for years.

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Posted by pbouzide on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 8:54 PM

I remember seeing the white CORX tanks on BN and NS (the ex-NKP Fort Wayne line) as they interchanged in Chicago area back in the 80s or 90s (I forget). They were bigger than a corn syrup tanker but not a full DOT-111 in length. "Beerconcentrate" must be more dense than ethanol or crude or soybean oil.

More recently (2-3 years ago) I also recall seeing large blocks of MRS boxcar loads on northbound BNSF manifests along the river between Savanna and St Paul. Likely St. Louis A-B products heading for that Coon Rapids distributor mentioned above.

Finally, that transloader near Proviso does still get a lot of Mexican beer loads that originate on the FXE. Not just Corona but also Modelo. In fact this business is growing so fast that UPRR has invested in a car cleaning facility in Eagle Pass, TX. I'd venture Chicago isn't the only destination.

-PB

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Posted by GERALD L MCFARLANE JR on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 7:41 PM

I know that Coors West in Redwood City, CA has a siding, but they haven't received inbound carloads of beer in over a decade(if not longer).  One of the deciding factors in how product is delivered is who is paying the freight, not all beer/wine is paid for by the shipper, sometimes the receiver/distributor(if large enough) pays the freight and decides shipping methods/routes.  I can tell you that a lot of wine is still shipped via carload from the Central Valley in CA, but so is a lot shipped in intermodal service.

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Posted by azrail on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 2:53 PM

InBev isn't buying Coors (which merged with Molson several years ago)-Molson-Coors is buying the Miller operations from AB when AB buys SAB Miller. Coors is still a major user of rail inbound and outbound from the Golden brewery

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Posted by Dasco on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 1:10 PM

Some random comments on this interesting topic -

A few years ago when Inbev bought Anheuser-Busch, they virtually ended outbound rail transport from St. Louis.  Prior to that, I know a place on the north side of the Twin Cities (Coon Rapids, I believe) was getting boxcars of Bud.  Prior to that place's expansion- in the early to mid 90s at least, Mankato (where I live) got cars of Bud in boxcars.  So, in my immediate area, it's been a gradual decrease.  I think places in the Twin Cities still got beer by rail, but I'm not sure who or where those distributors are located.

I think City Brewing in LaCrosse, WI still hauls boxcars loads out.  

Coors does ship a lot by rail still, but I fear with InBev buying it that may change.  They do send tank cars across from Colorado to Virginia with a beer-like substance.  

I've driven around Miller in Milwaukee - couldn't see much for tracks there.  They may get in raw materials, but I couldn't tell.  

Anheuser-Busch has a lot of distributors with apparently unused sidings - Dubuque,  IA for one.  I've seen many others around the midwest.  

 

 

 

 

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Posted by IronCat on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 10:27 PM

"Blowed up good!" Boy, I thought I was the only that remembered that skit with John Candy and Joe Flaherty on SCTV.

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Posted by bn13814 on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 8:16 PM

CShaveRR
When I was alive...I mean, working...a lot of Corona beer used to come from Mexico to a distributor right by Proviso (don't know whether it was in Yard 9 or south of Global 2).  Toward the end of that time it all came in standard 50-foot box cars.  It had previously come in RBLs during the colder months to protect it from the cold.  I used to love seeing these cars, because they were mostly the old incentve-per-diem box cars that originated with every shortline imaginable.   As they came here from Mexico, my assumption is that they came via Kansas City. Jeff, do you still see beer on any trains headed for us?

I always thought these Corona beer loads came into Proviso on MASPR (Manifest, Alton & Southern to Proviso IL). Train often had a block of FXE-marked boxcars on it. This was 2000-2007 when it ran regularly on the Peoria Sub (ex-C&NW). 

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Posted by Norm48327 on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 6:19 AM

tree68

 

 
jeffhergert
...warnings for something meant for human consumption. 

 

During a recent "hazmat" refresher class we discussed that a milk spill is a hazmat incident.  Runoff, especially into waterways, is a real problem...

 

Were people in the class crying? Devil

Norm


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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 5:39 AM

jeffhergert
...warnings for something meant for human consumption. 

During a recent "hazmat" refresher class we discussed that a milk spill is a hazmat incident.  Runoff, especially into waterways, is a real problem...

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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