An excuse for coil cars

[wazzou]

The Ocho?

What, nobody gets this?

[davefoxx]

What, nobody gets this?

I gave you an upvote earlier.  Any reference to the movie, Dodgeball, gets an upvote. 

DFF

[thbguy]

I had two thoughts.

1) Hamilton, Ontario had an appliance manufacturing plant CamCo, near the TH&B yard that would probably have had steel coils or thin plate inbound and finished appliances in boxcars outbound. Also would have occasional boxcars for coatings and paint.

2) New Hope, Minnesota has been home to Safco office products for many, many years and has a spur near the building they are in. They build office furniture, cube walls, and metal cabinets. Seems like they’d have interesting inbound and outbound loads, but I do not know for sure.

My latest interest is in the automotive industry. A stamping plant for one of the automobile manufacturers would also get a lot of coil steel inbound as well.

Good luck on your project.

Michael Livingston

[Blazeman]

Down the road from me there used to be steel cutting facility (part of Jessup Steel).  They would do custom cuts for nuclear facilities.

Imagine sheets of flat steel (stainless) coming in, looking like 5x10's (in the coil car). Of course, magnets couldn't be used- a grabber arrangement would move them from the inbound equipment across the room to the cutting tables.  Computers would direct the plasma cutting of the sheets.

When cutting done, parts would be gathered for shipment on pallets or in fiber drums (think box cars).  Any scrap could be accumulated and shipped back to the mill in gons.

All that was done under the roof, so only if the structure has some doors open would you need to model cranes and tables.

The cutting made a horrendous racket and burning the steel gave off a funky odor that would stick to you. 

[sirenwerks]

Down the road from me there used to be steel cutting facility (part of Jessup Steel).  They would do custom cuts for nuclear facilities.

Imagine sheets of flat steel (stainless) coming in, looking like 5x10's (in the coil car). Of course, magnets couldn't be used- a grabber arrangement would move them from the inbound equipment across the room to the cutting tables.  Computers would direct the plasma cutting of the sheets.

When cutting done, parts would be gathered for shipment on pallets or in fiber drums (think box cars).  Any scrap could be accumulated and shipped back to the mill in gons.

All that was done under the roof, so only if the structure has some doors open would you need to model cranes and tables.

The cutting made a horrendous racket and burning the steel gave off a funky odor that would stick to you.

I wasn't sure plasma cutting would fit in my time period, but it does.  While reading about it I wondered, would this also be an excuse to have a cyrogenic tank car or two hanging out? 

[Wlal13again]

Coils in box cars?

The big Rail Box types

[sirenwerks]

The big Rail Box types

I'll re-state - I model mid-70s.  None of those big bananas on my layout, thanks.

[Rossford Yard]

For me, this thread was highly instructional and inspirational.  Considering a layout expansion, and I love coil cars, but not to keen on wasting a realistic amount of space on any actual steel mill, not that a smaller steel fabricator represented by a flat isn't the most likely scenario, but seeing the options will really help in layout design.

[nickelplate759]

Not sure if they go back to the 1970s, but Steelscape in Kalama, WA (on the Columbia) gets a fair number of coil cars.  They make coated/treated/painted steel for building construction uses like steel walls and roofs.

https://www.steelscape.com/

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Steelscape/@46.0411014,-122.8741313,1708m/data=!3m1!1e3

[samusi01]

Not sure if they go back to the 1970s

For what it’s worth, they aren’t listed in the 1967 Northern Pacific Industry List for Kalama. Of course, they might have been established in 1969…

Scrolled down to the Portland section of the list and there are a few outfits that list steel products. The list doesn’t specify inbound or outbound loads. Examples might include Dulien Steel Products Co., which was served by the UP, and Pacific Metal, served by the NPT.

[sirenwerks]

For what it’s worth, they aren’t listed in the 1967 Northern Pacific Industry List for Kalama. Of course, they might have been established in 1969…

I gotta get me one of those.  Especially one for the OE.

[sirenwerks]

Not sure if they go back to the 1970s, but Steelscape in Kalama, WA (on the Columbia) gets a fair number of coil cars.  They make coated/treated/painted steel for building construction uses like steel walls and roofs.

https://www.steelscape.com/

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Steelscape/@46.0411014,-122.8741313,1708m/data=!3m1!1e3

That's bigger than what I want but worth checking out since it's just over the pass and the Columbia from my house.  Plus, I can get some pics of the mills in Longview while I am there.

[James Costello]

I found this article interesting:

Salem Canning Co with Espee service:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23442280/1890-new-cannery-called-salem-canning/

Truitt Bros Cannery had rail service as seen in the photo in 1973:
https://www.truittbros.com/about/history/

Northwest Packing seems to have rail service today - a bit more out of the Valley though:
https://neiljonesfoodcompany.com/northwest-packing/

Oregon Fruit Products:
https://www.salemreporter.com/posts/2857/a-salem-legacy-business-gets-an-unexpected-boost-from-the-pandemic

Similar article on MRH that also had some good ideas (many similar ones too):
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/28834

[wazzou]

I gotta get me one of those.  Especially one for the OE.

http://www.nprha.org/Industry%20Guide/1967%20NP%20Industrial%20Guide.pdf

[cv_acr]

I'll re-state - I model mid-70s.  None of those big bananas on my layout, thanks.

They had double-door 50' and 40' boxcars in the 1950s-60s.

You don't need a big car as steel is going to max out weight long before volume, just room to get in and out of the opening. And one of those nice 10' doors on a "standard" 50' Railbox/IPD car (which started getting built in the mid 1970s) is a nice entry for a forklift. Even a nice 8' door 40' box will probably do nicely to load small coils on pallets.