Ironhorse27 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 27, 2019 8:23 pm
All the rail is there, so I'm guessing that they will put the track back once the water line is in?
If I understand correctly, the south track ( the old Auburn Road main) will be removed for a water line and hiking trail. The north track - the siding - will remain at least partway. Although with about 2 cars a month, it's unlikely they will be hurting for room.
While Ontario Central Railroad may seem "new" when compared to NYC tenure, back in ONCT's early days 40 years ago the Insulator plant received between 15 and 20 cars a month, all boxcars. Even after covered hoppers arrived on the scene, boxcars continued to be used for some of the traffic. It really was a page from the past. Although wheelbarrows and shovels had made way for a skidsteer loader, the process remained the same. Bulk material was taken from the boxcar, transported across the roof and dumped into a hatch leading to concrete-walled material bins below. Each different material had its own hatch.
Even more interesting was the arrangement for plaster. That was shipped in large paper bags - I'm not sure of the weight but maybe 70 pounds. Compass east of the loading dock was a small structure with a door about level with the floor of a boxcar. From that structure, an enclosed, steep ramp - quite similar to a kid's slide - extended all the way down the steep bank and into the building. When a car of plaster was spotted at the structure, a couple men would be inside the car and more guys inside at the bottom. The bags of plaster were manually carried to the chute, and slid down into the plant one at a time, where they were re-stacked onto pallets and moved away for later use.
Inbound cars arrived randomly, and there were times when one day's run would see a half-dozen cars coming in, to be added to those already on hand. In theory they would unload the oldest car first, but in real life there was almost ALWAYS some product they urgently needed. Some interesting switching had to be done to line the cars up in the order desired. Those two tracks were often occupied by several cars each, and back then it was almost unheard of for the place to be without ANY cars. Time changes everything.
