Working rail roads and their tracks.

[ArlyA]

Here is a good video shot at CN's Duluth, MN Ore Dock. The cars there are little, but pellets are heavy and they are 200,000lbs capacity. Pellets are processed iron ore made into little balls that steel furnaces like. The large red pile that can modestly be seen on the left side of the dock is a reserve of pellets. Its size and hieght, can not be appreciated in the video. Its really, really big.

 

[Hay Dude]

Man, I love stuff like that. The last vestiges of American industrial might.
Literally makes me cry to see these AMAZING feats of industrial power dying off.

 

[the old grind]

... Pellets are processed iron ore made into little balls that steel furnaces like. The large red pile that can modestly be seen on the left side of the dock is a reserve of pellets. Its size and hieght, can not be appreciated in the video. Its really, really big. ..

Indeed 'taconite' pellets were the Edmund Fitzgerald's cargo when it went down. :salute:

btw, the ship is > 2x as long as its grave is deep.

No comment on the outsourcing to China. It's voluntary. (Apple, Red Wing Shoes, Kohler engines, Craftsman tools ...)

 

[MossRoad]

Yes the ore docks on the great lakes are huge! Google earth them sometime.... see you in a couple weeks! :laughing:

 

[Hay Dude]

Indeed 'taconite' pellets were the Edmund Fitzgerald's cargo when it went down. :salute:

btw, the ship is > 2x as long as its grave is deep.

No comment on the outsourcing to China. It's voluntary. (Apple, Red Wing Shoes, Kohler engines, Craftsman tools ...)

True, but it does get me angry when “ unfriendly policies “ cause us to almost have to outsource to China. Then we see our railroads turn to junk or get plowed under into the dust heap of history.
It seems like its rare to see a new structure of significance being built in the US for railroad and/or industry.

 

[ArlyA]

True, but it does get me angry when “ unfriendly policies “ cause us to almost have to outsource to China. Then we see our railroads turn to junk or get plowed under into the dust heap of history. It seems like its rare to see a new structure of significance being built in the US for railroad and/or industry.

Rail roads are not gone, but they have switched to mostly bulk cargo so a little history lesson follows. When steel rails started to be laid down some 150 year ago, freight was hauled by river and canal boats, lake boats and of ocean going ships. Freight wagons did exist but they ran on horrible roads and was very, very expensive. The RRs started out filling shipping needs of everything that moved on dry land, even to tiny little towns and factories. As the years went by, roads were built and the vehicles to be used on them manufactured. Pipes laid which today moves almost all our bulk liquid products and they are quite efficient. And RR's have moved towards the bulk commodity as did the ships on the lakes and oceans. Our large lake boats can dump 70,0000 tons of water-ever you might need into your back yard in just a few hours. (one criteria, you need a dock with 35ft draft)

Trains still run, they are mostly moving bulk products. I'll save this note for later re-postings.

 

[Hay Dude]

Rail roads are not gone, but they have switched to mostly bulk cargo so a little history lesson follows. When steel rails started to be laid down some 150 year ago, freight was hauled by river and canal boats, lake boats and of ocean going ships. Freight wagons did exist but they ran on horrible roads and was very, very expensive. The RRs started out filling shipping needs of everything that moved on dry land, even to tiny little towns and factories. As the years went by, roads were built and the vehicles to be used on them manufactured. Pipes laid which today moves almost all our bulk liquid products and they are quite efficient. And RR's have moved towards the bulk commodity as did the ships on the lakes and oceans. Our large lake boats can dump 70,0000 tons of water-ever you might need into your back yard in just a few hours. (one criteria, you need a dock with 35ft draft)

Trains still run, they are mostly moving bulk products. I'll save this note for later re-postings.

Yeah Im pretty well aware of all that. I got a B+ in high school history. :laughing:
We have a lot of rails and pipelines in my neck of the woods, too.
I still miss seeing the strength and power our railroads. I also long for a return to the days of American industrial power. The sight of a freight train whisking down the tracks still makes me stop and watch. I wish it wasnt regulated and taxed to moving off shore.

 

[MossRoad]

True, but it does get me angry when unfriendly policies cause us to almost have to outsource to China. Then we see our railroads turn to junk or get plowed under into the dust heap of history.
It seems like its rare to see a new structure of significance being built in the US for railroad and/or industry.

Well, that kinda isn't true. If it were, what are all of these industrial parks that have popped up in the 3 counties I frequent since I was a kid? It was all farmland in the '60s. There are literally hundreds of huge buildings that have gone up in the past 20 years, and it just keeps going. Sure, rail isn't a big part of them because they don't want to ship by rail. It's too restrictive and inflexible.

With that said, there's a huge rail yard over in Elkhart that is now owned by NS. We get close to 100 trains a day through South Bend between NS and CN. They cross lines here. Rail isn't dead here.

 

[ovrszd]

Yes storage. Its ideal to keep a buffer stock on hand in case of supply or transportation disruptions. And for when prices are low. Those 10 million chickens on the farms gotta eat, no excuses.

There's a chicken farm East of me 4 miles. They purchase all of their feed already ground and it's hauled in on those dry tank trailers that use air pumps to empty. Friend of mine drives a truck hauling that feed from the Mill South of me 10 miles to the farm. He makes 5-6 trips a day. His relief does it on weekends. Chickens eat a lot of food when theirs volume.

 

[Hay Dude]

Well, that kinda isn't true. If it were, what are all of these industrial parks that have popped up in the 3 counties I frequent since I was a kid? It was all farmland in the '60s. There are literally hundreds of huge buildings that have gone up in the past 20 years, and it just keeps going. Sure, rail isn't a big part of them because they don't want to ship by rail. It's too restrictive and inflexible.

With that said, there's a huge rail yard over in Elkhart that is now owned by NS. We get close to 100 trains a day through South Bend between NS and CN. They cross lines here. Rail isn't dead here.

Not talking about small industrial park business like that. Talking about large, impressive industrial projects-like the ore facility. I have seen huge steel mills plowed under here in PA and people get all giddy when theyre replaced with an amazon warehouse or a outdoor theatre or walking trail. Excuse my language, but screw that. We need to save our industries before theyre gone forever.
I see them being built in China hundreds at a time, but very little here. Ours look like theyre crumbling into the ground or one major repair to being abandoned.
The US hasnt been exactly a friendly place for heavy industries in the last 3 + decades.