Examining New Industries and Freight Traffic / Quaker Oats Company Part 2

 Greetings All,

Examining New Industries and Freight Traffic

Quaker Oats Company Part 2

First Run of Train HH-1

In our last installment we took a look at what materials and types of freight cars would be needed to support the new Quaker Oats Plant in Empire City. Today we'll take a look at the first operating session focused on working the Quaker Plant.

The train serving Quaker and Gervais Pipe & Fitting will be designated as Trains HH-1 /HH-2. EBRR H16-44 #7698 will be the assigned power. The HH is for Haydon Heights, the neighborhood where Quaker and Gervais Pipe are located. This assignment may also be known as the Quaker Job among the EBRR trainmen.

In North Side Yard eleven freight cars needing movement to Quaker are lined up and blocked for delivery.

Three empty gondolas are on the headend for movement to Gervais Pipe & Fitting.

At the Quaker Plant a couple of employees toss a football while on a break as four 40' boxcars are awaiting movement.

The HH-1 starts its work leaving the caboose on the Belt Line.

Pulled from Track #2 are a pair of loaded 50' EBRR boxcars and a trio of empty PC covered hoppers that are getting coupled onto the caboose. 

The HH-1 is now working track #1 to pull four loaded gondolas from Gervais and four boxcars from Quaker.

The HH-1 crosses Hohman Ave on the Belt Line to clear the switch to the mainline for access to North Side Yard. 

The HH-1 rolls into North Side Yard.

Engine 7698 has coupled onto the freight cars going to Haydon Heights and shoves them back to couple onto the caboose which was left on the yard lead. 

The HH-2 crosses onto the Belt Line as 1:87 Emery captures the inaugural runs of this train.

Loaded TH&B and BCK 40' boxcars carrying sugar and flour respectively are spotted at Quaker.

The 50' boxcars and covered hoppers are spotted on Track #2.

Three empty gondolas are placed at Gervais Pipe.

The H16-44 and caboose ties down out of the way on the Haydon Heights lead for the crew to go to beans. The turnout is power routing so the locomotive will not move until the turnout is lined for the lead.

Later in the day the H16-44 pulls the covered hoppers to rearrange them for unloading.

Meanwhile over in North Side Yard the Empire Belt trainmen are preparing to move Train EB-2 that consists of the freight cars from Gervais and Quaker to Terminal Yard. An FB-1 has been added to the consist for additional power to overcome the inertia of the cold bearings on the freight cars.

Train EB-2 arrives in Terminal Yard.

New Labor Agreements in Place Starting January 1st

The Empire Belt RR and New York Central RR have agreed that the transfer freights between the EBRR North Side Yard and the NYC Terminal Yard are to be be handled on a rotating basis to increase efficiency and reduce operating costs. The transfer runs will no longer be required to return to their home terminals caboose lite.

The EBRR locomotives have coupled up to a freight consist for Empire City and will depart as Train EB-3. Prior to the new agreements the EB-3 was a caboose lite move. The EBRR will now leave a pool caboose in Terminal Yard to facilitate the building of the EB-3. 

Train EB-3 rolls into North Side Yard with freight cars in tow. The new agreement will carry over to the Penn Central merger.

Over in Haydon Heights the HH-1 is busy working the Quaker Plant as Extra Train QE-2 (Quaker Expedited) featuring three EBRR SDP40s takes a long train of freight traffic towards Terminal Yard to get the new Quaker Plant up and running at full capacity. 

Catch a full cycle of freight traffic that includes the new Quaker Plant.

Final Thoughts and Comments

The first operating sessions in support of the new Quaker Oats Plant has been completed with a full cycle of freight traffic. With new labor agreements in place both the EBRR and NYC will enjoy the increased profits from the new Quaker Oats Plant.

While the EBRR 7698 had the power to handle the freight traffic for the Haydon Heights industries I may add a second unit. Tying down the engine(s) and caboose in Haydon Heights does and not block the vehicle entrance into Gervais Pipe and worked well. Plus it's nice to get this locomotive running again.

In most cases the regular transfer runs of freight cars between North Side Yard and Terminal Yard will carry the Quaker traffic along with the rest of the freight traffic in and out of Empire City. 

Train QE-2 from Selkirk with three EBRR locomotives is something I imagined as I was setting up the freight cars and waybills for the Quaker freight traffic. I'm imagining the EBRR engines traveled to Selkirk in a PC train for this move which will probably be a one and done.

Next week we'll begin posting our PCCM 109 car movements which will be the first virtual op of 2025.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!! 

Examining New Industries and New Freight Traffic / Quaker Oats Company Part 1

 Greetings All,

Examining New Industries and Freight Traffic 

The Quaker Oats Company

Today we'll take a look at the potential rail traffic that will be needed and handled by the Empire Belt RR to service their newest customer, the Quaker Oats Company. We'll discover why riboflavin invaded the mind a model railroader working on setting up layout operations 

Using Actual Ingredients to Determine Freight Cars Needed

Original Instant Oatmeal

Whole grain oats mainly from Canada, calcium carbonate, salt, reduced iron. Sounds simple enough for the freight car fleet. 

Freight Cars Needed For Production: 

Covered hoppers for the whole grain oats mainly from Canada, calcium carbonate and salt and reduced iron. 

Boxcars for bulk materials, packaging materials, shipping pallets, and equipment necessary to grind, toast and move the oats throughout the factory.

Boxcars for shipment of the finished product.

Apples & Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal

Whole grain rolled oats, sugar, dehydrated apples, natural and artificial flavor, salt cinnamon, calcium carbonate, citric acid, guar gum, malic acid, niacinamide, reduced iron, vitamin A palmitate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamin mononitrate, folic acid, caramel color. This might explain all the tank cars!!

"Quaker Oats Rail Yard" by fgv5g8 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Freight Cars Needed For Production 

Covered hoppers for the whole grain oats mainly from Canada, calcium carbonate, salt, reduced iron, sugar, cinnamon, citric acid.

Boxcars for bulk materials, packaging materials, shipping pallets, and equipment necessary to grind, toast and move the oats throughout the factory.

Mechanical Refrigerators for the dehydrated apples?

Tank Cars? needed for guar gum, malic acid, vitamin A palmitate, riboflavin, folic acid, caramel color which are part of the B vitamins and soluble. 

Boxcars for shipment of the finished product.

LIFE Cereal Option

LIFE is a breakfast cereal produced by the Quaker Oats Company. Introduced in 1961, the cereal has a brown, checked square pattern and mainly consists of whole grain oat flour, corn flour, sugar, whole wheat flour, calcium carbonate, salt, baking soda, tocopherols (for artificial preservation), and B vitamins. 

"2019-02-15 03 29 48 A bowl of Cinnamon Life cereal in the Franklin Farm section of Oak Hill, Fairfax County, Virginia" by Famartin is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=openverse.

Freight cars needed for production

Pretty much the same as the oatmeal production with the addition of whole wheat flour, corn flour, whole grain oat flour and tocopherols. The flour options are what appeals to me as it better suits my covered hopper fleet of Cargill hoppers and others.

Sample Cargill Elevator Locations 

Oats: Dawson Creek Elevator, Dawson, British Columbia 

         Cargill 'S' Pool Elevator, Buffalo, NY.

Salt: Montreal, Canada

Whole Wheat Flour: Cargill 'S' Pool Elevator Buffalo, NY.                                                    Bloomingburg Elevator, Bloomingburg, Ohio

                                  Empire Grain Elevator, West Mill, NY

Corn Flower: Blair Elevator, South Omaha, Nebraska

Whole Grain Oat Flower: Rock Ridge Elevator, Rock Ridge, NJ.   

The Cargill Fleet

Pullman Standard PS-2 4740 

16 post covered hoppers

PS delivered 330 of these cars to Cargill in 1967 numbered 7227-7556. 

Pullman Standard delivered twenty five of these PS 4427 low side cars to Cargill in 1963-1964. The writing to the left of the Cargill herald states "When empty return to agent CNW RR South Omaha, Nebraska"

The Cargill Blair Elevator in South Omaha handles yellow corn which I'll take to be corn flour that is an ingredient in LIFE cereal. Perfect!!!

Other rolling stock to be assigned to service Quaker 

Assorted covered hoppers from the existing fleet include APRR, EBRR, PC and many others that can be used in Quaker service

Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway 40' boxcars of bulk sugar seem like a good fit for the 40' boxcars siding. The TH&B 40'ers could also be used to transport finished products.

I have several PS covered hoppers like this Soo Line 6845 that I use for shipping sugar and they'd be right at home at Quaker.

Boxcars can be from the Empire Belt Fleet, parent road NYC/PC and interchange partners. Increased Per Diem freight cars are also good candidates for this service.

In December 2024 I attended another sale at Trainmaster Models and picked up several freight cars for Quaker service. This Evergreen Freight Car Corporation 50' plug door boxcar will be leased by the EBRR.

Prepping the Fleet

Freight cars to service the Quaker Plant are set up in Terminal Yard for the adding and adjustment of waybills to existing and some new rolling stock. 

The Empire Belt RR Adds An Engine

An old favorite has been brought out of retirement and sold to the EBRR which plans to use this H16-44 to service the Quaker Plant. Note the EBRR lettering under the road number.

The shell had sat in its box for a few years and the recent purchase of a used H16-44 provided the power chassis.

We'll cut it here for today and pick it up in our next entry where we'll make the first revenue runs and see how that worked out.

Additional Reading

How oatmeal is made

Making oatmeal
Life cereal

Thanks for reading!!!

See you tomorrow!!!

The Quaker Project

 Greetings All,

The Quaker Project

This project had been on my mind for a few years now and at the end of 2024 I finally decided that it was time to move it forward. As previously noted in the Press Release the need to incorporate the Cargill Grain Silos into part of a manufacturing plant has finally won out.

The final inspiration came one day when I looked at a box of Quaker Instant Oatmeal that was in our pantry and thought this would be perfect for adding a manufacturing plant to the Cargill grain silos. Plus I now had plenty of signs to work with!!!

The Quaker Oats Company

The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.

"Rainbow over Quaker Oats" by matthewjhale is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

In 1911, the company acquired the Great Western Cereal Company. The iconic cylindrical package was introduced in 1915. Although Quaker Oats Company states that the "Quaker man" is not meant to resemble or represent an actual person, the company identified the Quaker man as William Penn in advertising dating back to 1909.

"Playground at Havelock Estate" by Alan Murray-Rust is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

In 1983, Quaker acquired Stokely-Van Camp, Inc., the maker of Van Camp's and Gatorade. In 2001, PepsiCo bought Quaker Oats for $14 billion, primarily to acquire the Gatorade brand.

"Elusive Quaker Tearpad Coupon for $3.00 off when you buy any 5 Quaker products" by Hotcouponworld.com is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

A Quaker Oats Railyard

"Quaker Oats Rail Yard" by fgv5g8 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

For more interesting tidbits about Quaker click here.

Back To The Project

The Cargill Grain elevator soon to become a part of the Quaker Oats Company.

The manufacturing building mock up is taking shape. I'm using a sheet of white carboard bought at a big box craft store for the build.

The Cargill elevator will remain in its current location.

Both the silos, the elevator and the plant loom over the adjacent residential neighborhood like the photo above.

Windows and doors to handle 40' boxcars have been added. 

Windows and dock doors spaced for 50' boxcars have been added to the other side of the structure. A raised cylindrical tank / silo has been placed at the left corner of the building mainly for looks at this point.

The Quaker plant as seen from the High Line

Quaker signage is now adorning both the silos and the plant.

No mistaking it now as a Cargill facility except for the small lettering on the wall to the right which I didn't notice until I looked at the photo.

Cardboard tubes and some foam padding from an unknown source add some visual interest to the roof. A large pipe made from three plastic outdoor accent light poles attaches elevator to the silo and the factory.

I have to say from this distance the factory and elevator look really good to me.

We'll close it here for now with the Quaker Oats Company Empire City plant ready to open.

Next up we'll look a the freight traffic going in and out of the plant and silos as the first freight cars are spotted.

Final Thoughts and Comments

The cardboard mock up of the manufacturing plant with printed windows and doors came out much better than I expected and will most likely be in place for quite sometime. 

Quaker's product lines offer some interesting possibilities for the type of freight traffic needed for the manufacture and shipping of not only their famous Quaker Oats but other products as well like LIFE cereal. We'll take a closer look at this in the next post.

Thanks for reading!!!

See you soon!!!