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!!!

Examining New Industries and New Freight Traffic / The Relocated Ralph's Grocery Warehouse

 Greetings All,

Examining New Industries and New Freight Traffic 

Ralph's Grocery Warehouse & Distribution Center

Bedford, NY

Today we'll take a look at the freight traffic for the newly relocated Ralph's Grocery Warehouse now in the town of Bedford and served by Trains BT-27 and BT-28 out of Terminal Yard. While not a new industry for the layout per se it has a new location and railroad serving it making for some operational challenges which will have a ripple effect that we'll examine today.

The Ralph's Grocery Warehouse & Distribution Center which can now handle up to five 40' boxcars is an increase of one car from the old Empire City location.

The RGW&DC has always been a rail served industry and the freight traffic will basically be the same so the only paperwork adjustment is to correct the address on the waybills and provide a new car card box.

The Ripple Effect

Where the wheels meet the rails however is a different story that we'll have to scrutinize. With the addition of the RGW&DC the town of Bedford now has six industries, University Millwork (four car siding), Berk Enterprises (two car siding), Hostess (four to five car siding), Shaefer Brewery (four car siding), Neubaum's Imports (two car siding) plus Ralph's Grocery (five car siding). 

From PCCM 108

Four TP&W RBLs at the University Millwork siding.

Four covered hoppers spotted at the Hostess / Wonder Bread Plant.

Only two 40' boxcars for the Schaefer Brewery this day. The BT-27/BT-28 was handled by two SW8 switchers on this date.

This means that Trains BT-27 and BT-28, The Bedford Turn, can now max out at twenty two cars. We'll need to make sure that the Turn has sufficient power to drag a longer freight train back up the ruling 2.5% grade back to Terminal Yard. While that should be easy enough there is a ripple effect as the Bedford Turn just got longer again. This RS2-GP7-RS2 consist will power our test train.

Train lengths of the BT-27 / BT-28 now have to be examined. Will the train with its full compliment of freight cars, three locomotives and a caboose even fit on the Bedford Secondary track?

The BT-27 test train departs Terminal Yard.

Working Train BT-27 / BT-28 

In previous op sessions Train BT-27 would leave Terminal Yard with at most a maximum of seventeen cars, a caboose and a pair of locomotives. Today's test train with three engines, twenty cars plus caboose rolls under the overbuild still under construction.

The caboose clears the overbuild

The BT-27 would then continue on to clear the switch into the siding and make the long shove caboose first into the Hostess / Berk / University Millwork loading docks pulling out up to twelve freight cars. This puts the caboose on the rear of the freight cars going back to the yard in Train BT-28.

The locomotives are just short of Bedford Tower and Bedford Park Yard at this point.

The caboose clears the switch to make the long pull from the Bedford Siding.

The engines however are now in the Bedford Park Yard Limits and there is not enough railroad to handle the long pull from Bedford. 

Plan B

The engines have shoved back for the freight cars to clear the switch to the Hostess-Ralph's siding.

The caboose however fouls the main line which I wanted to avoid.

Plan C

Biting the bullet the dispatcher has now granted the BT-27 permission to occupy the mainline.

A second caboose was added and will be used to couple onto the freight cars being pulled for return to Terminal Yard.

The BT-27 starts working Neubaum's Importers and the Schaefer Brewery siding pulling six cars.

Next stop is the Hostess Plant to pull four covered hoppers. This makes ten cars which will constitute pull #1 which will be placed on the secondary track.

Pull #2 also consists of a total of ten cars from Berk (2), University Millwork (4) and Ralph's Grocery Warehouse (4).

As you can see the BT-27 has the mainline and secondary track blocked while it works the siding. There is a lot of local traffic this day with a total of forty freight cars, three engines and two cabooses being moved.

It's time to place the inbound cars. The BT-27 has pulled past Bedford Tower on the mainline to enter the secondary track. As we can see the second caboose while it looked good was not needed.

The switching work is done and the mainline is now clear. Angry commuters glare at the lightning striped locomotives!!!

The APRR covered hoppers from Hostess will be the headend of Train BT-28 and sit on the secondary track clear of the mainline.

The locomotives have made their runaround move and await clearance to head back to Terminal Yard as Train BT-28. The engineer has shoved back from the overbuild so he doesn't asphyxiate from the Alco smoke. He may be here awhile as thru freights and passenger trains will take priority now that the mainline is back open.

Final Thoughts and Comments

Wow, that was a lot of train movements!!! It took time to figure out how to handle the increased freight traffic but it was an enjoyable endeavor. Today's test train is just about the maximum number of freight cars that would be moving in the BT-27 and BT-28.

When the Bedford Turn is dispatched the dispatcher will need to provide a good window of time as the Turn will need the secondary and mainline tracks depending on its length to accomplish its assignment. Having the Turn occupy the main for this length of time is something I tried to avoid and will try to keep the train to the secondary track when freight traffic permits.

If hosting an op session with other operators the Bedford Turn may have to be limited in size and/or be run in multiple to keep the mainline fluid.

Next installment we'll visit the Quaker Oats Plant in Empire City that replaced Ralph's Grocery Warehouse.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!