I am modelling eastern roads, PRR and around. Now I am looking at the new sugar beet gondolas and would love to have some, e.g. in SP and SP&S. But where did these cars run? I assume they run in local traffic only, at least not to the east coast. All hints are welcome. Take care, Christoph
Chris, Benig on the west coast all my life the only place I have ever saw them run is out here. SP had a huge fleet of them at one time. I have seen them as far north as Redding, Calif and as far south as Bakersfield. Most of them were used on the central coast and in and around Fresno (where I live) and on the west side of the valley. The sugar plants that I can remember seeing them go to were Hamlton (in the northern Sacramento valley), Tracy, Salinas and Mendota. I am sure were several other place but thats all I remember. Hope this helps, Shannon WP LIVES (and so does the ATSF)
You are correct, Christoph, sugar beets are not grown, nor is beet sugar sold, East of the Mississippi River. Sugar cane is grown in Louisiana and Florida, so all sugar East of the Mississippi is cane sugar. What is not grown in FL and LA comes from the Caribbean. People along the East coast will not buy beet sugar, it has been tried. I doubt if raw sugar beet haulage ever exceeded 100 miles in length of haul. I spent my entire career in railroad sales and marketing, so I do know a little about what moves where.
I think those short hauls and non-interchange moves explains why the SP beet gondola fleet was the rolling museum it became of 40' cars. Remember that car restrictions such as car age, bearings, and construction only apply to cars in INTERCHANGE service, not dedicated home-road service, so SP could run the wood-sided geezers literally until the the traffic died before they did.
The SP&S never hauled sugar beets, the the best of my knowledge, but I could be wrong. Their 40' cars were used in woodchip service. The pacific northwest is renowned for the forest products it yields. When Intermountain offers the 40' gons in SP&S, I'll simply have to get a half-dozen!
There is a great video from Video Rails on the Sugar Beet trains in Southern California - it shows the process from farm to the factory.
Beets were also hauled out of the Imperial Valley for Holly Sugar at thier plant just outside of Santa Maria on the Coast Line. Trains of beets went over Beaumont Hill. My wife and I got to see one of the last beet trains stopped in Oxnard with three rebuilt SD45M's on the point. One of my goals is 80+ cars of pure beet pleasure. Good thing I can get beet load castings when I need them... Kel MMW
Yep, they also ran from the Imperial Valley to Tracy (about 500 miles!) in their last years. Over Beaumont, Cajon, and Tehachapi, then up the Central Valley to Holly Sugar at Tracy. Here are a couple of shots I took, at Cliff in Tehachapi, and in Modesto CA. Not quite as cool as tunnel motors and the wooden beet gons, but I still loved to railfan these trains - gotta love the SP: Ahhhh - the sweet smell of sugar beets and diesel - nothing like it !!!! Dave
Thirdrail, I hate to contradict you, but I know for a fact that there are sugar beets grown east of the Mississippi River. Michigan is a huge sugar beet growing state. In fact, "Michigan sugar beet farmers harvested 130,000 acres of crop in 1996, ranking Michigan 5th in the nation in sugar beet production. Michigan's Saginaw Valley and Thumb area, along with the southeast corner of the state, produces more than 90% of the sugar beets grown east of the Mississippi River." (taken from the Michigan State Sugar Beet website) Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) Come see us on the web: http://www.pegnsean.net/~revnjeff
Revn Jeff I stand corrected,. but obviously there's little market for beet sugar outside of Michigan in the East. I have lived in Cleveland and Fort Wayne and don't recall seeing anything but cane sugar on the shelves. If the beets moved by rail, PRR never saw any. Of course, having lived for 17 years in Louisiana and 23 years in Florida, I'm a little prejudiced toward sugar cane!
Forgot to mention in my earlier post - the SP trains had a cool name/symbol also - ECTRV (El Centro-Tracy Vegetables) for the loads, and TRECV for the empties. Probably the only unit 'vegetable' train on the rails! Dave
