What the heck kind of Industry is going on here?

[Falcus]

So, Seattle Lumber thing of some sort (Large amounts of cut lumber, saw dust around some of the buildings). And what appears to be an obvious Hopper Loader (Large white Shed with attached Work Hut top center).

But if you look bottom left, that appears to be an UNloader as well? What on earth are they doing with that wood that they need to load AND unload Hoppers for? Only thing I can think of is maybe making a cheap wood by-product (Like the Ikea Stuff) and they're unloading some kind of granulated binding agent? /shrug. Lost on this one.



Any thoughts appreciated.

Falcus

 

[mezzoprezzo]

Mysterious industry

Where in Seattle is it?

Part of the imagery seems to have been obscured. The car and tracks at the bottom centre of the image have been diagonally chopped off by what looks like a replacement section of out of focus terrain which extends towards the "industry" at the centre of the picture.

I had a quick look at Seattle on Google Earth to see if I could locate it, but soon gave up. There is a huge amount of track there!

Do you have a Lat/Long?

 

[felix_g]

http://www.macpiper.com/

 

[Falcus]

Holy Smokes Felix_G, NAILED It in One.... Jeebus, how'd you do that?
http://www.macpiper.com/facilities.html
Right there at the top "Airport Way Facility" & "18 Railcar Spots"..........

http://www.macpiper.com/airport_way.html
Well, that answers it all at this point. They're a Bulk Transload Facility. Just not set up the way I've seen most do it. Looks like they're mostly receiving Railcars of what I would have to imagine is Sawdust and Transloading to Truck going Who knows where.....

@Mezzo
Yea, Google Maps does that quite frequently, however it the line stops just before it gets into the Small Yard for the Transload Facility. Just google 655 Edmunds St Seattle WA and you'll find it. Yes, there is tons of track in and around Argo Yard, and at this point I have laid it all down and had it checked by a few people for Grading (in Real life the whole Yard is on a Grade, but I eliminated it for most of the yard), and for Turnout accuracy and functionality (Still a few I need to re-hash on the West End of the Yard though).

Falcus

 

[mezzoprezzo]

~snip~ @Mezzo
Yea, Google Maps does that quite frequently, however it the line stops just before it gets into the Small Yard for the Transload Facility. Just google 655 Edmunds St Seattle WA and you'll find it. ~snip~

Thanks for that. Got it now.

I checked out StreetView for some more clues, rather hoping for sight of of the UFO covered up by Google blurring. It was a bit of a disappointment to see it's just a routine yard. There are some quite good views from the overpass.

I guess we can therefore rule out any conspiracy theories regarding NSA involvement.

Or can we?

Have you seen the hoarding in the yard.




That sure is a mass of track. Good luck to if you're intending modelling the area, or even part of it.

 

[norfolksouthern37]

Looks like they're mostly receiving Railcars of what I would have to imagine is Sawdust and Transloading to Truck going Who knows where.....

Would more likely be bentonite as mentioned on the site.

 

[jkinzel]

I'm a little late, but I'll post anyway.

Falcus,

The location of this industry is about 4860 Airport Way S.,Seattle, WA near the south end of UP's ARGO Yard, aka Lucile St. By chance I caught part of the industry in this March 10, 2013 photo, but I have no idea the name or what they do. If I had to make a wild guess: It appears the two hopper unloading spots, one covered, one not, are for trans-loading materials from hoppers to containers (the containers being spotted inside the whiteenclosures) for shipment overseas.Types of products might be hops, specialty grains, fertilizer, etc.

As for the lumber: Same thing but, brought in by truck and loaded into containers. Looking at Google street view, I noticed most of the wood was from Hampton Lumber Co.

 

[Falcus]

http://goo.gl/maps/PWU1G
Those aren't Dry-Flo Cars either..... So Is Bentonite something one can just haul in normal covered Hoppers? This has been quite a learning experience....

http://www.bhbentonite.com/processing.htm This site would seem to suggest either Dry-Flo or Boxcars though? /shrug.

Anyone here familiar enough with either Pneumatic/Dry-Flo Railcars to shed some light on this from the equipment they have there?

Can you do this with Bentonite? Would you want to?

Funnily enough, look what I found sitting across the street:
http://goo.gl/maps/ZYsMB Heritage Caboose, lol.

Falcus

 

[Falcus]

Thanks for the information John! Trying to figure out what they carry now. Found out who operates there, its Macmillian-Piper, and they use it as a general Transload Facility (Basically Transportation Logistics). Theres alot of places like this around Seattle (Though none with this specific Set-up), because of the Port.

Currently trying to figure out what they transload and how (The more I learn about it, the better I can model it. I have the track work down, and I have some of the basic structures in place, like the Open Shed and the Lumber Sheds behind it, even have an incredibly good stand in for the small Silo!).

Falcus

 

[norfolksouthern37]

I dont see why not. I get my cat litter in a cardboard box... I mean really it could be anything as jkinzel said but I mentioned bentonite because that website seems to call it a key commodity there and whatever is blowing into the container in the image there seems gray and dusty - like bentonite.

What do you mean by Dry-Flo cars anyway? Like pneumatic equipped hoppers?

 

[JohnnyC1]

Bentonite is a type of clay. There are two main types; sodium bentonite is produced from the western United States in an area between the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming, and calcium bentonite is mined primarily in Mississippi and Alabama. The main uses of Bentonite are for drilling mud, binder (e.g. foundry-sand bond, iron ore pelletizer), purifier, absorbent (e.g. pet litter), and as a groundwater barrier.[SUP][[/SUP]As of around 1990, almost half of the US production of Bentonite was used for drilling mud.[SUP][/SUP]

John

 

[JohnnyC1]

I dont see why not. I get my cat litter in a cardboard box... I mean really it could be anything as jkinzel said but I mentioned bentonite because that website seems to call it a key commodity there and whatever is blowing into the container in the image there seems gray and dusty - like bentonite.

What do you mean by Dry-Flo cars anyway? Like pneumatic equipped hoppers?

I think he was referring the Dry-Flo covered hoppers built by General American Car these cars have a pneumatic unloading design. A hose is connected to a threaded connection on the bottom of the outlet bays, and the lading is essentially 'vacuumed' out of the car. Dave Snow has them on the DLS.

John

 

[jkinzel]

Bentonite: Also used with internal medicine for detoxification.
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/benefits-and-dangers-of-bentonite-clay/

 

[Falcus]

Well, at the end of all of this, I guess the conclusion I'm going to come to is to just drop a Dry-Bulk Multi-Industry there.... IDK, we'll see.

Falcus

 

[norfolksouthern37]

seems like the best idea there Falcus.