Neenah Industry

Neenah Industry

Here's an interesting little industry that could be modeled. The story started with just a nice location with some interesting shapes of buildings that would be unique on a model railroad. And afterwards, I saw a detail that could make it into an interesting rail operation.

I think this track was actually the 'main line' of a railroad, until some merger turned it into a dead end spur.
This plant occupies the old right-of-way; that's a track that will never be put back.

There is a shed with a rail door on both ends. There is a hopper on the far side, outside of the shed.
The track ends between buildings, before the taller main plant.

Looking to the left / West, there's the other switch of the siding.
Across the street is Kimberly Clark, and in the distance is a line of rail cars, that's the Neenah rail yard and CN / WC mainline.

There's an interesting 'extra rail' in this picture on this siding.

From ground level, I didn't notice this, and when I first saw this picture after I got home, I thought there was some defect in my little camera lens.
But its there, and I point it out with an arrow, below. I think that's the end point of a car mover system.
There's a gray 'line' along the side of the rail, it hides the ends of the ties, all the way into the shed.
It follows the rail perfectly, even near a little squiggle in the switch, so I could guess it might be a cable puller, or electric live third rail or a rack gear, for a car mover.
I would guess the heavy loaded cars would be pulled in.
Is the car mover actually one of those skinny compact one-sided types that travels outside of one rail, so the mover can get past the outside of a car?
So a car can be moved out the back door and left there, and the mover goes back for another?
It would be interesting to see it up close. A locomotive is a locomotive, no matter how small. Unless its a winch and cable.
For some ideas of small movers, look at Zephir
It is easy to simulate a car mover using thread or fishing line. And if you use a spool and crank or gear motor, you can move cars realistically. Without a locomotive.
On a model, both cables don't need to be seen above the board. One is enough, and the return line can go down through a hole in the woodwork and return underneath where you can hide the winding spool.

Go to their website, Galloway Company

They have a good aerial picture from a different quarter, and it shows the many stainless tanks and interesting roof utilities that would make it an interesting industry to model.

If you zoom in on that picture, you can see a red sign thing. Maybe a track bumper? Maybe something else?

Look up the plant on Google, 601 S Commercial St, Neenah, Wisconsin.
Galloway is the largest manufacturer of frozen dairy dessert mixes in Wisconsin, and I could guess the hoppers are inbound loads of sugar.

I don't visit the area every month, and then only on a weekend when things might not be moving. Maybe some one local knows about this interesting little siding and how they move cars.

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This page was photographed and wrote in October, 2016