Industry Profile Casco

In lieu of getting any actual work done on the layout this week I thought I’d write about one of the industries I plan to model. Known locally as Casco (Canada Starch Company), the London, ON plant manufactures corn sweeteners, starches, and associated corn-based products. Built in 1979 alongside the CN (ex-L&PS) Talbot sub in south London, ON next to the 401 highway, the plant relies heavily on rail transport to distribute its’ products (though some product is shipped out to local destinations by truck). Casco has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US giant Corn Products International since 1958; Corn Products was recently Ingredion a year or so ago.

An annotated aerial view of the Casco (Ingredion) London, Ontario plant.

Corn arrives by truck from the abundant supply provided by farms in southern Ontario. From there it is crushed and processed into various grades of sweeteners and starches.  Corn Products owns a fleet of their own tank cars to transport their products (CCLX reporting mark), however also leases a large fleet of tank cars from private owners. The plant is switched on an almost-daily basis by a CN local originating from that company’s yard in London (CN 584). Occasionally if CN 584 runs out of time, or if Casco requires an extra switch, the London yard job will run down to switch the plant. Casco leases a track in the CN London yard for storage of cars not immediately needed in service or at the plant. This is an arrangement worked out to avoid excessive demurrage fees and is mutually beneficial to both parties as the CN yard is never full and thus does not present a problem with capacity shortage. Another interesting aspect of this leased track is that the plant will request specific cars to be delivered, so the yard crew often has to “cherry-pick” selected cars from those on the leased track. Sometimes this requires pulling almost the entire track to fish out a certain car, since all switching at the yard is done from the east end. Each switch can range from 5-12 cars (occasionally more), with a similar number of loads returned.

A view of the track leased to Casco reveals both hoppers for starch, as well as tank cars belonging to several car owners (PROX, UTLX, SHPX, CCLX) in both 263K and 286K GRL varieties.

Corn syrup is shipped in both 263K GRL and 286K GRL cars, depending on specific grade and end-customer for the product. Often, customers are located on branches or spurs (often on shortlines) that cannot handle 286K cars, so there are still many 263K cars in service despite the capacity difference of about 4,000 gallons (15,000 vs 19,000). Fortunately for modelers, a variety of rolling stock (HO scale, at least) are available to model the operation from Atlas, Intermountain, and Walthers. Intermountain makes a Trinity Industries 19,000 gal 286K tank car model, some decorated for Corn Products. Atlas produces a Trinity 15,000 gal (263K) corn syrup tank car model (some decorated for Casco/GATX/CCLX), as well as ACF pressure-differential hoppers used to transport bulk dry starch. Walthers offers a Union Tank Car prototype 263K model decorated for several corn products manufacturers, though it is based on a caustic soda tank car prototype (about 13,000 gals). Additionally, Highball Graphics offers decal sets for Casco-leased cars with PROX (Procor) reporting marks. The Casco logo was applied to cars with PROX, UTLX, and GATX, however is slowly disappearing as cars are shopped or repainted, a victim of being merged into the Corn Products/Ingredion corporate identity.

PROX 76011 is a 15,000 gal 263K GRL tank car used for transporting corn syrup. The enclosure at the top platform is a lockable device used to ensure that neither the manway nor fittings have been tampered with in transit, as the car is in food grade service. Known as a "breadbox" it is common among corn syrup cars of various owners. Note the unusual yellow bearing caps. Blt 6-90, UTC East Chicago, IN.

A corn syrup plant would make an interesting industry to model on an HO scale layout. In addition to interesting operations, the plant structure itself can be a centerpiece on the layout. In the image above, a Google satellite overhead shot of the London plant shows numerous buildings, silos, and tracks. Separate buildings/tracks are designated for the loading of hopper cars (dry starch) and tank cars. Even trackmobile operation is possible using the Broadway Limited HO scale trackmobile model. The operation can be scaled down if space does not permit modeling the entire plant (as I plant to do). Casco’s Port Colborne plant is much smaller than the London plant, and would also make a good modeling candidate. Additionally, one can include a dump shed to represent grain brought in by rail instead of truck (the Port Colborne plant uses both truck and rail to bring in corn). This can increase the number of cars to be switched into the plant, as well as the time it takes to switch the plant (which I don’t consider to be a bad thing!).

The CN London Yard ("Racecourse") job returns to the yard after an early morning run to spot empties and lift five loads from the Casco plant on the south edge of town.

Hopefully this article will give you a better understanding of corn products plant operations – it is by no means a complete narrative of the corn refining industry, but rather is intended to explain the railway aspect of the business.

Cheers,

Peter.

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Industry Profile 2 Bunge Hamilton ON

It’s been a while since I have done an industry profile, so here is the second installment in this article series for the blog.

Bunge

Bunge is one of the largest multi-national companies in the agri-business sector. One of its’ product lines is the manufacture and distribution of bio-oils derived from crushing various types of grains and seeds. To serve this market, the company has numerous processing plants in North America and abroad. One such plant is located in Hamilton, ON, and was acquired when Bunge purchased Can-Amera Foods in 2004.

Hamilton Plant

The Hamilton plant is what Bunge terms a crush facility – that is, it crushes grains or seeds to extract the oils from within. The plant is located in the industrial north end of Hamilton, at the foot of Wellington Street and on the edge of Hamilton harbor. Soybeans and canola seed can be brought in by both rail and boat, though the lake boats do not operate in the winter. The plant is served by the Southern Ontario Railway (SOR, a Genesee & Wyoming shortline) and often rates a switch job from the nearby Stuart Street yard to serve this plant alone. Occupying roughly three city blocks, the plant consists of a dump shed, various storage and processing tanks, a small three-track rail yard and a new tank car loading building constructed a few years ago on the opposite side of Burlington Street (connected by overhead pipeline to main plant). An interesting track arrangement consists of a diamond locate near the middle of the plant which allows the dump shed track to cross the spur serving the plant and its’ small yard (see photo below). A blue GE 45-ton centrecab is used to shuffle cars around the facility. The plant began canola oil production in 2007 and can crush 240,000 metric tons of seed per year. Much of the seed is sourced locally from Quebec and Ontario.

A Google satellite view of the Bunge plant in Hamilton, ON. The main plant is at upper left, with the newer bio-oil loading building located across Burlington street at lower center.

An annotated Google satellite view of the main complex showing the storage yard, grain unloading track and DDG loading track. At upper right is Vopak's terminal, which is used to bring jet fuel into the port via another slip out of view at right.

A Google satellite view of the oil loading building, constructed a few years ago. Note that the building can load not only rail cars but highway tank trailers as well. 

Operations

The plant is served on a daily or near-daily basis by an SOR job based out of the nearby yard. Loads of grain are spotted in the small yard and loads of distiller’s dried grains (DDG, sold as high-protein animal feed) are lifted from the plant. The dump shed track and DDG loading track are served from the west end of the yard. The tank car loading tracks located across the street are served from a parallel spur which also serves other industries in the industrial north end of the city. Another track running parallel to the boat slip is occasionally used to store grain cars until they can be unloaded.  Bunge seems to use railway-supplied equipment for bringing grain into the plant, but as railways do not supply equipment for DDG service or tank cars, Bunge maintains a fleet of both DDG cars (BNGX reporting marks) as well as 27,500 gallon tank cars (BRCX reporting marks). Additional tank cars are leased to bolster the company’s oil distribution capacity. Competitors ADM and Cargill likewise maintain their own railcar fleets.

CN 395614, a typical cylindrical hopper that can be used to bring grain into the facility (in this case empty, returning from the plant). This is one of the ex- CNWX Canadian Wheat Board hoppers that was sold to CN and converted to 286,000 lbs GRL. Aldershot, ON 3/30/2013. 

BRCX 1122, a Bunge-owned UTLX-built 27,500 gal tank car. Since this is an AAR 211 car it can operate at 286,000 lbs GRL; note that is is non-placarded (bio-oils are non-regulated). The car is seen at London, ON on 9/16/2013, en route to the Hamilton plant for another load.

PROX 76438, a 23,500-gal insulated tank car very similar to the Walthers model, which is appropriate for bio-oil loading. Aldershot, ON 5/31/2014.

This arrangement of the tracks can present an interesting switching problem, and if modeled, could provide quite a bit of work for an operator. In the yard, one track could be used for spotting inbound loads and empties, another for outbound cars, and the third for runaround moves. Once work is done at the main plant, the tank car loading building would also require the day’s loads be lifted and new empties spotted. Once switching is complete and the job is back at the yard, the consist would then be split between cars going to eastern destinations and those going to western destinations. If the plant were to be modeled such that it did not have its’ own switcher, there would be considerably more work to do positioning cars on the dump shed or DDG tracks.

Given that the complex is a combination of new and old buildings, structures, and tanks, this would be a great candidate for a kitbash – especially if you don’t mind running pipes all over the place! Structures from Pikestuff, Walthers, and others could be used for the buildings. A Walthers ethanol plant, with some modification, could make a convincing approximation of a bio-oil plant. Walthers also produces cars that could be loaded at the plant – their Trinity 6351 cubic-foot DDG hopper is appropriate as is their UTLX-prototype 23,500 gallon insulated tank car. If one were modeling an ADM, Cargill, or independent bio-oil producer, Atlas makes appropriate 27,500 gallon Trinity prototype insulated tank cars; modern hopper cars are produced by Intermountain, Exactrail, Tangent Scale models, as well as others.

If you’re looking for a relatively-large industry for your layout, one that can provide a considerable amount of switching, and you’re not afraid of a little kitbashing, maybe a bio-oil plant is worth considering.

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Peter.

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Freight Car Profile 2 EHSX 123289

EHSX 123289 is switched in the yard at London, ON after coming up from Windsor with a load of seeds.

I guess it’s time for another freight car profile. Today’s car is not quite what it appears to be: at first glance, it seems to be a conventional 5800 CF plastic pellet covered hopper. But the sharp-eyed observer will notice the presence of gravity gates instead of the pneumatic gates appropriate for plastic pellet service. The car’s reporting mark, EHSX, denotes that it belongs to the Essex Hybrid Seed Company of Windsor, Ontario. This car is one of a number purchased second hand from Procor – many of their cars still bear the distinctive Procor wordmark, as well as their original car numbers. Essex Hybrid also acquired a handful of conventional 4750 CF ribsided hoppers from Procor, and several secondhand curved-sided hoppers from other sources. The cars are used for the transport of seed crops, primarily flax seed, which is rather light and thus well-suited for the higher cubic foot cars. The car was built at Procor’s Oakville, ON plant in August 1987, one of nearly 1500 manufactured at the facility. The design closely matches the original Pullman design (but lacks the large crossmembers at each end of the car) and predates the acceptance of the curved-sided plastic pellet hopper design as the preferred method for plastic pellet car construction. Though the 5800 CF design was the industry standard for many years, newer designs of 6200 or 6400 CF have supplanted many older cars. The lucky ones, like EHSX 123289, have found a new lease on life in another service however many have since met the torch.

'Til next time,

Cheers,

Peter.

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