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Topic: Plastics Corporation Served By NH&I (Read 629 times) |
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Cornwall_RR
Historian
Posts: 465
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I saw a C-Span program on the New Hope & Ivyland about a year ago. Among other things, they showed some switching out on the line. At one place they dropped off some plastic pellet cars at a plant. I am considering building an HO model of a plastics corporation for my freelanced Reading & Northern layout so I would like to know more about this real plant.
What specific product(s) is produced at this plant? How many carloads of pellets do they receive and how often? Are there large silos outside for pellet storage is it just a large building? Does anyone have any photos of this plant? Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.
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Cornwall Railroad Historian
RCT&HS Member & Volunteer
Co Moderator of the Reading & Northern board
"Don't overlook the shortlines - Bigger isn't always better!"
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Pennsy
Historian
Posts: 4586
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Hi,
The Plastics plant you refer to makes thermoplastic plastic pellets, such as Polystyrene, Polyethylene, Polypropylene, etc. These are generally stored in silos, such as you would find on a farm, and the covered hopper cars are filled from such silos. Such plants use many square feet of area, and have some rather sophisticated machinery. The pellets themselves are made from stock being fed into an extruder, a machine that extrudes a long "rope" of the material, and at the end of the extruder is a rotating knife affair that spins around cutting off the pellets to a uniform length. From there the pellets are dropped to room temperature and taken via conveyor belts to the silo for storage and the covered hopper cars for shipment. Each extruder line, naturally, has its own Quality Control provisions, personnel and testing facilities to ensure standardized shipment parameters and qualities. No additions to the silos are made without such approvals. Should you wish to model such a plant, photos of such plants such as Dupont, General Electric, etc. are undoubtedly available, probably on line.
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Dyed in the wool PRR fan.
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Cornwall_RR
Historian
Posts: 465
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Thanks Pennsy for all the info. Some reason I was thinking that they shipped in the pellets for processing – it has been a year since I saw the program. This operation sounds to be a little bigger than I was looking to model. I was hoping there would be a smaller industry perhaps at the receiving end that would take the pellets and use them to produce a product. I was hoping to use a 60 by 70 foot Pikestuff metal building as the basis and was willing to make the necessary silos if needed. I only have space for about three 55 foot hoppers to serve the industry and do not have much room to make the building or track longer. Could there be a smaller version of this type of industry (receiving or sending pellets) that would still be realistic with my space restraints? Thanks again for your help.
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Cornwall Railroad Historian
RCT&HS Member & Volunteer
Co Moderator of the Reading & Northern board
"Don't overlook the shortlines - Bigger isn't always better!"
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big3fan
Historian
Posts: 962
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Double H plastics is the industry and they receive the shipment. Their track can hold four hoppers but three would serve your model well. They have hoses that hook to the hoppers to suck the pellets out and they go right into the building.
I'll take some photos for you when I get the chance, shouldn't take me to long. I live about 5 minutes away but I might need a few days to find the time to do it for you.
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www.lightwriterproductions.com
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Cornwall_RR
Historian
Posts: 465
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Thank you big3fan and Pennsy for your excellent information. It is very helpful to know a little what is behind the industries that railroads serve in order to better model them. An industry like Double H sounds like something that would be neat to model.  I’m looking foreword to the photos.  Thanks again, your help is greatly appreciated!
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Cornwall Railroad Historian
RCT&HS Member & Volunteer
Co Moderator of the Reading & Northern board
"Don't overlook the shortlines - Bigger isn't always better!"
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big3fan
Historian
Posts: 962
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I was mistaken there are silos there, I guess i never noticed them before. They really are not that big though. I should get out this weekend for you.
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www.lightwriterproductions.com
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tweave
TRAINing
Posts: 3
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Double H Plastics is located in Warminster, in the building that was formerly occupied by Hurst automotive products (shifters, custom wheels). This is the southern end of the NH&I trackage which joins the northern end of the SEPTA passenger line from Philadelphia. SEPTA brings the freight cars out of the city at night. Loaded cars are parked on the plant siding to be emptied, and empty cars can be found on a NH&I siding across the street. NH&I handles the switching.
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| « Last Edit: Feb 8th, 2005, 10:57am by tweave » |
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NHIWW
Historian
Posts: 1040
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Slight correction, CSX brings all incoming cars to the interchange at Ivyland and picks up all outbounds, not SEPTA.
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J. M. Fusco
Historian
Posts: 4092
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Is that the area with the fence + orange water tower?
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NHIWW
Historian
Posts: 1040
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The area with the orangeand white tower is the former Johnsville Naval Air Station. This area is currently under redeveolpement. The location of Double "H" plastic is right where the Railroad crossed Street Road, SE corner, same side as the Warminster Station sandwitched between Street Road and the Storage Facility.
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big3fan
Historian
Posts: 962
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Sorry this is a bit later than I had hoped but I finally got out there today. I had to shoot through a fence and the light isn't the greatest but hopefully they will serve their purpose.
These are resized for viewing here and the original files are pretty big, if you want any full size files for better detail let me know.
Click Image to Resize
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| « Last Edit: Feb 11th, 2005, 2:40pm by big3fan » |
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www.lightwriterproductions.com
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greenbrierj3a
Posts: 72
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Eat more Dannon yogurt and you will help support the Railroad. Double H plastics makes the containers and lids for Dannon products. Look inside the lid and you will see the words "Double H" stamped into the plastic. 
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Engineer and Road Foreman
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Cornwall_RR
Historian
Posts: 465
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Thanks Todd for the photos of Double H. They are excellent reference photos for what I would like model. I’ll be sure to post some photos of my model that I’m going to loosely base off of this plant, but I am very busy currently and will probably only get to it this summer. I only have one more question for the time being – about how big is the building portion of the plant? Thanks again for your help.
Neat fact John, I’ll have to take a closer look the next time I eat yogurt.
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Cornwall Railroad Historian
RCT&HS Member & Volunteer
Co Moderator of the Reading & Northern board
"Don't overlook the shortlines - Bigger isn't always better!"
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trainwatcher1100
Posts: 2229
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on Feb 9th, 2005, 10:29pm, greenbrierj3a wrote: (Click here for original message)| Eat more Dannon yogurt and you will help support the Railroad. Double H plastics makes the containers and lids for Dannon products. Look inside the lid and you will see the words "Double H" stamped into the plastic. |
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Just bought a cup of Dannon yogurt, and it bears a notice that they will discontinue the use of plastic lids as of this Fall. Hope this doesn't hurt the NH&I too much...
- Bob
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