|
These are some photos of the Riverton stockyard built originally by Ernie Homer (sp?). ?This was acquired by the Chuck Porter. ?It was basically a box of kindling when he got it and I rebuilt it for him along with BTS stock yard back in 2010. Chuck had a water line burst and a lot of damage was caused. ?After Chuck’s passing in 2011, a group of us tore down his layout and I acquired the stockyard. ?
I finally found a place to incorporate into the layout and rebuilt it. ?Here it is, still some work to do, but it is one of a kind.
?
Steve Lunde
?
|
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Dec 13, 2024, at 14:39, Steve Lunde <ace5348@...> wrote:
? These are some photos of the Riverton stockyard built originally by Ernie Homer (sp?). ?This was acquired by the Chuck Porter. ?It was basically a box of kindling when he got it and I rebuilt it for him along with BTS stock yard back in 2010. Chuck had a water line burst and a lot of damage was caused. ?After Chuck’s passing in 2011, a group of us tore down his layout and I acquired the stockyard. ?
I finally found a place to incorporate into the layout and rebuilt it. ?Here it is, still some work to do, but it is one of a kind.
?
Steve Lunde
?
|
That’s pretty sweet. Gives me ideas for my upcoming layout. I already decided there will be a stock pen in one of the pastures but these photos give me lots of ideas for the stock yard where the cattle will be hauled to.
Cheers
Jeff J
Michigan
|
Hi Steve: I believe the builder of the Riverton stockyard (which looks great!) was an S scale modeler named Ernie Horr.?
Ernie was from the Pacific northwest, an early editor of the NASG Dispatch .? He was a good friend and contemporary of Chuck Porter's.? Ernie always loved a good time and is remembered (by a few of us who are left)
as showing up at an NASG Convention in the early 1980's with a couple
of coffee cans of Mount St. Helens ash for anyone interested to use as
scenery material!? I'm not sure when Ernie passed away....
Take care... Jim Kindraka
The photos? ![image0.jpeg]() ![image1.jpeg]() ![image2.jpeg]() On Dec 13, 2024, at 14:39, Steve Lunde <ace5348@...> wrote:
? These are some photos of the Riverton stockyard built originally by Ernie Homer (sp?).? This was acquired by the Chuck Porter.? It was basically a box of kindling when he got it and I rebuilt it for him along with BTS stock yard back in 2010. Chuck had a water line burst and a lot of damage was caused.? After Chuck’s passing in 2011, a group of us tore down his layout and I acquired the stockyard. ?
I finally found a place to incorporate into the layout and rebuilt it.? Here it is, still some work to do, but it is one of a kind.
?
Steve Lunde
?
Attachments:
|
Wow, Steve -- we would never have known that that diorama had been a basket case.? Looks great!? But now you'll have to acquire another 40-50 head of cattle.?
?
Gaylord Gill
Highland, MI
|
Steve,? Is there a possibility that the
original builder might have been Ernie Horr?? A couple of guys
teased him, but at his age he had heard it all.? Dick Karnes would
verify this but I think he lived in Spokane.? I had hoped to visit
with him as he was fading fast, but time wouldn't allow for that.?
If I have the wrong individual, sorry!
However it is an excellent looking
model so several folks need credit for it.? Back in my youth every
little town had a salesbarn, in my home town it was on Thursdays.?
Farmer's cattle trucks were all around and if you were selling and
if prices were up, the beer joints were filled that day.? Then if
you found a good Bull to improve the herd--same thing, good
times!? The next day another neighboring town would hold it's
sale.? On a hot evening you could hear the cattle hollering into
the night.? One by one the yards were shuttered, as the
financially weaker ones closed and that tradition was gone along
with the farmers who raised the cattle in small batches!
The last time I was noodling around in
the old Milw yards in Aberdeen, South Dakota I walked the
area,---now just remaining wreckage of those times.? There were
feed troughs made of cast concrete.?? That area was perhaps a half
mile long.? I don't know if these were gathering points or resting
points or perhaps both at season.? You could only ship livestock
during a span of several hours, then unload, feed and water them.?
A good friend, & semi-neighbor
compiled a fairly elaborate book on the livestock business on the
ATSF.? He goes into great detail on how the ATSF handled that
business including hauling away the manure and old bedding.? I'm
certain that the Santa Fe Technical and Historical society
probably still has them FS.?
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
These are some photos of the Riverton stockyard built
originally by Ernie Homer (sp?). ?This was acquired by the Chuck
Porter. ?It was basically a box of kindling when he got it and I
rebuilt it for him along with BTS stock yard back in 2010. Chuck
had a water line burst and a lot of damage was caused. ?After
Chuck’s passing in 2011, a group of us tore down his layout and
I acquired the stockyard. ?
I finally found a place to incorporate into the layout and
rebuilt it. ?Here it is, still some work to do, but it is one of
a kind.
?
Steve Lunde
?
|
The stockyard was indeed built by Ernie Horr. ?I added the cattle pens and ramps for Chuck Porter. ?I also have a coaling tower built by Ernie as well. ?Brought from Chuck Porter for $5. ?My wife laughed, as it was a box of kindling as well. ?The trouble with Ernie’s builds, they were all built out of balsa wood. ?Very fragile and hard to rebuild.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Dec 13, 2024, at 17:14, Bob Werre <bob@...> wrote:
?
Steve,? Is there a possibility that the
original builder might have been Ernie Horr?? A couple of guys
teased him, but at his age he had heard it all.? Dick Karnes would
verify this but I think he lived in Spokane.? I had hoped to visit
with him as he was fading fast, but time wouldn't allow for that.?
If I have the wrong individual, sorry!
However it is an excellent looking
model so several folks need credit for it.? Back in my youth every
little town had a salesbarn, in my home town it was on Thursdays.?
Farmer's cattle trucks were all around and if you were selling and
if prices were up, the beer joints were filled that day.? Then if
you found a good Bull to improve the herd--same thing, good
times!? The next day another neighboring town would hold it's
sale.? On a hot evening you could hear the cattle hollering into
the night.? One by one the yards were shuttered, as the
financially weaker ones closed and that tradition was gone along
with the farmers who raised the cattle in small batches!
The last time I was noodling around in
the old Milw yards in Aberdeen, South Dakota I walked the
area,---now just remaining wreckage of those times.? There were
feed troughs made of cast concrete.?? That area was perhaps a half
mile long.? I don't know if these were gathering points or resting
points or perhaps both at season.? You could only ship livestock
during a span of several hours, then unload, feed and water them.?
A good friend, & semi-neighbor
compiled a fairly elaborate book on the livestock business on the
ATSF.? He goes into great detail on how the ATSF handled that
business including hauling away the manure and old bedding.? I'm
certain that the Santa Fe Technical and Historical society
probably still has them FS.?
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
These are some photos of the Riverton stockyard built
originally by Ernie Homer (sp?). ?This was acquired by the Chuck
Porter. ?It was basically a box of kindling when he got it and I
rebuilt it for him along with BTS stock yard back in 2010. Chuck
had a water line burst and a lot of damage was caused. ?After
Chuck’s passing in 2011, a group of us tore down his layout and
I acquired the stockyard. ?
I finally found a place to incorporate into the layout and
rebuilt it. ?Here it is, still some work to do, but it is one of
a kind.
?
Steve Lunde
?
|
On Friday, December 13, 2024 at 12:42:08 PM PST, Steve Lunde <ace5348@...> wrote:
The photos:
Brother Werre is correct.? Ernie Horr, who owned the stockyard facility, lived in Spokane.? He was a friend of mine; my wife Ilze and I visited him and his wivfe in 1987 or thereabouts.? As I recall, Mrs. Horr,?a hairdresser, had fun with her surname.? Oddly, I do not remember what Ernie did for a living...
Ernie was a hirailer.? All track was code 172, but he used John Bortz's converted Kadee HO couplers.? The name of his railroad was The Tinplate Road. He was a member of the Spokane Valley S Gauge Railroaders.? The group actually developed and marketed a sandhouse structure kit that's seen on a lot of S layouts.
Ernie named nearly all of his industries after friends of his -- including me.? I emulated his practice on my layout, where you would have found Lee M. Johnson Medical Supplies, D. R. Thompson Icing facility, Jaxon Arms apartments, R. Nulton Auto Rebuild, Gilbert M. Hulin Balls and Bats, Loizeaux's Liquors, L & M Sokol Palliatives, etc.
-- Dick Karnes, MMR
|
Dick,
Ernie worked in a brake shop.? I had thoughts of that might be
the reason he got cancer---those asbestos brake shoe dust can be a
problem.? I was shooting Jess Bennett's layout when I thought
about seeing Ernie.? However Jess indicated that he was so sick he
was pretty much in-active. I didn't know if he would appreciate my
visit. or be an unwelcome element!
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
Brother Werre is
correct.? Ernie Horr, who owned the stockyard
facility, lived in Spokane.? He was a friend of mine;
my wife Ilze and I visited him and his wivfe in 1987
or thereabouts.? As I recall, Mrs. Horr,?a
hairdresser, had fun with her surname.?
Oddly, I do not remember what Ernie did for a
living...
Ernie was a
hirailer.? All track was code 172, but he used John
Bortz's converted Kadee HO couplers.? The name of his
railroad was The Tinplate Road. He was a member of the
Spokane Valley S Gauge Railroaders.? The group
actually developed and marketed a sandhouse structure
kit that's seen on a lot of S layouts.
Ernie named nearly
all of his industries after friends of his --
including me.? I emulated his practice on my layout,
where you would have found Lee M. Johnson Medical
Supplies, D. R. Thompson Icing facility, Jaxon Arms
apartments, R. Nulton Auto Rebuild, Gilbert M. Hulin
Balls and Bats, Loizeaux's Liquors, L & M Sokol
Palliatives, etc.
--
Dick Karnes, MMR
|
Wife Jami and I visited Harriet and Ernie in 2005 shortly after we bought our current home. He was enthusiastic about my plan to build a new layout here in Washington. Sadly, he was not able to visit before he passed. His “Tinplate Road” was crammed into a side of their basement around the furnace and a stud wall with the drywall removed, both contained within the layout’s footprint! He had advanced to scratchbuilding beautiful “modern” freight cars which were displayed on a shelf in the basement family room. ? Harriet sold me several transition era cars that Ernie had built. Some were obviously built earlier and are a bit crude, but many are very nice and are proudly displayed on shelves in my layout room. When Harriet sold me the cars, she admonished me to “never put trains ahead of my faith or my family”. ? Roger Nulton ?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Bob Werre
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2024 6:54 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [S-Scale] Riverton Stockyard? Dick, Ernie worked in a brake shop.? I had thoughts of that might be the reason he got cancer---those asbestos brake shoe dust can be a problem.? I was shooting Jess Bennett's layout when I thought about seeing Ernie.? However Jess indicated that he was so sick he was pretty much in-active. I didn't know if he would appreciate my visit. or be an unwelcome element! Bob Werre PhotoTraxx Brother Werre is correct.? Ernie Horr, who owned the stockyard facility, lived in Spokane.? He was a friend of mine; my wife Ilze and I visited him and his wivfe in 1987 or thereabouts.? As I recall, Mrs. Horr,?a hairdresser, had fun with her surname.? Oddly, I do not remember what Ernie did for a living... Ernie was a hirailer.? All track was code 172, but he used John Bortz's converted Kadee HO couplers.? The name of his railroad was The Tinplate Road. He was a member of the Spokane Valley S Gauge Railroaders.? The group actually developed and marketed a sandhouse structure kit that's seen on a lot of S layouts. Ernie named nearly all of his industries after friends of his -- including me.? I emulated his practice on my layout, where you would have found Lee M. Johnson Medical Supplies, D. R. Thompson Icing facility, Jaxon Arms apartments, R. Nulton Auto Rebuild, Gilbert M. Hulin Balls and Bats, Loizeaux's Liquors, L & M Sokol Palliatives, etc.
--
Dick Karnes, MMR
?
|
I don't think I've ever seen a sales barn modeled in any scale. The tilted ramps for the trucks is a nice detail I well remember as common in sales barns. I can't count the number of times I had to sit through cattle and hog auctions in the sales barns at Oxford, Marengo, Belle Plaine, and Sigourney, Iowa with my grandfather. But I did get some railfanning in on the Rock Island at Marengo, the Milwaukee Road in Sigourney, and the North Western in Bell Plaine. I knew the handwriting was on the wall for The Rock and probably the Milwaukee too, so I look back now and realize how lucky I was to witness all three.? The North Western would send its Falcon Service piggyback trains roaring through the double-track, super-elevated curves in Belle Plaine with three or four SD40-2s in notch 8--probably the most impressive use of SD40s I've ever witnessed. Quite a contrast to The Rock's dog's breakfast of aging, dirty units with dying turbochargers on its Chicago-Omaha main. Or the Milwaukee's antique FM switchers.? ??
?
My grandfather used to ship loads of cattle on the Milwaukee out of Williamsburg, Iowa to Chicago. The railroad would let him and other local cattlemen ride in the caboose all the way to the Union Stockyards. Long before my time though.?
?
Brian Jackson
Springfield, IL
|
Brian,? good memories for sure.? On the
Milwaukee's Society magazine there's a fairly lengthy article on
the their main. that one hosted the UP Cities trains that is
mostly gone now having been a weed garden for some years before
that.?
Our sales barn was about 1/3mile from
the Milw's cattle pens, so I can only assume they were
manhandled/driven horseback, back and forth.? In the first grade
(56',) I went home with a classmate who lived nearer to the
tracks.? There was a RSD shifting cattle cars--quite a few...after
the train left I never saw any again!? The pens became weathered
gray, and I do recall there were two cast concrete counter
weights--one had cracked, dropping part to the ground.? Funny how
one remembers some things but at that time there weren't too many
things to remember either!
My wife had been to the sales barn but
doesn't recall much however they did have a decent lunch counter.?
It went through several owners then conveniently burned down.?
Seemed to happen a bit too often around home!? Old grain elevators
burn very impressively!
I also recall the TV stations giving
their farm reporter a few minutes to quote the latest farm prices
aka WKRP in Cinney!
Bob Werre
Phototraxx
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I don't think I've ever seen a sales barn modeled in any
scale. The tilted ramps for the trucks is a nice detail I well
remember as common in sales barns. I can't count the number of
times I had to sit through cattle and hog auctions in the sales
barns at Oxford, Marengo, Belle Plaine, and Sigourney, Iowa with
my grandfather. But I did get some railfanning in on the Rock
Island at Marengo, the Milwaukee Road in Sigourney, and the
North Western in Bell Plaine. I knew the handwriting was on the
wall for The Rock and probably the Milwaukee too, so I look back
now and realize how lucky I was to witness all three.? The North
Western would send its Falcon Service piggyback trains roaring
through the double-track, super-elevated curves in Belle Plaine
with three or four SD40-2s in notch 8--probably the most
impressive use of SD40s I've ever witnessed. Quite a contrast to
The Rock's dog's breakfast of aging, dirty units with dying
turbochargers on its Chicago-Omaha main. Or the Milwaukee's
antique FM switchers.? ??
?
My grandfather used to ship loads of cattle on the Milwaukee
out of Williamsburg, Iowa to Chicago. The railroad would let him
and other local cattlemen ride in the caboose all the way to the
Union Stockyards. Long before my time though.?
?
Brian Jackson
Springfield, IL
|
I knew that part of eastern Iowa: serving a small church in Burlington while working on a PhD in Iowa City (and driving between the two each weekend) gave me ample opportunity to enjoy the area.? The NRHS had a number of excursions in the area which I would
love to have gone on, but sadly they were all on Sundays...? The Crandic did run at least one daily train right through the University campus, crossing the Iowa River right behind the Literature building.
Full marks to Bob for recognizing an RSD at age six!? I dread the thought of painting it, but the RailMaster/Steam Depot RSD kit I just bought will probably need to be C&NW, as those were very common on the "Alco LIne" from LaCrosse out to South Dakota, passing
right through Eyota where my last church before full retirement was located.? Actually, the church was out in the country in the township of Viola, which had its own station a mile west on the Plainview branch.? I copied a lovely photo from the internet of
a C&NW RSD on a fairly long train heading south from Plainview; the branch had been gone for 12-15 years when I arrived, except for a mile or so off the mainline where the DM&E parked rolling stock not urgently needed for service.
When I was a boy (a few years before Bob), there was an auction barn in Springville NY where I went with relatives several times; it was very close to the B&O (ex-BR&P) tracks, although I have no idea how much stock traffic there may have been on the railroad
by then.? This was the late 1940's or early 1950's, when cattle traffic was already going to trucks, especially in the northeast.? It lasted longer in the upper midwest and far west, but even there rail movement of livestock was largely gone by the mid-1960's.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Brian,? good memories for sure.? On the Milwaukee's Society magazine there's a fairly lengthy article on the their main. that one hosted the UP Cities trains that is mostly gone now having been a weed garden for some years before that.?
Our sales barn was about 1/3mile from the Milw's cattle pens, so I can only assume they were manhandled/driven horseback, back and forth.? In the first grade (56',) I went home with a classmate who lived nearer to the tracks.? There was a RSD shifting
cattle cars--quite a few...after the train left I never saw any again!? The pens became weathered gray, and I do recall there were two cast concrete counter weights--one had cracked, dropping part to the ground.? Funny how one remembers some things but at
that time there weren't too many things to remember either!
My wife had been to the sales barn but doesn't recall much however they did have a decent lunch counter.? It went through several owners then conveniently burned down.? Seemed to happen a bit too often around home!? Old grain elevators burn very impressively!
I also recall the TV stations giving their farm reporter a few minutes to quote the latest farm prices aka WKRP in Cinney!
Bob Werre
Phototraxx
I don't think I've ever seen a sales barn modeled in any scale. The tilted ramps for the trucks is a nice detail I well remember as common in sales barns. I can't count the number of times I had to sit through cattle and hog auctions in the sales barns
at Oxford, Marengo, Belle Plaine, and Sigourney, Iowa with my grandfather. But I did get some railfanning in on the Rock Island at Marengo, the Milwaukee Road in Sigourney, and the North Western in Bell Plaine. I knew the handwriting was on the wall for The
Rock and probably the Milwaukee too, so I look back now and realize how lucky I was to witness all three.? The North Western would send its Falcon Service piggyback trains roaring through the double-track, super-elevated curves in Belle Plaine with three or
four SD40-2s in notch 8--probably the most impressive use of SD40s I've ever witnessed. Quite a contrast to The Rock's dog's breakfast of aging, dirty units with dying turbochargers on its Chicago-Omaha main. Or the Milwaukee's antique FM switchers.? ??
?
My grandfather used to ship loads of cattle on the Milwaukee out of Williamsburg, Iowa to Chicago. The railroad would let him and other local cattlemen ride in the caboose all the way to the Union Stockyards. Long before my time though.?
?
Brian Jackson
Springfield, IL
|
Jace you are too generous as at that
time I had zero knowledge of Alco's, except I knew it was an
Alco.? A bit earlier I thought anything with a cab? someplace in
the middle was a GP 7.? As it looked a bit like the AF T&P
model--and who couldn't love that scheme!? While the crew was out
for beans, I went up to the engine idling and read the builder's
plate --American Locomotive works 1947!? I was disappointed for
sure but those RSD's served that area until I was in college. But
some time after that they were re-motored, controls reversed and
had their noses chopped!
Later in College--the campus was sort
of in the middle of the CNW/M&SL wye as I could see a crew
shoving a few cars around, but I was always buzzing around between
classes and service was hit or miss plus but mostly I was into
drinking some beer, keeping out of Vietnam and loving girls too!
Bob Werre
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I knew that part of eastern Iowa: serving a small church in
Burlington while working on a PhD in Iowa City (and driving
between the two each weekend) gave me ample opportunity to enjoy
the area.? The NRHS had a number of excursions in the area which
I would love to have gone on, but sadly they were all on
Sundays...? The Crandic did run at least one daily train right
through the University campus, crossing the Iowa River right
behind the Literature building.
Full marks to Bob for recognizing an RSD at age six!? I dread
the thought of painting it, but the RailMaster/Steam Depot RSD
kit I just bought will probably need to be C&NW, as those
were very common on the "Alco LIne" from LaCrosse out to South
Dakota, passing right through Eyota where my last church before
full retirement was located.? Actually, the church was out in
the country in the township of Viola, which had its own station
a mile west on the Plainview branch.? I copied a lovely photo
from the internet of a C&NW RSD on a fairly long train
heading south from Plainview; the branch had been gone for 12-15
years when I arrived, except for a mile or so off the mainline
where the DM&E parked rolling stock not urgently needed for
service.
When I was a boy (a few years before Bob), there was an auction
barn in Springville NY where I went with relatives several
times; it was very close to the B&O (ex-BR&P) tracks,
although I have no idea how much stock traffic there may have
been on the railroad by then.? This was the late 1940's or early
1950's, when cattle traffic was already going to trucks,
especially in the northeast.? It lasted longer in the upper
midwest and far west, but even there rail movement of livestock
was largely gone by the mid-1960's.
|
Jace, the Alco line originated in Winona, not La Crosse.
--
Nick Kinnear
Plainview, MN
|
Jace, That Springville NY auction house still exists and the auction is every Wednesday, along with a decent size flea market. The B&O tracks are long gone though. ? ? ?I saw a video once of how the northbound B&O crews used to split their road power so they could pull cars out of both facing point and trailing point sidings. The fireman ran one set of units with one of the brakemen to bend the irons and the engineer and the other brakeman the trailing point and stay in the clear on the siding until the other crew tacked their cars onto the train. I seem to recall a bit of an “illegal” drop (flying switch) being made as well. ? ? ? A short while before ?that line was abandoned the Milw 261 ran there on an excursion.? ? ? ?Bud Rindfleisch
|
MILW had a large sheep pen at Kirkland IL. CB&Q had theirs at Montgomery, IL Q's grain elevator might still be there. You could see it from the Mainline. It had a large CB&Q herald painted on the side.
Union stockyards quit late sixties early 70s if I remember correctly . I still remember stock cars in transit on the Q. They were handled right behind the locomotives probably because the animals had to be detrained frequently and also because the rear end crew didn't want to be downwind from them!
I don't think I've ever seen a sales barn modeled in any scale. The tilted ramps for the trucks is a nice detail I well remember as common in sales barns. I can't count the number of times I had to sit through cattle and hog auctions in the sales barns at Oxford, Marengo, Belle Plaine, and Sigourney, Iowa with my grandfather. But I did get some railfanning in on the Rock Island at Marengo, the Milwaukee Road in Sigourney, and the North Western in Bell Plaine. I knew the handwriting was on the wall for The Rock and probably the Milwaukee too, so I look back now and realize how lucky I was to witness all three.? The North Western would send its Falcon Service piggyback trains roaring through the double-track, super-elevated curves in Belle Plaine with three or four SD40-2s in notch 8--probably the most impressive use of SD40s I've ever witnessed. Quite a contrast to The Rock's dog's breakfast of aging, dirty units with dying turbochargers on its Chicago-Omaha main. Or the Milwaukee's antique FM switchers.? ??
?
My grandfather used to ship loads of cattle on the Milwaukee out of Williamsburg, Iowa to Chicago. The railroad would let him and other local cattlemen ride in the caboose all the way to the Union Stockyards. Long before my time though.?
?
Brian Jackson
Springfield, IL
|
Sometime in the early 70s, the stockyard was moved out of Chicago to a new facility in Joliet. I don't know the history of the packing plants however. I suspect they were still in operation in their old locations within Chicago. They were under increasing competition from newer, linear plants in Texas. The old-style vertically integrated plants were seen as increasingly inefficient. And the advent of mechanized refrigeration eventually led to major changes in where the meat was processed. Instead of bringing the livestock to the packing plants in major metropolitan areas, the plants were located next to the vast herds being fed in Texas, which increasingly became the norm in the 70s. By the mid-80s, the curtain was closing quickly on family famers feeding out beef cattle and sending them to market.?
?
For the cattlemen in southeastern Iowa, it was always a question of whether to ship to Peoria or Chicago/Joliet. Much to my amazement, a fragment of the Peoria stockyards still operates.?
?
I remember encountering the stockpens in Syracuse's Dewitt yard in the late 60s-early 70s and recoiling from the smell. So even into the early Penn-Central years, the railroad was still shipping livestock to the packing plants on Manhattan's lower west side.??
?
Brian Jackson
Springfield, IL
?
?
|
As Brian points out rail traffic on the
once stable mid-states rail lines was in trouble.? When I had a
'guest' Rock Island unit, I paired it with one of my Milw units to
simulate how the roads shared the track-age hoping to find a line
that was still able to substain reasonable speeds!
Bob Werre
On 12/15/24 12:08 PM, Brian Jackson via
groups.io wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Sometime in the early 70s, the stockyard was moved out of
Chicago to a new facility in Joliet. I don't know the history of
the packing plants however. I suspect they were still in
operation in their old locations within Chicago. They were under
increasing competition from newer, linear plants in Texas. The
old-style vertically integrated plants were seen as increasingly
inefficient. And the advent of mechanized refrigeration
eventually led to major changes in where the meat was processed.
Instead of bringing the livestock to the packing plants in major
metropolitan areas, the plants were located next to the vast
herds being fed in Texas, which increasingly became the norm in
the 70s. By the mid-80s, the curtain was closing quickly on
family famers feeding out beef cattle and sending them to
market.?
?
For the cattlemen in southeastern Iowa, it was always a
question of whether to ship to Peoria or Chicago/Joliet. Much to
my amazement, a fragment of the Peoria stockyards still
operates.?
?
I remember encountering the stockpens in Syracuse's Dewitt
yard in the late 60s-early 70s and recoiling from the smell. So
even into the early Penn-Central years, the railroad was still
shipping livestock to the packing plants on Manhattan's lower
west side.??
?
Brian Jackson
Springfield, IL
?
?
|
Bob Werre
Dick Karnes, MMR
Roger Nulton
Nick Kinnear
