Abandoned concrete plant

I thought the main structure bore a lot of resemblance to the Walthers #933-3086 Blue Star Ready Mix kit, so that's what I'm using as a starter:

25-30 years ago, I received a Life-Like yard tower as a Christmas present from a well-meaning relative who didn't quite understand my brand of model railroading  , and it's been in my scrap box ever since.  When I saw the elevated plant office, I thought of this old yard tower.  Finally, after a quarter-century, it'll be put to use!

Here's a view of the future location of this structure, along with the first portion of the Walthers kit to be completed to give a sense of how it'll fit in the scene.  I plan to scratchbuild a copy of this (whatever it's called) to represent the two "towers" of the prototype.

Barriers blocking the former entrance to this plant are BLMA #4107 Concrete K-Rails.  Update:  After studying the prototype more closely (see Page 2), it's become clear that they used cast concrete blocks for those barriers, so I plan to replace these K-Rails.

Finally, a view of the abandoned Ready Mixed site (upper right - now known to be Lyman-Richey Corp.) and the future site of the Ready Mixed plant (lower left).  Since the abandoned prototype structure had been picked pretty clean (e.g. note the disappearance of the conveyor between the prototype pics at the top of the thread), I plan to use some of the Walthers kit components in building the Ready Mixed plant in the future.

That's Funny Ben

Looking forward to the project. Kevin

Kevin...

Kevin I swear the guy has a time machine... the guy finishes a complete scene, buildings, scenery, track work, etc... in the same time it would take me to build an old school Athearn blue box kit...

Shhhh...keep it down!

Ben, that's pretty stinkin' funny!  But please, all this talk about me working fast...ya gotta keep it down!  I complain to my wife that I don't get enough hobby time.

I sure don't feel like I work quickly at all, but I try to spend a little time each day on hobby stuff, even if it's only 5-10 minutes switching a single industry or applying a decal.  It's amazing how much that adds up, and even short bits of time like that can be a big stress reducer.

For today, though, my Circus City order arrived, so my hobby time is going to be devoted to finishing my updates to the MOW boom truck.  Concrete plant progress will have to wait for morning.

Oh, and regarding the lot...yes, this is definitely still the "before" state, but that'll change once the structure's done and in place.  We'll see lots of debris added when the time comes.

Also, I'm not aware of this location ever being rail-served.  However, the newer one shown in my last pic above started taking in cement by rail about 3 months after my era.  I've always liked little 2-bay cement hoppers, so it's been tough for me to resist fudging on that.

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LOL.... same here Joe, I tell my wife the same thing about need more time and as gracious as she is I usually get extra time to work on the layout. ...she's my number one fan and has been super supportive.

That's a tough one about the plant being rail served only 3 1/2 months later... same here I have a soft spot for cement hoppers... it's not my layout but I,d be putting a siding in...

Cement service - siding

Ben, the siding that was used for the cement move to the Ready Mixed plant is actually already in place, circled in red below:

...and here's a prototype pic of the cement unloading there.

It's hard to imagine based on how little space I was able to devote to it on the layout, but at one time, that track was part of the Rock Island's original (and very small) yard in Council Bluffs.  In IAIS times, it was used for various team track-like purposes until the early 2000s, but during my May 2005 era it seemed to be primarily used for off-spot deliveries to Searle Petroleum - about 10' to the left of the scene above.  So it's still an active track and allows me to represent Searle as one bigger industry vs. Searle and Ready Mixed being two smaller ones.

I've fudged on a couple industries (both fertilizer dealers) that were still active in my era, but didn't actually receive any cars that month.  As long as they got cars both before and after my era, I call it good, and I'm okay with that.  In this case, though, even though this siding was active before, during, and after my era, as was the customer, the fact that Ready Mixed wasn't the one being served there (first car for them showed up Sept. 4, 2005) bothers my prototype sensibilities.   And I also like having more track available to devote to Searle off-spots, since they were (and are) such a busy customer.

So for now at least, I'm going to stay strong and say no to the cement move.  Whenever I fudge on stuff like that, I later regret it and sell off everything I acquired to support the fudging.  So this time I'm hoping to do it right and just save myself the time and money I would have devoted to this right out of the gate.

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That makes sense now Joe, was wondering what the cement mixers were for. Never would have thought of using a "team track" to unload cement, pretty good idea for us freelancers to mimic as well.

I hear you about staying true to an idea or plan though, that's partially the reason I went freelance.

Looking forward to seeing your finished product.

Blue Star Ready Mix kit

Hi Joe, I used the Blue Star Ready Mix kit for the cement industry on my layout. I modified it to fit the space, moved the office to be a separate structure, reworked the exterior stairs, and scratch built an unloading shed. The kit is has a lot of potential for kitbashing and is a really nice structure. You should be able to easily modify it to replicate the prototype.

That is very interesting information about the "team track" siding. I understand your desire to stick to the prototype, but those short cement hopper cars are really neat cars I had to have on my layout. I am fortunate that the GNRR has a couple of cement industries, so the two bay hopper cars are part of my fleet.

I look forward to following your progress on this project, I am sure you'll hit it out of the park!

Tom Klimoski

Modeling the Georgia Northeastern   

Ben

Hi Ben - definitely an interesting setup there.  As you can see by the image below looking west, the Ready Mixed plant and its large lot is all located adjacent to that team track (called the "Steel Dock" by the IAIS), so it was a natural fit for them to start receiving cement there, and kind of ceased to be a "team track" at that time.  Side-dumps below are on the Steel Dock, just west of the east switch, and the IAIS main is just to their left in the weeds.  On the far left is the Council Bluffs Great Western (CBGR) main.

Here's a 2002 pic looking east, with the Ready Mixed plant behind the trees.  You can see how the Steel Dock got it's name, as coil steel was transloaded to trucks here for delivery to Lozier Corp. in Omaha during that timeframe. 

Finally, looking west from about that same location at the first batch of cement loads just spotted for the Ready Mixed plant.  You can see the abandoned plant in the distance, just to the right of the first car.  Sadly, this cement move only lasted a year or so until 2006 or '07, and I don't think the Steel Dock has been used for anything but off-spots and car storage since.

Cement move

You guys are killing me! I love the 2-bays, and the other nice aspect of this move is that, as the cement traffic picked up, IAIS leased 4 ex-OHCR, xx-UP, xxx-MP SD40-2s, and both those 40s and the SD38-2s that were already on the property started to spend more time on the West End, in part to handle that tonnage.  I've always loved 6-axle, second generation EMDs, and the SD38-2s already see a lot of action on the layout, but adding the SD40-2s becomes a very slippery slope.  For example, they never co-existed with my green GP9 or the MLW M420Rs, all of which were real favorites.

Pretty sure I'm staying strong, but you guys aren't making it easy.

Integrated drive-thru loading bay?

As I start to piece this concrete plant together on the workbench, I've found myself questioning some details of the prototype's construction based on what I'm seeing in the few photos I have before it was torn down.  I'm hoping that those of you here who understand these plants better than I do might help me make sense of things.

My primary question centers around how trucks would have been loaded.  It could be that a "drive-thru" bay existed in the primary structure like the one represented on the Walthers model:

...and I'm just not seeing it in the pics below.  It would have passed side-to-side in the first photo below.  They obviously had to load trucks somehow, but I think the answer to that question lies in a second question, as I'm wondering if the white elevated cement mixer-type cylinder below could have been used to load trucks.  Based on the location of the office stairway, I don't think trucks could have driven through in such a situation, so is it possible they loaded by simply backing in under that spout, then driving out?

If the answer is "no", then I'm guessing that a drive-thru loader had to exist in the primary structure, but was hidden behind the trees and elevated office in the two pics below.  I'd appreciate your guidance as to the likelihood of such an arrangement.  If drive-thru loading bays existed on all such concrete plants, then I think I can safely deduce its location on this structure.

Google Maps' street view would have been perfect for making this determination, as it faced the building's location from S. 16th St., 90 degrees to the left of the first prototype pic above.  Unfortunately, the earliest available street view image is from August 2009, and the plant was already torn down by that time.

Any guidance on this topic would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks very much.

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Hi Joe,

Every single video on YouTube that I was able to find has a gravity loading system to get the concrete mix into the trucks:

Therefore to bolster your assumption there must have been a loading rack on the side you do not have pictures of...

On a side note I have to agree that the GP9's and M420's are much more interesting than the SD40-2's

Thank you Ben

Thanks very much Ben.  Those are some really interesting videos - especially the last one. 

Clark Propst from the Proto-Layouts list on Groups.io brought up a good question, asking if I was sure that was a Ready Mix plant.  He said, "My ‘guess’ is it’s some sort of concrete fabrication plant that made block, culverts and the like. I say that because as you noted there doesn’t seem to be a bay to load trucks in. And the ‘mixer’ on the side of the structure would be where they added water and and stirred the mix of use."

Seems like a reasonable guess, and I can't say I remember ever seeing cement trucks there in any photos I've seen.  Also, the Google Maps street view from 2009 shows concrete block barriers in place after demolition that certainly aren't your standard K-rail barriers, so perhaps they put some of their own products to use for that purpose?

 On the other hand, both that view above and the one below seem to show what could be a driveway running just to the north of the remaining structure there (left, in the pic above, circled in red below) - possible evidence of a loading bay oriented E-W that passed through the south "tower" of the plant there?

As for the SD40-2s, thankfully, it wasn't an either/or decision.  UP ran them on the IAIS in my May 2005 era, both on detours over the whole west end and van trains that just crossed between the two roads' yards in Council Bluffs.  The IAIS was also running their own SD38-2s that month, and they're close enough for me.  If I had to choose one or the other, even the cool GP9 and M420Rs might not come out on top.   The SD38-2/SD40-2 family has always been a must-have for me for any layout plan.

Old phone book?

Perhaps a look in an old Council Bluffs phone book would give you a clue to what they made or sold.

Scott Chatfield

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I love detective work sometimes Joe... anyway, I was able from tax records able to find out that the company name was Wilson Concrete, attached is a copy of the deed... (just realized that I cannot attach PDF file, I'll email it to you instead)

also this from an obituary in the Council Bluffs newspaper from 2013:

"After returning home from the service, Charles became a foreman at Wilson Concrete Co. In 1950, he became President and CEO and began expanding the business into the Council Bluffs and Omaha, Nebraska areas in the structural precast and architectural industry. Concrete products were in demand for the post-war reconstruction and Wilson Concrete began serving contractors and architects in four midwestern states. The company produced all sizes of concrete pipe and building components for roads, bridges, railroads, parking structures, hospitals, ballpark stadiums, etc. Wilson Concrete eventually had manufacturing plants in four midwestern states. When Charles sold the company, at age 81, Wilson Concrete had grown to over 700 employees which included many long-standing engineers, managers of various divisions, office staff, etc"

So therefore one of the previous comments from Clark would appear to be spot on.

...hope all that helps some

Concrete Plants

Take a look at the link below, lots of pics from the menu on the left.  Here is one of them.   There are several styles.

https://www.con-e-co.com/concrete-batch-plants

Hope this helps

Ernie

County Assessor/Tax Records

Ben

How did you find all that Ben?  I've been Googling all afternoon, including searches specifically on that address, and never even came up with a company name.

What I did just find about an hour or so ago was this 2004 aerial from my county's web site -  https://gis.pottcounty-ia.gov/Html5Viewer_4_12_2/Index.html?viewer=HistoricAerialPhotos - that also confirmed that this plant, built between 1970 and 1973, produced fabricated concrete products rather than batch concrete for truck loading.  If you click on the image and zoom in, there are pre-cast concrete blocks stacked all over the property.  You can also see a trestle bent in the upper left corner from the aggregate conveyor that's already been removed as part of the plant's demolition.

With that, I think I've got enough information to proceed.  No loading bays at all, so I'll have some additional material to apply to the Ready Mixed plant a few feet away when the time comes for that project.  Thanks to Ben, Scott, and Craig for all the ideas and leg work!

One more request

As I've been researching this plant, I've realized that I need to locate two cement mixer drums as part of the construction:  One to mount to the south end of the structure as seen in the prototype photo at the top of the page, and one discarded in the lot as seen to the right in the second proto pic.

Anyone have a couple HO scale mixer drums discarded from truck projects that you'd like to sell?

Ernie and Craig

Ernie and Craig, thank you for the great tips!

Craig, we were kind of thinking alike.  I went to our county's site (link above) to start down that path, but then found their satellite images that answered my batch vs. fabricated question.  By that time, Ben had already come through with the company name.

Love this

This is why I like MRH forums and model railroading so much. So much helpful information offered, shared and no favors asked of anyone. Joe, this is another great project of yours that draws so much attention. Not so much for your excellent modeling skills (that you have) but for the detail you go to to get it right. If you had made it a batch plant most everyone would have brought it. Researching can be fun too. Joe, as always thanks for sharing here and on the Prototype group. 
 

Tom

@ Joe

Tom and Craig

Tom, thank you very much.  To me, getting that stuff right is a big part of the fun, so I definitely share your enjoyment about how helpful everyone here has been on this topic.  I have to admit, when this started out, I was just running with a vague assumption about what that business was, which was really lazy on my part, but it just didn't occur to me to question it at first.  I guess I didn't think it was that important since it wasn't rail-served.

It wasn't until Clark raised the question that I started to realize the gaps in my knowledge.  Not only was the research fun, but updating this post, and even correcting the folder names on my PC related to this customer...those changes were a blast, knowing I was on the right path now.

And Craig, I'm still digging on the property/tax records. I found some very nice high-res aerial photos on that same site this morning, but the oldest for the Wilson plant were from December 2006, just after demolition.  I don't see other photos on that site, but will try to call them tomorrow, as they're closed for the holiday today.

@Joe