Havelock - Open Air Facility

AEQX 3037 is the type of car that initially caught my interest and led to this post.  The foreground displays a colourful variety of spilled roofing granules......July 04, 2015

An Industry You Can Model

Turning Unused Yard Tracks Into Income Generators.
 

Photos and Commentary by Peter Mumby.
In some ways this essay is Part Two of an earlier post, "Southern Ontario Lading - With a New England Twist," from March 20, 2015.  In that discussion, I briefly referred to the AEQX 30xx series cars in roofing granule service that were being loaded in the CP yard at Havelock, Ontario.  This time my intention is to show how CP, with a minimum of expense, converted three unused yard tracks into an open air facility where truckloads of roofing granules from the nearby Madoc plant are transferred into rail cars.  Following this pattern, you too can create a similar "industry" on your layout - and do it on the cheap.  Later in the post I will also show two earlier uses made of these same tracks in the Havelock yard.

In the late 1800s Havelock was created as a division point yard on the original Toronto/Montreal mainline.  Its importance declined following the construction of what is now the Belleville Subdivision.  In the early 1950s the Nephton Subdivision was constructed from Havelock to Nephton and Blue Mountain, two producers of nephthalene syenite, and in recent times this has been the traffic which has justified the continued operation of the Havelock Subdivision.  The 3M roofing granule plant at Havelock contributed a lot of traffic, but it closed about ten years ago.  Quaker Oats and a few other customers in the Peterborough area still add some traffic to the mix.  From a railfan perspective, this latest venture at Havelock has  certainly added some interesting variety to the parade of traffic into and out of the yard.

Ten years ago the yard was busy enough to justify five trains per week out of Agincourt, Monday through Friday.  About five years ago business slowdowns caused this frequency to drop to Tuesday/Thursday.  For the last few years the railway has settled down to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday pattern.  In the late 1980s there were rumblings about the Havelock Subdivision being spun off to a short line operator, and to this end, on Sept. 30, 1990 it became an internal short line of CP called the Kawartha Lakes Railway.  As long as it continues to make money, I guess CP is happy to hang onto it!

The three yard tracks under discussion have their own separate lead.  A derail keeps these tracks isolated from the rest of the yard.  Fine crushed rock was spread in the area to be used by truck traffic and the portable loader.  New timbers were installed to create level crossings where the empty trucks loop around to exit the yard.  This appears to be the extent of the modifications- easy for CP, easy for the modeller!  Two bay cement-style covered hoppers should be easy to locate; the trucks and the loader might prove to be the biggest modelling challenges.

This view shows one of the trucks in the unloading position......July 03, 2015

If you are modelling Havelock in an earlier time-frame, I am aware of two previous uses of these same three yard tracks.  The summer of 2002 brought drought conditions to northern Saskatchewan and food supplies for large herds of cattle were jeopardized.  Ontario farmers responded by donating time, effort, and hay to a programme referred to as Hay West.  CP donated box cars to that effort, and made these Havelock tracks available as one of the loading points.  The adjacent field became a staging area for the hay bales and the agricultural equipment used to load the boxcars.  Large circular bales were packed into each end of the 50' boxcars up to the door area, and smaller rectangular bales were stacked between the doors before they were slid shut and sealed.  The field in question has now been fenced off and finished as a municipal soccer pitch.
The previous tenant for these three tracks was GE Railcar.  During the 1990s they operated an open air car repair facility, both for their lease fleet and for other customers, in this location.  Boxcar doors were repaired and safety appliances were brought up to code.  Trucks were changed out or repaired.  GE dealt primarily with box and covered hopper cars in Havelock.  This facility would allow the modeller to showcase a colourful variety of rail cars and service equipment.

So, have we provided you with any useful ideas?  Hopefully, we've suggested an industry YOU can model!

ACFX 44827 stands with hatches open ready to receive its load.  Note the crushed rock surface applied to this recently-opened facility......July 03, 2015

NCHX 38761 is one of the more unusual cars in this service.  With its faded lettering from Indusmin syenite service, however, it is certainly no stranger to this yard......June 13, 2015

This close-up of the loader shows how the conveyor fits under the truck hoppers......July 03, 2015

Here we have an overall view of the three tracks used in this service.  Note the new timbers used to create level crossings for the departing trucks.......July 03, 2015

  This is a look at the top end of the loader as it rests over the weekend........July 04, 2015

In this view of the Hay West operation we see a small loader being placed in one of the 50' boxcars.  It will pack the large circular bales into either end of the car before being removed......Aug 30, 2002

Large rectangular cross-section bales are being loaded in the central portion of the car.  Several such cars are being loaded simultaneously.......Aug 30, 2002

This line of boxcars typifies the era when GE Railcar used these three yard tracks.  Doors were replaced and safety appliances were repaired year-round in this open air facility.  This is how the ground looked before today's crushed rock was applied......Oct 1994

All three tracks were put to use by GE.  Boxcars and covered hoppers were the norm, although I remember seeing an autorack here once......Aug 23, 1993

The "Railcar Services" lettering can be seen on the side of this service vehicle......Mar 12, 1996

NAHX 45673 is on jacks awaiting truck repair or replacement.  This illustrates the appearance of cars such as NCHX 38761 (seen earlier in the post) when they were leased by Indusmin.  Indusmin operates the facilities at Nephton and Blue Mountain which provide the principal justification for the existence of the Havelock yard......Aug 01, 1993.