A cool little industry


grande man

grande man

Bonafied Grande Nut
Hi everyone.

This post is certainly noting earth shattering, but I shot this photo near Chattanooga, Tn this weekend at a Pilgrim's Pride plant. I couldn't help but think how the trackwork, and the little GE centercab would look on a model railroad, so I thought I'd show it to ya'll. There's a lot of potential in a small space. Maybe it will be of value to someone planning a layout... :)

IMG_6822.JPG
 
That is a nice little industry to model. Do you have any other shots from different angles? I like the solar powered switch machines too! Very cool.
 
Hey guys.

At the time I shot the pics, the locomotive was my primary focus. The folks at the plant were very nice but I could tell that they would prefer I not to linger in getting the shots. The stipulation was they had to be shot from the parking lot and adjacent grass area. Anyway, I noticed how cool the plant was in reviewing them on the computer. Here's the only other shot I have hosted currently...

IMG_6823_f.JPG
 
Looks like an 80-110 ton GE switcher. They use two in plant here at GE, at 110 ton each. I keep thinking about scratch-building one of those but my gut keeps stopping me. Lots of little details that would take a long time to do.
 
That's a pretty hefty locomotive for just switching a grain facility. It looks like they have a Trakmobile over on the left side also so they must move a lot of cars. Those solar powered switch machines are the first I've seen. I assume they must be recharging batteries used on the turnout since it take a lot of amps to move a switch.

Having a second look at the GE, it looks like it might be remote control by the extra lights on the hood. It would be interesting to find out more about that facility.
 
UP2CSX said:
Having a second look at the GE, it looks like it might be remote control by the extra lights on the hood. It would be interesting to find out more about that facility.
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Hi Jim. The loco may have remote capability, but it was manned while we were there. In fact, the engineer pulled it up front so I could shoot it. :cool:
 
grande man said:
Hi Jim. The loco may have remote capability, but it was manned while we were there. In fact, the engineer pulled it up front so I could shoot it. :cool:
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It may be that it has remote capability from a previous owner or that it's only used occasionally. I've never seen that may "classification lights" on the hood of one of those GE's unless they were remote operation indicators. OTOH, I know practically nothing about these GE critters except the few I've seen. :)
 
I'm sure that it had remote capabilities, the Cargill GP7 at Verdemont CA has a row of exposed bulbs, but I've never known them to use the unit on remote.

Also I've got to wonder where that GE unit came from. I've never seen a critter with a cab profile like that.
 
Ya know, I keep thinking about this plant and it's modeling potential. It could keep a dedicated operator busy and still fit in a fairly tight space. It's safely tucked away in the mental memory bank (limited :D ) in case it's needed in some future layout or expansion.
 
My two cents again , that was the configuration those units were built with as are the two in-plant switchers here at GE. Same units. No Remote. Next time I see the local enginners I'll ask about the extra lights.
 
GAPPLEG said:
My two cents again , that was the configuration those units were built with as are the two in-plant switchers here at GE. Same units. No Remote. Next time I see the local enginners I'll ask about the extra lights.
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It appears the two classification lights (or whatever they are) on each side of the headlights were standard on the GE SL144, since they are also on this one. Note the plows. They must get a lot of snow in that part of Oregon:
kn_207_7-21-03_jb.jpg


They are still in the GE catalog but only 29 have been built so far so they are a pretty rare beast. Good catch!
 
They are EXTREMELY homely! In addition, they don't quite look like an American with that odd-looking angled cab, they look german. The only american looking thing on that is the Plow! Although they are indeed built in the US. I'd take a geep anyday for my large industrial plant!
 
Here we go , the inner two lights on both sides of the headlights are red, turn on when headlights are dimmed , indicating rear , the forward end when headlights are on bright the two outer lights (white) are on also.
 
Thanks, gapleg, that's what I kind of thought after seeing that other picture. Seems like some GE engineers must have worked for ALCO at one time. :)

Miles, they are sort of homely but they're relatively cheap and put out 1100 HP. That's why I was suprised they had such a large locomotive switching at a grain plant.
 
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