Trackside industry

[babydot94513]

Does anyone know of a trackside industry that fits the following criteria: is a concrete recycler that takes demolished concrete scrape via truck and crushes, recycles the concrete into aggregate for use at a ready-mix facility?

I have seen these concrete recycler facilities at several locations and all the loads in/out seem to be via truck. I know that there are bulk cement facilities and some trans-loading facilities of bulk cement that are all served by rail. However, I have never seen a concrete recycler, bulk cement and ready-mix facility combined into one large facility that is served by rail. Does such a facility exist and where is it located?

 

[Rusted]

Great question. Sorry no answer.

I did do a search on the web, found sites about recycling concrete but no mention of shipping via rail.

One company was expected to charge $2 to $4 a ton to take in the material with hopes of re-selling it for $5 to $8 a ton after crushing and sizing.

Does anyone know a rough estimate of the shipping cost for open hopper train transport?

Does anyone know of areas where demand for such a product would require shipping in from far away?

 

[babydot94513]

Something else was pointed out to me and that was the scrap steel rebar that comes from concrete recycling. We all see gons loaded with scrap metal all the time, but with the cost of shipping steel scrap vs the market price of scrap steel, where is all this scrap going?

Seems to me that the railroads could work with these three industries and create one large facility that is served by rail and thus cutting the costs for all.

 

[sumpter250]

There is a big difference between cement, and concrete, and that is the thing which determines rail shipments.
Recycled concrete would be a local industry. Removed concrete would be trucked in, crushed, had the rebar removed, and would then be stored on site for future use as aggragate. If the facility were large enough, there'd be a siding for cement hoppers, to provide the material to mix with the aggragate. There could be a possibility of shipping out the recovered rebar, but this wouldn't be a "volume" business.
The primary product of this plant would be mixed concrete. By its very nature, this wouldn't be shipped by rail.
Pete

 

[Ralph]

Sumpter, Thanks for providing info about the business. Its always good to know how things work!

Jeff, I have a couple of pics of what I was told was an "aggregate plant" near my boyhood home in Upstate NY. Three large, long cylinders ran from behind the main building into the hillside. Red hot rocks would drop out of the bottom of the tan structure in the background of this pic (neat at night!) and the black stones were later loaded into open hoppers by a system of conveyors.

 

[Ralph]

Here's a shot of the interesting looking conveyors:

 

[babydot94513]

In really looking back on these responses and others from other sources, it is amazing to me that from a railroad perspective, that this entire industry and its subsidaries have not been exploited further.

First was steel recycling and then asphalt. I cannot understand why the railroads and industries cannot get together and work out a long term business plan that combines the efficiency of rail transportation in conjunction with concrete recycling, steel recycling, bulk cement and ready-mix into one operation.

While none may always go together in one operation, it seems to me that on a large scale there has got some econimic use for each of these commodities that would benefit the use of rail.

Why not ship concrete waste via rail to another user elsewhere? Why not ship steel scrap to a higher bidder elsewhere?

What go me thinking of this was that there is a ready-mix facility, a concrete recycler and a bulk cement facility all within spitting distance of each other on the BNSF tracks in Pittsburg, CA.

Across the street from the Ready-mix is a mfr of concrete pilings and K-rail. The main ingredient for both mfr and recyling is concrete and steel and NONE of these are served by rail.

 

[Gardenrrguy]

I don't know the buisness end of cost vs. profit ect.... But I do know from a bit of work experience how it all works over here in "The Land of the BIG DIG". The biggest cement products company gets the ingredients for the new concrete in via railroad hoppers. They also have a recycling facility down the road. The recycled concrete seems to all come in by truck. I have never seen anything come in or out by rail. Trucks come in. The recycle gets done and it is out by truck as well.
Even though it is not a rail-served industry, it may make a nice model.

 

[rockislandmike]

Agreed (and the responses over at ry-ops-industrialSIG seem to indicate likewise). It is nice to mix in some non-rail-served industries; not only does it add realism, but also allows you to use spaces that you couldn't get a spur into .......... I'm working on the plans for an industrial park - two industries rail-served; two not.

 

[Rusted]

THANKS! Non rail served industry along the track - everything I've considered thus far in my design has been rail served - COOL. Now back to my track plans. (I love The Gauge)

 

[60103]

Recycled concrete

Anybody have any ideas how to get recycled concrete OUT of the railway cars?

 

[TR-Flyer]

B-Dot:
Most concrete recycling takes place locally. It’s used as fill under new concrete slabs or as backfill against foundation walls (because it stays porous and doesn’t expand when wet) It’s difficult to use in new concrete because of differences in the strength of the old vs. the strength of the new. It’s difficult to separate the original aggregate from the matrix (the cement/ lime mixture). Most of the time I have done it, or seen it done, a grinder is brought on site and an existing slab-on-grade is ground up and used under the new SOG. Brick is also re-used in this manner.

The ready availability of old concrete might be why you don’t see it being shipped. Asphalt is also a local recycling activity. It will flow again once heated, heck it flows on the streets in the summer time down here! I’m not aware of any firms in our state that ship either material. The rebar is shipped because it does have value vs making steel from ore. Concrete recycling might be a better modeling activity to show being done on one of your construction sites than as a rail dependent industry.

Regards,
Ted