Working With the Enemy, Pt. 2

With part two we will go over what switching the paper mill consisted of.

For part 1, click here. 
To view the plant in GoogleMaps, click  here.
Google Earth: 33.3276  -86.3591

     Our night started at 19:00 and the shift consisted of two parts, switching the south end of the plant, then the north end.  Our very first move, south end, started out switching the recycling plant.  To further understand, we should discuss a basic layout of the plant. The site consisted of the main plant or the original facility. When the mill was converted to recycled paper, the recycle plant was constructed a bit to the east of the main facility. A large elevated pipe or conveyor connected the two facilities and carried what I am guessing would be some kind of slurry.

Simple track layout, south end of the plant.

     So just about every night, our first move involved the switching the recycle plant. In a nutshell this consisted of us pulling 10 empty boxcars out of the east side of the  building and replacing them with 10 loads. The building itself had room for five boxcars to be spotted inside, with 5 more left hanging out. The cars were pulled through the facility as they unloaded them. The south side of the building consisted of several unloading docks for trucks. In addition to the unloading docks they had a large ramp that would raise and tilt a truck trailer on end, dumping the contents into a large bin. Needless to say there was a constant parade of trucks heading in and out of the recycle plant. The east side of the plant also had a track and spots for tank cars to be unloaded but we very seldom spotted cars there. Either they didn't take a lot of chemicals or this may have been mostly switched by the day job. I'm really not sure either way. The few times we did give them tank cars, they consisted of either peroxide or chlorine and they always called or faxed us when needed. The lead for the recycle plant was usually always full of loaded boxcars, around 10-20, waiting to be spotted in the plant.

     Upon completing switching the recycle plant, we would then head to the paper dock which was located on the south end of the main plant. The paper dock consisted of six tracks, lettered E-A (left to right) and a storage track that I think I remember us calling the concrete track? The leads leading up to the various docks were usually full of spare cars waiting to be loaded in the plant. When heading to the paper dock, sometimes we would pick up a cut of cars from the yard and take them with us to be stored while waiting for loading.

     The most difficult part of switching the paper dock was the fact that they always requested certain types of box cars in certain spots. For example there may be 3 cars to a spot and the middle car would be loaded and ready to ship.  Most often we switched E through C tracks almost every night with those three tracks loading NS 463 series cars, and CSX 161 series cars. With those longer cars we could manage to get 3 spotted inside the building. We very seldom switched B and A tracks but when we did they usually took CSX Big Blue or FBOX series cars. Once in a blue moon they would also ask for a regular NS 50 foot box, something like a waffle side car, but that was very rarely. During the first switch for the paper dock, which usually took two a night, we would, on average, pull 2-6 loaded boxes out. As we pulled the cars we would set them over on the storage track and leave them for the day shift to pick up. In addition to the extra work involved in pulling and spotting certain cars, each car we gave them had to be inspected inside and out. They mostly looked at the floor, interior walls and most definitely the seals on the doors. If the car had a defective rubber seal then it was always rejected which just added more work to the job. I can remember countless times when the CSX 161 cars were bad ordered due to bad seals while the NS cars were seldom rejected.

CSX 161 series car. One of the most common used at the paper dock. Photo by John Robbins

NS 463 series car. Another one of the most common used. Photo by Sean Gulden

CSX Big Blue, also loaded at the paper dock. Photo by Kevin Owens.

TTX FBOX series. These cars were brand new during my time on Y101. Photo by Paul Rice.

NS waffle side. A car similar to this was also used rarely, though I cant remember the exact series. Photo by Keith B.

     With the paper dock move finished, usually around 2200-2300, we would then head back to our yard for a short break before continuing with our job.The north end of the mill will be included in part 3.