Livestock operations: Branch Houses

 This thread should probably have been titled livestock and meatpacking, but never-the-less…

Many of my friends model meatpacking operations, Doug Harding for one, and closer to me, in mileage anyway, Mat Thompson. Their meatpacking models are interesting and FUN to operate. I chose NOT to model an actual meatpacking plant however. I thought that while the area I model WOULD require fresh meat, a BRANCH HOUSE operation would be more plausible.

A branch house is an operation that gets carcasses of meat by meat Reefer and cuts and packages those into consumer ready sizes. Branch houses are extensions of the company that slaughtered the animals, so a SWIFT branch house would only get SWIFT cars, ARMOUR would only get ARMOUR, etc.

Thank you Rapido! I own a VERY large collection of meat Reefers (Rsm) and I simply counted my cars, and the road name I had the most of, won! I now plan a Swift branch house. Then along came Rapido with their release of some very nice 37’ Rsm models and VIOLA! (humorous pronunciation intended) I now have something like thirty Rsm models painted and lettered for Swift.

There are various paint schemes for Swift, Yellow, Red, and Silver body color, besides lettering size. I model 1952 and fall directly into the Red body color era.I believe I own one yellow Reefer, which actually would not be anachronistic. I did however sell off the silver Reefers, I think I gave them to Mike Heine*.

The operation of a branch house is fairly simple LOADS-IN/LOADS-OUT. Occasional a car load will go to a grocery wholesaler on-layout, but I discourage the movement of cars from one on-layout point to another on-layout**. Trucks will move most of the product locally, thanks again to Classic Metals! I own several Swift Reefer trucks of the correct vintage.

In the branch house operation product will move in Swift lettered vehicles until it reaches the middleman, the grocery wholesale warehouse for example, at that point packaged meat would move in other companies vehicles.



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* Mike Heine has a small layout in a room off his garage. Let me tell you I think it is one of the very best urban switching layouts I’ve ever even HEARD of, let alone operated on. He has recreated the Milwaukee  Road in the Chicagoland area, and it’s a BLAST. If you can get over there I highly recommend this layout. 

** I do not like it when one sends cars from one point on a layout to another point on that same layout. For most things the distances are to short. Trucks would, as a rule do most of this hauling. There are very distinct exceptions, an LCL Trap car, for example, but generally I do not send cars across my layout from one industry to another.

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