Saturday, April 29, 2017

East Hoschton Industrial - Structure placement

Trackwork and industry placement has been completed on the new East Hoschton Industrial Park project.   There will be a total of 10 industries located within the park boundaries.  The West Hoschton Industrial Part will contain 3 to be determined business. All. business will be serviced by rail.

Yet to be completed is the wiring for track power, power districts, turnout and building lighting for both parks.

As a result of newly available advanced technology, senior management at HRC has authorized a new project which will incorporate the latest technologies which will completely computerize HRC operations.  This project will be done in concert with the industrial expansions. All switch operation and power district management devices will be removed from the control panel. These functions will now be accomplished via state of the art railroad operations software via an Android,  IOS tablet or phone.  In addition, this new technology will provide a host of new functionality enabling the HRC to reduce overall employee costs.

This is an overhead view of the East Hoschton Industrial Park.



One of the most important industries that relocated to Hoschton is the yet to be named Coal Transfer Station.  While HRC has been in the coal transportation business for almost 150 years, business declined rapidly after the NAFTA trade agreement was signed.  The subsequent loss of the textile industry in Northern Georgia also  wiped out the need for coal used to fuel those plants. The original coal plant was shuttered and fell into disrepair over the ensuing years.

However in April 2017, the HRC was contacted by the CEO of the NYCTL (a railroad of some distinguish)  to make a proposal to the HRC's CEO Engineer for Life Ed.  The proposal was for HRC to  partner with the NYCTL and 2 other railroads the A.P.P.R(another RR of some repute  distinguish) and world respected  King's Port Division for the purpose of delivering large amounts of coal to the Northern and Mid-Western regions on a regular basis.  After round the clock intense negotiations  HRC has signed a Letter of Intent to join this partnership.

This is a photo of the 2 partially completed structures that will comprise the Coaling operations. Work is proceeding on this plant at near dizzying speed.
 






The next plant located in the park is the brand new Morton Salt Processing  and Distribution Plant.  This plant and its entire output is dedicated solely to the North Georgia BBQ industry, an industry which requires huge amounts of salt daily in the production of their finest pulled BBQ.









In anticipation of a substantial tax relief package being bantered about in D.C. the yet to be named Culvert plant has decided to re-locate its facilities to East Hoschton from their current location in the ever diminishing  Gwinnett County industrial egion just to the south of Hoschton. Relocation was also made possible because of the many incentives offered by the Mayor to the Culvert Company. These incentives include, but are not limited to financial, daytime and evening entertainment. The evening entertainment is provided soley by the Ladies of the Evening chapter of the Greater Hoschton Benevolence Society.  Culvert Company executives have been overheard heard saying that Hoschton is indeed a very loving town.



Another large industry to locate to East Hoschton is a yet to be named lumber company.The company is comprised of multiple buildings along with a sister company Morrison's Door  Production facility.




 Another major industry  joining the Hoschton family is the Industrial Metals Recycling Center. This plant's main customer is the HRC's Road Maintenance Division.   The plants takes in large quantities of old rail and a variety of iron products used in the maintenance of the HRC's vast rail network.





The last 2 businesses  to call East Hoschton home are the Ice House and the Log loading Facility.  The logging facility will be the receiving point for the the logs culled from the vast forests of Northern Georgia.  Naturally, Southern Yellow Pine is the tree of choice demanded by customers.  The ice house's main customer is O'Grady's Pig and Whistle tavern which is a 7x24 tavern serving the unending thirst requirements of the majority of HRC employees. 





It is an exciting time of expansion for the HRC.  A special thanks to the CEO's of NYCTL, A.P.P.R and King's Port for their influence and great examples of operating railroads.   

Even though the HRC was extremely happy as a passenger railroad, I trust that converting over to an operating railroad requiring huge amounts of money, sweat, hard work, employee retraining, stock acquisition, track realignments, new and revised wiring, additional employees, structures and support facilities will be as much as rewarding and fulfilling as the very old and happy HRC passenger lines were.

2 comments:

Neal M. said...

Ed, That's an aggresive and worthwhile project the HRC is undertaking. While the upfront expense to the HRC may be a little costly, I'm sure the additional revenue generated, especially the revenues from the AP.R.R., N.Y.C.T.L. & K.P. & W. will pay great dividends, especially to the CFO of the railroad (need to keep management happy!).

Looking forward to the next update!

John R. said...

Lots of industrial growth turning the sleepy town of Hoschton into an industrial powerhouse! Great looking L.I.R.R. coal hoppers! Looking forward to the next update!