john
05-19-2010, 11:20 AM
Here's a very brief look at the Norge / Whirlpool plant at Fort Smith which was once a large Frisco shipper and still receives plastics and other chemicals over rail via A & M.
The site was originally occupied by a division of the Equitable Powder Company which primarily produced black gunpowder for the mining industry. I suspect that this industry dates back to the 1800's, I know it appears on timetables by the first decade of the 1900's.
A 1906 ETT lists the siding as Fenn (mp 420.4) capacity 141 cars. (This is the wye Frisco used to turn the Fort Smith passenger trains as needed.)
Equitable closed for good after the Second World War. The area just north of the original powder plant was then chosen as the site for a new Norge division of BorgWarner appliance plant. Construction began in 1961. Most of the "old hands" I spoke with considered the Norge operation a total failure because of "insane" operating practices. In 1966 the plant was sold to Whirlpool Corporation which has operated it ever since.
The original building had an attached warehouse on the southern side (which has since been converted to manufacturing area). A single internal spot (#1) was used primarily to unload raw steel at the northwest corner of the building. Tracks #2 and #3 handled boxcars along a series of doors on the north side of the plant where inbound materials such as plastic or fiberglass were unloaded. Track #5 might handle a boxcar of 55 gal drums of paint on the south side of the plant. #6 and #7 led to the finished goods warehouse (#9 and #11 inside the building). An early 1960's Fort Smith track chart, which illustrates all this, has been posted here on Frisco.org by Steve Marquees
The current finished goods warehouse (south of the plant - connected to it by an overhead conveyor) was constructed in two phases, the first half (close to Jenny Lind Road) was built in the early-mid 1970's. A few years later a second (rear) half was constructed. This building was primarily a rail warehouse until the GREEN took over. It wasn't long after that before all sorts of problems, many of them self inflicted by BN, caused Whirlpool to abandon rail and convert to what eventually became an all truck warehouse.
An attached photo was taken by Mike Condren, who gave me permission to share it. The NYC car is being switched at the original NW corner of the plant (the building has been expanded to the west more than once and this area is now well inside the existing building). The Norge plant was still almost new at this date.
The aerial photograph was taken by me on the Memorial Day weekend in 2003 (which explains the lack of activity in the auto parking lots). This photo is looking at the northwest (back) corner of the plant. The current warehouse is located on the right side of the photo. By this date the warehouse had long since been converted to a truck/trailer warehouse.
Andre Ming provided the 1980 BN chart.
The site was originally occupied by a division of the Equitable Powder Company which primarily produced black gunpowder for the mining industry. I suspect that this industry dates back to the 1800's, I know it appears on timetables by the first decade of the 1900's.
A 1906 ETT lists the siding as Fenn (mp 420.4) capacity 141 cars. (This is the wye Frisco used to turn the Fort Smith passenger trains as needed.)
Equitable closed for good after the Second World War. The area just north of the original powder plant was then chosen as the site for a new Norge division of BorgWarner appliance plant. Construction began in 1961. Most of the "old hands" I spoke with considered the Norge operation a total failure because of "insane" operating practices. In 1966 the plant was sold to Whirlpool Corporation which has operated it ever since.
The original building had an attached warehouse on the southern side (which has since been converted to manufacturing area). A single internal spot (#1) was used primarily to unload raw steel at the northwest corner of the building. Tracks #2 and #3 handled boxcars along a series of doors on the north side of the plant where inbound materials such as plastic or fiberglass were unloaded. Track #5 might handle a boxcar of 55 gal drums of paint on the south side of the plant. #6 and #7 led to the finished goods warehouse (#9 and #11 inside the building). An early 1960's Fort Smith track chart, which illustrates all this, has been posted here on Frisco.org by Steve Marquees
The current finished goods warehouse (south of the plant - connected to it by an overhead conveyor) was constructed in two phases, the first half (close to Jenny Lind Road) was built in the early-mid 1970's. A few years later a second (rear) half was constructed. This building was primarily a rail warehouse until the GREEN took over. It wasn't long after that before all sorts of problems, many of them self inflicted by BN, caused Whirlpool to abandon rail and convert to what eventually became an all truck warehouse.
An attached photo was taken by Mike Condren, who gave me permission to share it. The NYC car is being switched at the original NW corner of the plant (the building has been expanded to the west more than once and this area is now well inside the existing building). The Norge plant was still almost new at this date.
The aerial photograph was taken by me on the Memorial Day weekend in 2003 (which explains the lack of activity in the auto parking lots). This photo is looking at the northwest (back) corner of the plant. The current warehouse is located on the right side of the photo. By this date the warehouse had long since been converted to a truck/trailer warehouse.
Andre Ming provided the 1980 BN chart.