Nostalgia & History > SP "Beet" Train Ten Years Ago Today

Hauling sugar beets up Cajon Pass through "Canyon".

LK

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Were the sugar beet used for cattle feed? If not what were they used for? Also, why no more sugar beet trains?

TomPlatten Wrote:
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> Were the sugar beet used for cattle feed? If not
> what were they used for? Also, why no more sugar
> beet trains?


Sugar beets are used to make sugar (I believe that most of the sugar in the US comes from them rather than from sugarcane). If I remember correctly, the beets stopped running when the sugar mills to which they were going shut down.

These were beets from the El Centro area to the refinery in Tracy or Hamilton City, CA

BobB Wrote:
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> TomPlatten Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Were the sugar beet used for cattle feed? If
> not
> > what were they used for? Also, why no more
> sugar
> > beet trains?
>
>
> Sugar beets are used to make sugar (I believe that
> most of the sugar in the US comes from them rather
> than from sugarcane). If I remember correctly,
> the beets stopped running when the sugar mills to
> which they were going shut down.


And many but not all mills shut down because cane sugar from many sources mostly foreign and corn sweetners became cheaper for sugar consumers (cereal, soft drinks, etc) to use in their products. there are mills in production but most are close enough to the fields to use trucks.

mococomike Wrote:

> These were beets from the El Centro area to the
> refinery in Tracy or Hamilton City, CA

When did Ham City stop taking beets? Did all of Woodland's beets come from up north, or could these have gone there as well?

Man that had to have sounded good. Those 100s sounded good on the Moffat.

All of the sugar beet was used and nothing went to waste. After the beets were processed for sugar, the leftover pulp, and the leafy green top, was used as feed for cattle. At least that's what I was told.

JDE

There is still significant beet production here in northern Colorado and I believe Idaho as well. Unfortunately it is all shipped by truck. Corn sweeteners are only cheaper due to government subsidies of corn. The rest of the world gets most of its sweeteners from beets or cane.

The left over pulp from the sliced beet is dried and sold to cattle feed lots and used for horse feed. Molasses made from the separation of the sugar is also sold in part to feed lots and mixed with the pulp and dried for horses. Also sold for commercial use.

Sugar beet production has fallen in the US to new lows due to three world cane sugar sold to the US at dirt prices, also the high use of high fructose corn syrup by bottlers and canners

mococomike Wrote:
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> These were beets from the El Centro area to the
> refinery in Tracy or Hamilton City, CA

I can recall when the beet trains came up the coast.Think there was a sugar refinery in Salinas? Was still using those high sided wooden gons with friction truck bearings.

Paul Bliss
Oxnard CA

pb Wrote:
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> mococomike Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > These were beets from the El Centro area to the
> > refinery in Tracy or Hamilton City, CA
>
> I can recall when the beet trains came up the
> coast.Think there was a sugar refinery in Salinas?
> Was still using those high sided wooden gons with
> friction truck bearings.
>
> Paul Bliss
> Oxnard CA

Betteravia near Santa maria

pb Wrote:
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> I can recall when the beet trains came up the
> coast.Think there was a sugar refinery in Salinas?
> Was still using those high sided wooden gons with
> friction truck bearings.
>
> Paul Bliss
> Oxnard CA

Those same cars came to East Texas to haul wood chips after they started chipping the wood at remote locations instead of shipping pulp wood to the paper mills. Now all of the paper mills around Houston have been closed. Wish we'd have gotten one of those cast steel pulpwood cars for our museum.

RailNet802, out

There was a refinery in Spreckels just west of Salinas, CA -- most of the structures are still there, and the grounds are used in part by Tanemura and Antle, a rather large produce grower.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=spreckels,+ca&hl=en&sll=37.432805,-121.966682&sspn=0.0099,0.022724&t=h&z=15

B

Steamjocky Wrote:
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> All of the sugar beet was used and nothing went to
> waste. After the beets were processed for sugar,
> the leftover pulp, and the leafy green top, was
> used as feed for cattle. At least that's what I
> was told.
>
> JDE
Correct but only the pulp is used and its dried before being used again

Sugar beets from the Imperial Valley and the Bakersfield area were shipped north to Tracy, Woodland and Hamilton City in the final years of shipping beets by rail in California. The destinations changed as the remaining sugar factories in Northern California shutdown. Today the only sugar beet factory in California is at Brawley in the Imperial Valley and it processes local beets. When beets were moving out of the IV by rail, there was enough production to supply the plant there plus train loads of beets to other areas.

I would guess that the movement of beets by rail did not last long after the photo in this thread was taken.

Cliff

In northern California, was water consumption another concern? And/or something about Delta Smelt? Sugar beets take more water than other crops?

midwest Wrote:
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> In northern California, was water consumption
> another concern? And/or something about Delta
> Smelt? Sugar beets take more water than other
> crops?

Yes, water was a big concern for growers

I think the Imperial Vly refinery still handles about 25,000 acres of beets. After cooking out the sugar and molasses, the pulp is sun dried on a huge asphalt slab, then stockpiled for trucking to dairies and feedlots around the State. Only railroading involved with this plant is bringing in coal for their power plant.
Maybe some finished product goes out by rail. Not sure on that. This plant is Holly. Beets by rail used to go to Spreckles and Union.

Normanroger Wrote:
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> I think the Imperial Vly refinery still handles
> about 25,000 acres of beets. After cooking out
> the sugar and molasses, the pulp is sun dried on a
> huge asphalt slab, then stockpiled for trucking to
> dairies and feedlots around the State. Only
> railroading involved with this plant is bringing
> in coal for their power plant.
> Maybe some finished product goes out by rail. Not
> sure on that. This plant is Holly. Beets by
> rail used to go to Spreckles and Union.

Depending if the sugar is bagged for industrial use, sold in bulk or for grocery stores will determine method of transportation