Western Railroad Discussion > Reno Distribution Facilities

When I was in Reno last week I was amazed at the number of major retail distribution facilities that have opened up there since I last visited a years ago.

I noticed Barns & Noble, Petsmart, and Amazon.com. I can only imagine that there are several others. I can also probably assume that this has been a real boon for the Union Pacific as all these facilities take deliveries.

Can someone fill us in on how many trains now terminate in Reno? Also, what kind of trains are they?


Todd

webmaster wrote:

> When I was in Reno last week I was amazed at the number of
> major retail distribution facilities that have opened up there

California used to require warehouses to pay an annual tax on items they had in inventory. (I don't know that this tax is still in effect.) This caused a huge growth in wearhousing in Nevada. Interesting high state taxes can drive business away.

We bid on a very large Starbucks disctribution
facility last year in Reno. Didn't get it, but it was a big-un. Like the poster above stated,
its all about the taxes, both inventory &
property tax. Bet the taxing entity gives
a large property tax abatement in order to lure
the jobs that comes with the facility.

Lot's distribution and warehousing in the north Reno area, near Parr Yard, north to Stead, also Sparks had quite afew. Lived there in the late 80's, The sparks local was always busy.

Reno is considered a free-trade zone, another reason why lots o' distribution centers. That, and California sucks.

In California, merchandise in transit was usually not subject to the inventory tax so warehouses and other effected companys would load much of their inventory in available trucks an other modes of transportation and put them "on the road" at inventory time to avoid the tax. I worked at a retail store in the Bay Area for a few years and I can remember trucks from the distribution center dropping off trailers with orders not to touch and picking them up a couple days later.

Todd says: “When I was in Reno last week I was amazed at the number of major retail distribution facilities that have opened up there since I last visited a years ago.”

Over the past thirty years or so, there has been much change in the Truckee Meadows with warehousing businesses moving in and moving out. Although over the years there has been a net gain.

Todd says: “I noticed Barns & Noble, Petsmart, and Amazon.com. I can only imagine that there are several others. I can also probably assume that this has been a real boon for the Union Pacific as all these facilities take deliveries.”

It is interesting to note, that the distribution facilities listed above have no rail connections. Petsmart is the newest to this short list within the last year or so. Amazon.com is the oldest to the list and the Stead facility is an overflow warehouse to the company’s Fernley operation. Barns & Noble has been here for the last 2 or so years.

Todd says: “Can someone fill us in on how many trains now terminate in Reno? Also, what kind of trains are they?”

I can’t share with you how many long-haul trains (not locals) terminate in Reno/Sparks, I suspect none to one each day. I can share my impression of the type of traffic I see inbound to the Truckee Meadows.

As a part of my travels around the Truckee Meadows on a daily basis, this is what I’ve noticed about inbound freight cars: Covered hoppers seem to be the most abundant, filled with plastic pellets, foodstuffs (grain?), and cement.

Next would be intermodal (sp?) cars carrying either containers or pig trailers. In a two-way tie, would be tank cars and bulkhead flats. Last would be the boxcar. Offhand, the biggest boxcar consignee in the area is the BNSF/Donnelly operation located in Sparks.

Of course the above is only subjective observation on my part.

Jimmy “B”

Bob L says: “California used to require warehouses to pay an annual tax on items they had in inventory. (I don't know that this tax is still in effect.) This caused a huge growth in wearhousing in Nevada. Interesting high state taxes can drive business away.”

California noticed this problem with the “floor tax,” or inventory tax in the early 1980s and corrected the problem about 1982 or so. The tax was phased out over a three-year period as I remember it.

There were other dynamics that may also have played into this migration of warehousing to the Truckee Meadows. Some of which may have included; geography, ease of servicing all of the pacific coast, Washington, Oregon and California thus allowing consolidation of multiple facilities on the coast; Lower land and development cost, which provided for reduced cost of leased or purchased warehouse space; Nevada has less government, much easier to negotiate the maze; Nevada is a “Right to Work” state, which makes union organization more problematic having an overall effect on lower wages for blue collar work.

Of course this is subjective observation on my part and scholars in economics and history will play with the topic for years to come.

Jimmy “B”

UPRRPR can probably give you a more firm number, but last I read, UP/BNSF/Amtrak sends 14 trains a day through Reno. There is a intermodel train that dumps it's doublstacks in Sparks and the Reno Local takes them to Parr yard and then the rest of it's train goes down towards Stead. picks up outbound stacks on it's way back to Sparks

It has been noted that there are major distribution centers in north Reno, Stead, Sparks and out east at Fernley. BNSF gets a lot of business there. GM has long had a parts warehouse in Sparks and recently built a newer, bigger one.

It has also been noted that the ZCSOA drops a lot of its cars in Sparks. However, AFAIK, there are no westbound Sparks terminators... everything is symbolled through to Roseville, but reduced and reblocked (if needed) at Sparks.

Do the products brought into here by train leave by train or by truck for their ultimate desinations??
C.

SS Kresge began expanding into superstores in the mid 60's as "K-Marts". As the southern calif area grew to 20+ stores, they opened a distribution center in Sparks for all the reasons noted above. Big majority of stuff inbound was via rail. Almost everything outbound was trucked to the stores. Only rail to SoCal direct were occasional full boxcars of things like bags of charcoal briquettes that could be offloaded from a team track near the Westminster store (west of Beach Blvd) or full loads of things like box fans that were brought down to the old warehouses on Logan st and Warehouse st in Costa Mesa (before the track was cut at the "Gold Key" warehouse). Full boxcars came direct from shippers - not from the Sparks warehouse.

Thank you folks for the responses. What I mainly was asking is if there are any intermodal trains that terminate in Sparks bringing deliveries. I am pretty sure all outgoing from these facilities goes on trucks. I don't think any of the retail chains ship much in box cars anymore.



Todd

CenterRails says this: “UPRRPR can probably give you a more firm number, but last I read, UP/BNSF/Amtrak sends 14 trains a day through Reno. There is a intermodel train that dumps it's doublstacks in Sparks and the Reno Local takes them to Parr yard and then the rest of it's train goes down towards Stead. picks up outbound stacks on it's way back to Sparks”

This was not the question posed by Todd, the question was, “how many trains terminate at Sparks or the Truckee Meadows.” And of course the answer is none, I allowed for slop and said one, but really ment none! I suspected this, knowing that any railroad that is fluid will send cars into the Truckee Meadows not on destination trains, since its located on the mainline, but on any train that will deliver the goods on a timely schedule.

Jimmy “B”

When I use to drive semis, I use to go to the K-Mart DC at Sparks NV, next to Reno with a late evening appt., and then I would have to be in Fontana Ca. at the Target DC the next morning. Lots of interesting moments along the road from Reno to LA area, US 395. I think I saw just about everything one could see on those trips.

Chris Bogley
http://www.tailsnrails.com