Cement Shortage and Shipping Cement by Rail - Trains Magazine

In Northern Nevada on Union Pacific's "Overland Route" there are two facilities that handle bulk cement. One is a terminal in Sparks, the other is a manufacturing plant.

The Calaveras Cement terminal was once located near the Sparks Nugget but was relocated to East Gregg St in Sparks during construction of the Pyramid Ave. I-80 interchange. Since the move to East Gregg Street the company has become apart of the Lehigh Southwest Cement Company. This outfit receives all its bulk product via the Union Pacific railroad and is serviced by the railroads yard job. There are usually 8 to 10 railcars at the terminal.

The next outfit is Nevada Cement, now a part of Eagle Materials, this plant is located on Union Pacific's "Overland Route" at Fernley, Nevada. The plant has been in operation since 1965. Today it produces about 600,000 tons of cement a year. Much of its production that is not used locally is shipped by rail to its terminal in Sacramento, with a lesser amount going to a Eagle Materials cement terminal in Salt Lake City.

Nevada Cement is serviced by UP's Lovelock Local called out of Sparks, NV. Besides outbound loads of bulk cement, it also receives inbound loads of coal for its two rotary kilns.

During planning for construction of this operation, a mine railroad was considered, however a truck haul from the mine is what was implimented. During the early to mid 1980s for about two years the company in conjunction with Southern Pacific operated a unit train of 50 cars to its Sacramento cement terminal.

Here are a couple of photos of the cars and the plant from that time.

Jim