| Posted by on January 13, 2015 | |
Interesting picture. It does not seem that there are plants nearby. It looks like it is in the middle of a forest area. I like how the telephoto lens, added to the snow hides much of the tracks.
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Jean-Marc, thank you for your comment. While it is true there is no other manufacturing facility in the immediate area, there are quarries near by so the plant is not entirely out of place in its surroundings. When making the decision to locate a laminated panel manufacturing plant here back in the '70s the Domtar company had certain criteria to be met (an ideal High School Geography class project). Simply put, they needed close links to transportation, a LOT of hydro-electric power and a nearby population base that could support their workforce. They also needed a bedrock base to anchor their huge press (they had actually looked at a piece of my property 3 miles south that was closer to the highway and immediately adjacent to the railroad, but the bedrock was too far down for their purposes). The huge press, and the noise and vibration associated with its operation also dictated that the plant be located far enough away from town that it did not rile the population, especially as it was to be a three-shift operation. Sometime along the way (I can't exactly remember when) Domtar decided to get out of the construction materials game to focus on its paper products and this facility became part of the Panolam family, continuing to manufacture the thermally fused laminated board that Domtar did and keeping manufacturers of cheap office furniture happy.
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As a conductor myself, this is the kind of tour that I would deem not so ideal. The scenery is nice, but the digging and sweeping of these switches must be hard work. Hopefully it was very light snow!
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Very nice image and a great story. I love your shots of these locals.
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