At an open house to show the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company to National Narrow Gauge Convention attendees held in Minneapolis, MN in 2026 a guest noticed a structure behind Swift Meat Company with windows that appeared to be a mirror. The question, “ Were the windows a mirror and why?” After an answer of, “Yes.” And, after an explanation of why, it was suggested using a mirror, the windows in the warehouse building behind the Swift Meat Company Plant, to spot cars at out of view doors on the Swift Meat Company Plant should be written up for modelers. Therefore, this blog post.
On the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company in the town of Northfield, Minnesota a kitbashed Swift Meat Company plant has two tracks to service it that are located behind the plant when looking at the Swift Meat Company Plant as viewed by the Northfield yard master (yard operator).
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| Northfield Yardmaster view of Swift Meat Company |
Once the Northfield yard master moves to the right to better see where the two service tracks to Swift Meat Company Plant lead, the warehouse building with a mirror for windows providing a view of the doors on the back of the Swift Meat Company Plant comes into full view.
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| Northfield Yard Master can now see warehouse with mirror for windows. |
Of the two service tracks behind the Swift Meat Company Plant, the one closest to the main building is to spot cars at the various doors as cold storage doors or hides door (hide car in photo) of the Swift Meat Company Plant building.
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| Doors on back side of Swift Meat Company Plant. |
The second track with the warehouse building behind it is to spot cars at the power plant building, warehouse building itself (the flat background building in the right lower corner of photo below) and stock cars at cattle pens at the end of the track.
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| Second track with Swift Meat Company Power plant, Warehouse and stock pens. |
In addition to knowing the why, some history of the warehouse building with a mirror for windows. Once the Swift Meat Company Plant went into operation on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company the Northfield yard master not having a decent view of the Swift Meat Company Plant doors on the rear of the building was having problems spotting cars at the proper doors. After various discussions with operators to solve the car spotting problem it was decided a mirror could solve the problem. A car mirror purchased at the Ax Man, a surplus and used parts store, in Minneapolis was mounted on the backdrop. The car mirror did enable the Northfield yard master to spot cars at the Swift Meat Company Plant doors with no problem; however, the car mirror looked terrible mounted on the backdrop. The car mirror was not acceptable scenery.
After some thought given to keep the mirror and look decent, the idea of it hiding it inside a building flat came to me. A building with large window openings covering the car mirror became the solution. The inspiration for the warehouse building was a long gone Minneapolis farm implement plant with large windows reflecting the surrounding area. The warehouse building was made using foam core walls covered with building paper and placed over the mounted car mirror. The large windows covering the car mirror provided the Northfield yard master a good view of the Swift Meat Company Plant doors to spot cars.
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| Swift Meat Company warehouse with mirror for windows. |
Maybe if you have an out of view track where cars have to spotted by a operating crew member you can use a mirror to solve it as it has for my Northfield Swift Meat Company Plant.
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| Swift Meat Company Warehouse with mirror for windows. |
Thank You for taking time to read my blog. You can share a comment in the section below if you choose to do so. Please sign your comment with your name if you choose to leave one. All comments are reviewed and approved before they appear. Please share the blog link with other model railroaders.
Lester Breuer
Plymouth, MN
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