Vail Products Inc

About Vail Products Inc

Horton grew up around the Rock Island Railroad's shops, and the tracks still run through town past the old depot grounds, silver against the snow on a clear winter morning. Vail Products keeps a manufacturing floor running through the winter the same as any other month, and the same crew clears the yard, the loading dock, and the employee lot before the first shift walks in. The hills on the edge of town hold snow in the low spots long after Main Street has been scraped bare, so the work here starts at the depot end of town and works outward, checking the low ground twice. A truck backing up to a dock needs a clean, flat surface more than it needs a pretty one, and that is what gets delivered here — scraped to bare asphalt, banked square at the edges. By the time the shift whistle blows, the lot is open and the day can start on schedule.