An HO Scale Multi-Deck Steel Mill Layout Plan

[Trucklover]

Hi guys,

A while back I had come up with a plan for a multi-deck steel mill layout. I hope to someday actually build this layout, and I designed it to fit into a space that is 20'x10' (a single car garage or half of a 2-car garage).

When I first designed the plan all 3 decks were separated, and not connected. At first I had originally thought that would be no big deal, but looking back on it now I see that I would like to be able to run a train(s) between decks without physically picking them up and moving them between decks. A Helix was thrown out of the question because of the large amount of space it takes up. This left me with a single track grade (thanks to everyone who provided feedback and help in my grades thread).

First off ill provide a few specs for this layout

**All turnouts are Central Valley #8's or larger.
**All mainline and yard tracks have a minimum radius of 26" and 28" on the grades
**All other tracks have a minimum radius of 18"
**Curved Turnouts are all #7's or larger
**Double Crossovers are #8's
**All Grades are 3%
**The Top Deck will sit 64" from the ground
**The Middle Deck will sit 21" below the Top Deck at 43" from the ground
**The Lower Deck will sit 14" below the Middle Deck at 29" from the ground
**Grid Spacing is 6"
**Door placement is just placed in at random, would have to change plan depending on where the door would be located. 2-Car Garage would not have a door and just liftouts
**Each time a grade crosses the door, a liftout will have to be built to cross the path


The Upper Deck

The Upper Deck sits at 64" from the ground. This is at eye level for myself, and is the main focus of the entire layout. The Top Deck houses the Blast Furnace Row, which contains 4 Blast Furnaces. At 64" from the ground, you will be looking at ground level onto these MASSIVE Furnaces, seeing them from the eyes of the workers and the train personnel. The Blast Furnaces will tower in the sky, and you will have to look up at them, thus giving you an idea of the shear massive size of these impressive structures.

Yes, it WILL be difficult to reach and there will be reach issues getting to the back of the top deck. That is where a step ladder will come in....

The White Tracks on the Upper Deck are yard tracks. The yards are not very large, but they will only hold a few cars for a reason. The main stagging for the layout is located on the bottom deck of the layout.

The Red Tracks are the Mainline, which makes a full loop around the Upper Deck.

Black Tracks are just regular Steel Mill Tracks. 2 Liftouts will have to be built for the Upper Deck. The Top Liftout is simply the connecting tracks for the mainline loop. The Bottom Liftout is the access track that leads down to grade which will go down to the Middle Deck, 21" below the Upper Deck.

The Blue Track is the grade that connects the Middle and Upper Decks. The Grade is a 3% grade which wraps around the entire plan and then back on itself to get down the full 21" to the Middle Deck. You can see the numbers that run along the bottom of the picture for the Upper Deck. These numbers show the elevation of the track that comes up from the Middle Deck. Ive only included the last few measurements on the upper deck plan. As you can see, the grade will come up to the Upper Deck Level mostly behind the structures, which will hide a train coming up out of the ground...

If you will also notice, there are numbers on each of the structures. Those numbers correspond to the list below:

3. Gas Storage Tank
4. Dorr Thickener
5. Water Treatment Plant #1
6. Pump House #1
7. Blast Furnace A
8. Filter House
9. Stoves and Piping for Furnace A
10. Stoves and Piping for Furnace B
11. Settling Tank #1
12. Mechanics Office
13. Blast Furnace B
14. Blower Engine House
15. General Office
16, Locker and Washroom
17. Blacksmith Shop
18. Blast Furnace C
19. Highline Raw Materials Trestle
20. Stoves and Piping for Furnace C
21. Stoves and Piping for Furnace D
22. Central Steam Plant
23. Settling Tank #2
24. Blast Furnace D
25. Machine Shop #1
26. Water Treatment Plant #3
27. Pump House #3
28. Machine Shop #2
29. Store House #1
30. Power Plant #1
31. Broiler House #2
32. Utilities Building
33. Broiler House #1
34. Water Treatment Plant #2
35. Pump House #2

[Trucklover]

The Middle Deck


The Middle Deck sits 21" below the Upper Deck, and at 43" from the ground. This deck will be at a level where you can both look straight on at it and also look down on it by standing straight up. The Middle Deck houses the MASSIVE Basic Oxygen Furnace and the Continuous Caster Building, as well as the Rolling Mill and several other finishing mills.

Black Tracks are regular Mill Tracks

White Tracks are a small yard, and again the main stagging yard is located on the bottom deck.

Red Tracks are the mainline loop. Much like the Top Deck, a train will be able to run around the deck without having to stop.

Blue Tracks are Grade Tracks. This includes both the grade going up to the Upper Deck AND the grade going down to the Lower Deck. The Grade that starts going up to the Upper Deck is started at the bottom right of the plan, where is says "0". This is from ground level on the Middle Deck. From there it goes up at 3%, all the way around the Middle deck and back onto itself (only when it comes back onto itself it is 18.44" from the ground on the Middle Deck and has already started to come through the ground on the Upper Deck) and until it is all 21" up to the Upper Deck.

You will also notice blue numbers at the top of the plan. These blue numbers show the grade coming up from the Lower Deck. The Lower Deck is 14" below the Middle Deck, and when it comes through the base of the Middle Deck, it is hidden behind the Continuous Caster Building. This track will also be used to get back down to the Lower Deck. Therefor a Train can travel from Lower, to Middle, and then to Upper and any combination of the 3. A Train can also come up from the Lower Deck, travel onto the Middle Deck and go straight up to the Upper Deck without having to turn around or without having to pull into a siding so the engines can run around the to the other side of the train.

Much like the Upper Deck, each structure has a number which corresponds to the list below:

1. Teeming Platforms
2. magnetic Separation House
3. Scrap Unloading Warf
4. Heat Exchanger
5. West Penn Power Sub-Station
6. Pump House #5
7. Tundish Preparation
8. Bloom Cooling Beds
9. Locker and Washroom Building
10. Metallurgical Lab
11. Water Treatment Plant #4
12, Rail Finishing
13. Beam Finishing
14. Rail Shipping
15. Beam Storage/Shipping
16. General Office
17. Electric Arc Furnace
18. Compressor Room
19. Electric Shop
20. Pump House #4
21. Tube Mill
22. Rolling Mill (2 Walhers Kits)
24. Wire Mill
25. Boiler House #3
26. General Office
27. Carpentry Shop
28. Blacksmith Shop
29. Pattern House
30. Store House #2
31. Machine Shop #3

[Trucklover]

Lower Deck


The Lower Deck is 14" below the Middle Deck and sits 29" off the floor. The Lower Deck is mainly a Stagging Deck, but does house an Iron Ore Mine with 2 large Open Pit Mines.

Black Tracks are Yard and Mine Tracks

Yellow Tracks are Storage Tracks

White Tracks are Inbound/Outbound. This is the track where a train will be built to go to the other 2 decks to be switched.

Red Tracks are the Mainline. This Deck also has a complete loop.

Purple Tracks are Yard Leads that will allow the yard to be switched without fouling the mainline.

The Blue Track is the grade that goes from the Lower Deck to the Middle Deck, a 3% grade. The Grade starts on the right center of the plan and travels most of the way around the Lower Level till the top center, which at this point it is at ground level on the Middle Deck, 14" above where it stared.

[Trucklover]

Thats pretty much it....

You wouldnt believe how many hours I have put into designing this plan, but its been fun, and im sure there is still things I will see that need to be changed or I will want to change to change the looks of things.

Questions, comments, advise, see anything that you think needs to be changed, feel free to post whats on your mind besides the obvious fact there is ALOT of track and switches on this plan and the plan is VERY large LOL

[tomustang]

One question as I skimmed though it, where's the coke plant?

[Trucklover]

One question as I skimmed though it, where's the coke plant?

I had to take it out, there just wasnt enough room for it. Its located off the plan.... There are a couple other things that could be taken out to free up some space as well.... Russ gave some advise and ideas to me in my "grades" thread that im taking a serious look at to possibly eliminate the lower deck. I think I might keep these plans and copy them while rearranging to what Russ has described.

[Trucklover]

I got to starting the Upper Deck with Russ's Idea. I think I am liking this much better. I got Blast Furnace Row on the Peninsula and now I have the rest of the Upper Deck to get in the rest of the structures that were on the other Upper Deck plan as well as trying to get a few of the structures from the Middle Deck

I am still going to have this Upper Deck at 64" from the ground. I think that is a good height for this deck and will still give the perspective I am after. This layout has 22" walkways, which should be fine (im a skinny guy). The Peninsula is 24" wide, the left leg of the Upper Deck is 24" wide, and the rest of the layout is 26" wide.

I got a run-around in there that can serve both Furnace A/B or Furnace C/D as well as 2 storage tracks. 18" radius in the Peninsula, which will be fine because all that will be going back there will be switchers.

Let me know what you guys think of the new Upper Deck plan VS the old one...

[Trucklover]

Moving on, Ive not got the entire old Upper Deck into the new smaller Upper Deck with lots of room to spare to bring some of the structures from the old Middle Deck up. I still plan on having the main stagging for the layout on the Lower Level, but I think with this new design I will be able to completely eliminate the need for 3 decks. The peninsula really allowed me to compress and compact things alot more, and at the same time eliminating ALOT of tracks.

Black Tracks are Mill Tracks
White Tracks are Yard Tracks
Purple Tracks are Yard Leads
Yellow Tracks are Run-Around's

What do you guys think of this new layout idea? Its still a 2-Deck Layout which is still an ambitious plan, but this new plan shouldnt have reach issues (mind you a step-ladder will still be used as this Upper Deck is at 64" from the ground).

[Russ Bellinis]

Actually my suggestion was for the peninsulas to come out of the upper 20 foot side going parallel to the 10 foot sides. I like your plan better if you can fit comfortably into the narrow aisles. If there is a way to eliminate the need for a staging yard opposite the oredock on the lower level-ie put both on the same side. You could then just use a 6 to 8 inch wide shelf on the lower side to hold part of your nolix going up and thus enable you eliminate much of the width of the bench work that you drew but have not put anything on, just narrow it to continue your nolix. Then you could move the peninsula over a foot or so and pick up extra space on both aisles.

[Trucklover]

Actually my suggestion was for the peninsulas to come out of the upper 20 foot side going parallel to the 10 foot sides. I like your plan better if you can fit comfortably into the narrow aisles. If there is a way to eliminate the need for a staging yard opposite the oredock on the lower level-ie put both on the same side. You could then just use a 6 to 8 inch wide shelf on the lower side to hold part of your nolix going up and thus enable you eliminate much of the width of the bench work that you drew but have not put anything on, just narrow it to continue your nolix. Then you could move the peninsula over a foot or so and pick up extra space on both aisles.

I briefly tried to lay out peninsulas coming off the top 20' wall but decided against it because I couldnt make them very long and they wouldnt do much good. The one long peninsula I like better and I can fit quite a bit onto it. Its like having a whole other wall to work with lol. I still got to give credit to you for the idea though, so thank you

The entire old Lower Deck is going to be taken out of the picture. On the new Upper Deck plan I fit the Iron Ore Mine in, and even got a small stagging yard with run-arounds and some yard leads, as well as inbound/outbound tracks. i still plan to make a larger stagging yard on the Lower Level under the peninsula of the Upper Deck, only the Peninsula on the Lower Level will be about 20" wide instead of 24" to allow for supports of the Upper Peninsula. 20" wide by nearly 15' long should make for a nice sized stagging yard....

[Trucklover]

Upper Deck has been laid out. I know for sure that I can combine the 3 old decks into the 2 new decks now. I put the Iron Ore Mine up on the Top Deck, I like it better up there anyhow, and you will be able to really see into the Open Pit Mines. I also got a smaller yard up on the second deck. The one thing that I did not get to get in there was the Highline for the Blast Furnaces. That thing takes up quite a bit of room, so leaving it out saves space. I plan to put a backdrop up of stockpiles or something behind the Blast Furnace Row The liftout still needs to be drawn in to span the door as well...

New Color Code for Tracks:

Black Tracks - Mill Tracks
Red Tracks - Mainline Tracks
Blue Tracks - Track coming up grade from Lower Deck
Yellow Tracks - Run-Around's
Purple Tracks - Yard Leads
White Tracks - Yard Tracks
Orange Tracks - Inbound/Outbound Tracks

Some of these tracks can have more then one use, for instance some of the yard leads can be used as run-arounds. The Orange Track on the left side of the plan can also be used as a yard lead to assemble an Iron Ore Train on the Orange Track below the Mine for an outbound loaded train...

The numbers on the structures correspond to this list below:

3. Gas Storage Tank
4. Dorr Thickener
5. Water Treatment Plant #1
6. Pump House #1
7. Blast Furnace A
8. Filter House
9. Stoves and Piping for Furnace A
10. Stoves and Piping for Furnace B
11. Settling Tank #1
12. Mechanics Office
13. Blast Furnace B
14. Blower Engine House
15. General Office
16, Locker and Washroom
17. Blacksmith Shop
18. Blast Furnace C
20. Stoves and Piping for Furnace C
21. Stoves and Piping for Furnace D
22. Central Steam Plant
23. Settling Tank #2
24. Blast Furnace D
25. Machine Shop #1
26. Water Treatment Plant #3
27. Pump House #3
28. Machine Shop #2
29. Store House #1
30. Power Plant #1
31. Broiler House #2
32. Utilities Building
33. Broiler House #1
34. Water Treatment Plant #2
35. Pump House #2

[Trucklover]

I started the Lower Deck Plan last night. First thing I did was the grade going up to the Upper Deck (Blue Tracks). The Lower Deck will still sit 21" below the Upper Deck at 43" from the ground. The grade is pretty much the same in that it will take the length of the entire perimeter to go up the 21". You can track the grade (3%) by starting at "0" at the bottom right center of the plan. From there it travels left going up and all the way around the entire plan until it reaches "0" again (only this time its 18-3/4" above where it started and by this time it is starting to appear through the back of the Upper Deck) and continues going up till it gets to 21" in the lower left center of the plan where it joins with the mainline of the Upper Deck.

Next thing I worked on was arranging the Basic Oxygen Furnace and Continuous Caster Buildings. On the old Middle Deck plan these 2 were one behind the other, just like the prototype I had "copied" but this time in order to stick with the benchwork width (which on this Lower Deck had to be 27" instead of 26" along the top 20' wall to accommodate the BOF). These 2 structures alone take up much of the 20' wall, which should give you an idea of just how massive these BOF's are... I may shorten the Continuous Caster a tad if i need to.

After those 2 were laid out and the tracks were connected and the mainline was established running along the bottom edge, I began work on the large yard. The Yard is housed on the peninsula under the Upper Deck Peninsula. The Lower Deck Peninsula is 4" narrower then the Upper Deck (20"), this is to allow for supports from the Upper Deck Peninsula.

The Yard consists of:
3 Inbound Tracks (Yellow Tracks)
4 Storage Tracks (White Tracks)
2 Outbound Tracks (Orange Tracks)

The Purple Tracks are the Yard Leads that will allow small cuts of cars to be moved between Inbound, Storage, and Oubound Tracks. Only yard switchers will be entering the yard, the only time any larger locomotives will enter the yard is to pick-up the outbound trains on the 2 Orange Tracks, which can come out to the mainline directly and either travel around the Lower Deck or begin traveling up grade to the Upper Deck.

There are also 2 sidings off the mainline in the bottom of the plan. The Middle Yellow Track you see on the bottom of the plan can be used as a mainline, a passing siding, or as a track where a train can be pulled in off the main mainline track where it can be broken down by the yard switchers and pulled into the yard (yellow tracks). The other Yellow Track above can be used as run-around for yard switchers trying to get to the back or middle of a train.

This is where im at as of now. I would like your guys input on the yard and overall plan vs my last one. I think this time around, the plan is much better and much more operator friendly?

[Trucklover]

Finished off the Lower Deck, and i even have a little room to spare!

Ill make this post about both the Upper and Lower Decks, so everything will be in one post.

Upper Deck


Color Code for Upper Deck

Black Tracks - Mill or Mine Tracks
Red Tracks - Mainline Tracks
Yellow Tracks - Run-Around's
White Tracks - Yard Tracks
Purple Tracks - Yard Leads
Orange Tracks - Inbound Dis-Assembly/Outbound Assembly Tracks
Blue Tracks - Grade coming up from Lower Deck


Specs

Mainline is 26" radius or greater
All other tracks are 18" radius or greater
Grade is 3% with 28" radius on curves
All Turnouts are Central Valley #8's or larger
All Curved Turnouts are Walthers #7's or larger
3-Way Turnouts are Walthers #6's
Double Crossovers are Walthers #8's
Upper Deck Dimensions:
~Overall 10'x20'
~Far Left Leg - 24" wide
~Top Leg - 26" wide
~Far Right Leg - 26" wide
~Peninsula - 24" wide
~Bottom Leg - 26" wide


Description

The Upper Deck houses the 4 Blast Furnaces, or Blast Furnace Row. There is no Highline, which will be part of the backdrop behind the furnaces. This Peninsula will be the main focus of the layout. The entire Upper Deck will be at eye level, 64" from the ground to give the full perspective of the shear size of these mammoth structures. Along the top of the Upper Deck is the huge Boiler Houses, A Pump House and a Water Treatment Plant for each, a large Utilities Building, a Store House, a large Machine Shop. Along the bottom of the Upper Deck is a large Iron Ore Mine with 2 large Open Pit Mines, which will be an excellent spot to see some heavy mining equipment.

A track at the bottom of the Upper Deck (Blue Track) leads from the Lower Deck, a 3% grade traveling down 21", thus tripling the mainline run of the layout.

Each structure on the Upper Deck has a number that corresponds to the list below:

3. Gas Storage Tank
4. Dorr Thickener
5. Water Treatment Plant #1
6. Pump House #1
7. Blast Furnace A
8. Filter House
9. Stoves and Piping for Furnace A
10. Stoves and Piping for Furnace B
11. Settling Tank #1
12. Mechanics Office
13. Blast Furnace B
14. Blower Engine House
15. General Office
16, Locker and Washroom
17. Blacksmith Shop
18. Blast Furnace C
20. Stoves and Piping for Furnace C
21. Stoves and Piping for Furnace D
22. Central Steam Plant
23. Settling Tank #2
24. Blast Furnace D
25. Machine Shop #1
26. Water Treatment Plant #3
27. Pump House #3
28. Machine Shop #2
29. Store House #1
30. Power Plant #1
31. Broiler House #2
32. Utilities Building
33. Broiler House #1
34. Water Treatment Plant #2
35. Pump House #2



Lower Deck


Color Code for Lower Deck

Black Tracks - Mill Tracks
Red Tracks - Mainline Tracks
Dark Purple Tracks - Run-Around's
Orange Tracks - Outbound Assembly Tracks
White Tracks - Yard Storage Tracks
Yellow Tracks - Yard Inbound Dis-Assembly Tracks
Light Purple Tracks - Yard Leads
Bottom Yellow Tracks - Mainline Dis-Assembly Tracks
Blue Tracks - Grade going up to Upper Deck


Specs

Mainline is 26" radius or greater
All other tracks are 18" radius or greater
Grade is 3% with 28" radius on curves
All Turnouts are Central Valley #8's or larger
All Curved Turnouts are Walthers #7's or larger
3-Way Turnouts are Walthers #6's
Lower Deck Dimensions:
~Overall 10'x20'
~Far Left Leg - 24" wide
~Top Leg - 28" wide
~Far Right Leg - 26" wide
~Peninsula - 20" wide
~Bottom Leg - 26" wide

Description

The Lower Deck sits 21" below the Upper Deck at 43" from the ground. The Lower Deck's main focus will either be the large yard or the Basic Oxygen Furnace/Continuous Caster Building. The BOF/Caster takes up nearly all 20' of the top of the Lower Level, which should give you an idea just how large these things are. Along the bottom of the Lower Deck is a Rolling Mill and a couple Finishing Mills.

The Peninsula is home to a large yard. Trains can come in from the mainline, park on one of the yellow sidings at the bottom of the Lower Deck. Locomotives can then travel up to the Orange Tracks to pick up an Oubound Train already waiting. Meanwhile, with the train still parked on the mainline siding, yard switchers can being bringing the train in into the yellow tracks in the yard. From there, and once the mainline has been cleared, the yard switchers can break the train apart and sort into any of the 4 white yard/storage tracks, and then begin building a new outbound train. Purple tracks are the yard leads which will allow the yard switchers plenty of room to pull/shove cuts of cars into the various yard tracks. Oubound trains can either travel the mainline on the Lower Deck straight out of the Yard or start heading straight up the grade to the Upper Deck.

The Blue Tracks are the grade that leads to the Upper Deck. The Grade (3%) starts at the bottom right center of the plan and travels up 21" over roughly 50'

Each structure on the Upper Deck has a number that corresponds to the list below:

1. Teeming Platforms
2. magnetic Separation House
3. Scrap Unloading Warf
4. Heat Exchanger
5. West Penn Power Sub-Station
6. Pump House #5
7. Tundish Preparation
8. Bloom Cooling Beds
9. Locker and Washroom Building
10. Metallurgical Lab
11. Water Treatment Plant #4
12, Rail Finishing
13. Beam Finishing
14. Rail Shipping
15. Beam Storage/Shipping
16. General Office
18. Compressor Room
19. Electric Shop
21. Tube Mill
22. Rolling Mill (2 Walhers Kits)
24. Wire Mill
25. Boiler House #3
26. General Office
27. Carpentry Shop
28. Blacksmith Shop
29. Pattern House
30. Store House #2
31. Machine Shop #3



I think that about sums op the plan, please post you comments and suggestions. If you see something that needs to be changed, or could be changed to improve operations, please point it out and let me know so I can look at it and change it to possibly make the plan better.

Thanks again for everyone who has already offered their advise, and thanks again to Russ for suggesting the idea of the peninsula to eliminate the 3rd deck.