SSWUP ISL - Your comments

[SSWUPinSA]

Hi guys,

Well as some may know I have been designing a ISL layout for ages now and have a tread going on the forum regarding my old design. I am now starting the shelf and have settled on the footprint and a design taken from the best of what I have seen on BIG BLUE... This design seems far more balanced and prototypical than my other attempts and I would like your comments on this latest one.... I really want to start now so this will be a final change before laying the track...



I would also like some suggestions on industries, preferably multi car type industries that need specific spotting. I have heaps of cobvered hoppers, some box cars, 16k tank cars and a few bulk heads and centre beams... What I am thinking is plastics plant or fertilizer plant, warehousing, transloading facility and Inland Contaianer type industry... or a food processor.

I want to model as close to prototype as possible as my interest is equally in scratch building and detailing... My other thread is here... <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=3383">viewtopic.php?f=46&t=3383</a><!-- l --> here you will se the old desing...it was too complicated and bulky so this new one is better in many ways... Please comment as you see fit...

Thank you Ed, Faraway, Reinhard, Jeznew and others for you assistance and inspiration. It will be a 1990's themed SSW layout I hope...

[faraway]

How about just get it done (temporary)? I assume you will have some kind of flat bench work anyhow. Take the turnouts, some Caboose ground throw, the flex tracks and some tumbtack and start laying the track. Attach the DCC wires to the end a stub track. It will be fine for testing the next days.
Put some paper boxes next to the tracks for industry buildings (the kernel of toilet paper makes great grain elevators 8-) )

And than play with it for days until you know what you like and what you do not like. You will find out how it feels, how the cars fit on the tracks (or not) etc. I strongly believe in planning for a certain period of time after that it is time for proof of concept. How about that?

ps. The "price" to pay are some flex track cut to short. That is marginal compared to a layout that does not match your expectations.

[jonte]

Yeah, go for it SSWUP - I'm dying to see those locos in action.

Any chance of a quick video? Don't care about the scenery; I'll just make believe about the toilet rolls

Regards,

Jonte

[Justinmiller171]

Wait a minute... I have seen this track-plan before! hock:

Either this track-plan has a strong resemblance to Kurt's Miami Layout, Or I am just seeing things

Either way this looks like it will be a good layout.

[FCIN]

Very interesting track plan. Really like the look of it and an industrial spur like this would fit most any local in the US. Not sure of the overall dimensions of the bench work footprint, but sure looks very workable. That one siding on what I assume is the staging area (or what could be an interchange) on the left side seems a bit short in length, but still might come in handy.

I fully agree with Reinhard, lay out the track temporarily, make a few structure mockups and test it out before you commit to actually building it. That's the approach that I've been taking with finalizing my track plan and it's shown me where there are potential problems and where a track (or industry) needed to be relocated.

I started with a prototype industrial spur track arrangement that appealed to me and would fit my bench work footprint, but being freelance, I'm picking out industries, from all over the country, that interest me and support my freight car fleet. I can recommend a few industries with operating potential, but ultimately the choice will be yours. Here are a few to consider:

Food Processing Facility: 25k tank cars (vegetable oil), reefers (meat/produce) and box cars with assorted commodities. Here's a good link to such a facility that gives you plenty of ideas for commodities: http://www.familyandson.net/Family_english/home.html. These facilities simply receive bulk shipments of various food items and repackage them as their own brands.

Distribution Warehouse: Box cars with all sorts of commodities that must be placed at specific doors.

Feed mill or as you mentioned a fertilizer plant: Gravity discharge covered hoppers. Note that commodities like feed and fertilizer could also be unloaded on a team or trans-load track using portable auger conveyors. A fertilizer plant (several in my area) would receive ammonium nitrate, potash, and urea to name a few, and the covered hoppers would come from many different roads and parts of the country, including Canada. They often also receive tank cars of ammonia. Fertilizer plants do tend to be seasonal in nature with most shipments in the spring and fall. Feed mills would receive different grades of corn and/or distillers dried grain and what I call model railroad size facilities that only spot one or two cars at a time can be found all over the country.

Team or trans-load track that could receive several different type cars such as box cars, tank cars, bulkhead and centerbeam flat cars (be sure you have room on each side of the track to be able to unload a centerbeam).

Plastics facility: Pneumatic discharge covered hoppers of plastic pellets. These range in size from small operations that only spot one car at a time to larger facilities that may have dozens unloading at any one time.

Soft drink plant that receives corn syrup tank cars. These can be small in size, receiving only a couple of tank cars per day or larger facilities that spot 4 or 5 such cars a day and have a slew of them sitting around waiting to be spotted. Alternately you could have a transload type facility unloading these cars in to trucks for delivery.

One of my personal choices, a small candy manufacturer that would receive Airslide covered hoppers and corn syrup tank cars http://www.chicagoswitching.com/v6/artic...ticleid=15. A larger such facility would also receive cocoa beans in either box cars or gravity discharge covered hoppers http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic...=24&t=4050.

Other small industries such as a produce or meat distributor, that may only handle one car at a time. Lots of such type industries can be found around the country. Check out the Industries Along The Rails forum http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=24. Plenty of ideas there.

Laying out the track plan as you've drawn and testing it out will give you plenty of ideas for other industries. Of course it has one big drawback - once you can actually start running a train and switching the various industries, you might not get anything else done!

[Brakie]

Here's a idea for your" few bulk heads and centre beams".

Let's think outside of the normal box for centerbeams.

A lumber distributor inside of another oh hum run of the mill lumber company. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.evergladeslumber.com/lumber.htm">http://www.evergladeslumber.com/lumber.htm</a><!-- m -->

For your bulkheads.

How about a steel pipe distributor? <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mandalpipe.com/">http://www.mandalpipe.com/</a><!-- m -->

Both of these industries would require several carloads a week..

Covered hoppers..
A plastic sheet company.

A candy company-"makers of the world's finest candies." Include 16K tank cars.

Boxcars-Again let's look outside of the box.

A beverage distributor.

A casket distributor-I knew of one that recieved 3 50' boxcars a week of caskets..
The business covered a tri state area.Since it was a small operation(less then 25 employees including 5 truck drivers and office staff.) the business closed when the owner pass..

A tire distributor

[SSWUPinSA]

Hi Justin, yes :oops: it will look farmilliar...lol Did a change below to make it more mine...ha ha



Thanks for all those industries guys... I like the candy factory idea...that is great!!!!!

[cnw1961]

Don’t know what you are talking about . Can’t remember having seen this plan ever before. . BTW, I like the first version better. There is no real need for this crossing, it only makes the plan more complicated.

I am looking forward to seeing you building that thing.

[Brakie]

Kurt,While a crossing is rare in a industrial sitting I have seen 'em in older urban industrial areas since that was the only way to reach a industry..

I like it because it gives one more rail served customer..Other wise that would be on a switchback like the old and outdated ISL designs like a (ugh!) time waster-er,ah saver...

[Chuck]

I agree with Brakie -- I have seen crossovers like the one in your plan in Detroit. Besides, a crossover is preferable to a switch back to reach an industry (they can be frustrating to switch cars in and out). Besides, it adds visual interest and another industry to switch. I have one on my Detroit Connecting:



Chuck

[SSWUPinSA]

Thanks for the comments guys... I do like the cross over as it adds a spot at each end of the tracks it serves as well as I like the look... It doesn't HAVe to be there but I will try it before glueing track...

Please keep the comments coming about industries, perhaps more pics of the industries or examples of HO maodeled prototypes on layouts you have seen... Getting the Shelf up this weekend!!

[Russ Bellinis]

I can think of a couple more industries to consider. How about a bakery? I'm not talking about the local mom & pop baker in a strip mall, but a major bread and pastry manufacturer like Nabisco, here in So Cal we have Wonder Bread, Orowheat. In addition all of the major Grocery Chains in the U.S. such as Safeway, Kroger, A&P Markets, etc have bakeries to make the store brands in every major market that they serve. The finished products are delivered by truck, but they all have sidings with grain elevators, where they store flower and sugar brought in by covered hopper, corn syrup storage tanks where they unload corn syrup tank cars. They may also receive loads of paper packaging material and bags of other materials like baking soda & baking powder from boxcars.

There is also a chemical company just West of Hobart Yard that makes catalyst. I don't know what it is used for, but I used to see Santa Fe spotting a dozen or more covered hoppers there on a weekly basis as I drove by. I suspect some of the covered hoppers contained raw materials used in the manufacturing process, and some were used to ship out the finished product. I went over to repair a refrigerated trailer that they borrowed from one of our customers to keep food products cold for the company cafeteria, and the place was covered with white powder which I presume was either raw material or spilled catalyst.

[FCIN]

Please keep the comments coming about industries, perhaps more pics of the industries

Here are a few aerial views of some suggested industries to chew on:

Soft Drink Plant:
(large facility) Coca-Cola, Orlando, FL http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=nrx17f8...ORM=LMLTCC
(small facility) Pepsi Cola Lexington, KY http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qb7t007...ORM=LMLTCC

Candy Manufacturer
Bloomer Chocolates, Union City, CA http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=q7zf8q4...ORM=LMLTCC

Fertilizer Plant
(large facility) Southern States, Winchester, KY http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s...3&t=k&z=18
(small facility) Tri-County Fertilizer-Propane, Richmond, KY http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=q8r8s37...ORM=LMLTCC

Feed Mill
(large facility) Land O Lakes Purina Feed, Evansville, IN http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qb26857...ORM=LMLTCC
(small facility) Higgins Premium Pet Foods, Hialeah, FL http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=n9f43c8...ORM=LMLTCC

Plastics Plant
Washington Penn Plastics, Frankfort, KY http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qbwbg47...ORM=LMLTCC

Food Processing Facilities
Family & Son, Miami, FL http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=n8zpm98...ORM=LMLTCC
Trujillo & Son, Miami, FL (I'm basing my model on this one because of the building footprint and the vegetable oil tanks) http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=n8zrj28...ORM=LMLTCC

Distribution Warehouse
All sorts of them along this industrial spur in Memphis, TN http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=pv2m8k7...ORM=LMLTCC. You can find such warehouses all over the country.

Beverage Distributor
Kentucky Eagle Beer, Lexington, KY http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qb6k9c7...ORM=LMLTCC Note the MRS 60ft RBL box car of good old Budweiser spotted at the building.

Lubricating Oil Distributor
Engineered Lubricants, Maryland Heights, MO http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qfjd8z7...ORM=LMLTCC Note the warehouse across the spur from it.

Lumber Distributor/Dealer
84 Lumber, Richmond, KY http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=q8nsmq7...ORM=LMLTCC

Couldn't locate a casket distributor or manufacturer that is still rail served. Perhaps Larry can locate one for you. The L&N had a fleet of 50 foot box cars that were specially equipped with racks for transporting caskets from two or three manufacturers, but they all ceased using rail service in the early 1970's.

Russ hit on a pretty good one too about the large bakery type facility. Add to his list Frito-Lay plants and the many products they produce. Also propane dealers if you want to go with the large tank cars and chemical facilities. If you're really into tank cars (not tanker cars on the railroad) and had a huge fleet of chemical type tank cars take a look at the Proctor & Gamble plant in Cincinnati, OH http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qhwgcc7...ORM=LMLTCC.

You can spend hours (and I have) looking at the various industries on industrial spurs around the country for ideas. Any way, just some facilities for you to look over. Sorry that the Bing view isn't available for all of them.

[SSWUPinSA]

Hi Ed, Russ

Thanks for all those links, some of them I have been finding funny enough, seems we have similar taste! I also like that your preference is for some of the less dense industrial areas, I don’t want my layout to have a very urban feel. I like the green belts between the industries etc...

I once found an amazing small oil/fuel dealer in th US whilst searching that would make the perfect prototype but I never marked or saved it and now I have no idea where it was...had a great footprint and a great character...oh well...

Any references to actual models on layouts of different plants?

(Guys I am having incredible difficulty in staying logged into this site so please don’t think I have disappeared if I don’t post ASAP, I have to re-log at least 10 times to get to post a reply- not sure what the issue is but it is VERY frustrating!)

[SSWUPinSA]

I like this... Bing it!!!
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