Need Industry Ideas for Coil Cars.
#1
Another Slate Creek dilemma.. Wallbang

When I got my Red Caboose coil cars I planed on using them at the club but,these are nice looking cars and I decided not to use 'em for club cars.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/PhotoDetails.asp?ShowDESC=N&ProductCode=RED-17683-1">http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/PhotoDet ... ED-17683-1</a><!-- m -->

I eliminated the distribution track once but, decided to use a distribution track after all since I don't have a industry for these cars.My thoughts was to have a heavy duty forklift to transload the coils from rail car to a flatbed trailer furnish by the local trailer spotting company.This company would receive 2-3 coil loads a week.

However,another thought cross my mind instead of a distribution track way not have a track with a gate that disappears behind a building along the edge of the layout?

I can drop the loaded coil cars at this off layout industry just beyond the gate and their plant switcher ( a 0-5-0 switcher) can pick these cars up and leave the empties-the finish product is shipped by truck.

Any other ideas? I listening with both ears.
Larry
Engineman

Summerset Ry

Make Safety your first thought, Not your last!  Safety First!
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#2
Both ideas (team/distribution track, and "hidden industry" seem good if you don't have space for the full industry. There are lots of things to do with a coil of steel, most of which take place in non-descript industrial buildings that all look very similar...! So I think your approach sounds perfectly reasonable.

The only thing I wonder is if the coil weight is too much for a "standard" forklift and/or transport truck & trailer.


Andrew
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#3
I have seen single coils, on flatbed trucks, up on the interstate.
They make some pretty serious fork lifts, but an overhead crane could also be done, on a team track. There are more loads than coils of steel that could be craned off a rail car.

I can see it now ---- :oops: oh, wait one, tractor beams haven't been invented yet ....never mind.
We always learn far more from our own mistakes, than we will ever learn from another's advice.
The greatest place to live life, is on the sharp leading edge of a learning curve.
Lead me not into temptation.....I can find it myself!
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#4
I have switched industries like metal stamping companies which can fit a couple of cars at a time inside a building much like one Rix makes.
You don't have to model the gantry crane which removes the car covers and unloads the coils since it's hidden inside the building.

Easy solution to a simple problem.

Barry
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#5
Manufacturing companies need coil cars for certain products such as boilers, hot water heaters, tools; furniture companies use them for bed frames, furniture framework, tubing; food companies use them for canning, and the list goes on and on.
Mike Kieran
Port Able Lines

" If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be " - Yogi Berra.
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#6
Aluminum coils are used in the manufacture of aluminum foil - another possibility.
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#7
Larry;

Metal Coaters of Georgia http://www.metalcoaters.com/ has two facilities on separate, but nearby, industrial spurs in Marietta, GA. Here's a Bing view of the larger of the two structures located on the spur running parallel to I-75: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=pnwx5c7...orm=LMLTCC.

The more interesting one is located just a short distance away at the end of another spur and is what I'd call model railroad size, as it can only spot one car inside the structure at a time. http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=pnvx5f7...orm=LMLTCC.

In this Google view http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Marietta,+...19&vpsrc=6, you can see two coil cars have been dropped off above the facility and MCG will actually place and pull the cars one at a time with their Trackmobile, which you can see in this street view: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Marietta,+...-0.04&z=20.

Point is, this facility would be a nice model railroad size prototype. As Barry pointed out, a kit-bashed Pikestuff structure would make a very nice stand in for a small facility like this and you wouldn't need to model the gantry crane inside. The building even resembles a Pikestuff kit, including the color. I'd have my locomotive doing the placing and pulling rather than a Trackmobile, although that in itself could be an interesting feature of such a facility. You could, of course, have it hold more than one car at a time if desired.

Another similar, small structure that fabricates steel and could receive coil cars is this one on the Madison Railroad in North Vernon, Indiana: http://maps.google.com/?ll=39.012143,-85...5,,0,-0.18 Only spots one car at a time inside the unloading shed.

Just some potential ideas.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
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#8
Valmont in Valley, NE gets coil cars and makes pivot irrigation systems and towers for electric lines and lights (like the type at highway interchanges.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=valley,+ne&hl=en&ll=41.322798,-96.360977&spn=0.005278,0.008197&sll=41.279871,-96.37207&sspn=0.675969,1.049194&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=17">http://maps.google.com/maps?q=valley,+n ... 6&t=h&z=17</a><!-- m -->
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#9
Larry: are these coil cars with hoods or open? With hoods, you won't need any full/empty transition, although a few hods on the ground next to a car being loaded/unloaded might be interesting.
I think you need one of those old Lionel "Culvert unloaders".
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
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#10
Large appliances. I've seen coil cars at Whirlpool in Findlay in the past.
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#11
Wow! Thanks guys!

Maybe I should add another building with a inside dock instead of distrbution track or a off layout industry ? I like several of the suggestions.

I'm still listening with both ears.

BTW..I will be using a 14" x 72" HCD so,I have the needed space to add another industry.
Larry
Engineman

Summerset Ry

Make Safety your first thought, Not your last!  Safety First!
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#12
In the Los Angeles area there is a steel company on 26th street near Hobart yard that has rail service where the coil cars are pulled inside the building and an overhear crane transfers the coils off the cars to cradles where they are then transferred to trucks for delivery as needed. By the way, the way the coils are loaded on trucks is 4 coils on an 18 wheeler flat. Two coils are chained down directly over the rear tandems on the trailer. The other two coils are chained on the front of the trailer directly over the tandem drivers on the tractor.

The BNSF shares the Malabar Yard in Vernon with the LAJ. They have an overhead crane where they transload coils as well as "shapes" (steel angle iron, I-beams, plate, channel iron, etc.)
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#13
Don't forget a steel coating operation like Protec at Leipsic, Ohio. They receive loaded coil cars and ship loaded coil cars. Easily 50 cars a day between CSX and Norfolk Southern.
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#14
Coiled steel is also apparently used to fabricate steel tubes, steel pipes, rectangular structure members, pots and pans, barbecues, auto body panels, metal rain gutters and metal roofing.

Seems like there is no limit to what you can ship out as finished products.
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#15
Coil steel is unloaded at the joint LAJ/ATSF (now BNSF) Fruitland Team Track in Vernon CA. Here's a link to a few pix: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://picasaweb.google.com/107389354387456095061/LAJINFO8ATSFFRUITLANDTEAM">https://picasaweb.google.com/1073893543 ... ITLANDTEAM</a><!-- m -->
The first one is by Chris Walker of West Coast Rail Forums. The next two are from the 10/03 Warbonnet article on the J. Note the caption says the the crane is in the "A Yard" but think it's really at Fruitland. The covered gondola is the one in the pic blown up. Next two pix show the crane & the last two show coil cars to be unloaded. Got those pix during a visit w/ Reinhard Peters, Russ Billinis last July 20. Since my layout will be operated in '50s thru '80s eras have been collecting both covered gondolas & coil cars. Have even made a few covers for 40' & 52' 6" gondolas out of extra boxcar roofs to give me as little more variety. The WP had 27' gondolas (not covered) to haul coils from UT to CA. Their reasoning was since the coils only rode over the trucks the space in between was wasted. Have also learned that the New Haven used to ship brass (coils, ingots & pieces in their covered gondolas. Brass is used for silver plating so there must be someplace in LA that needs it. Smile
Andy Jackson
Santa Fe Springs CA
ATSF/LAJ Ry Fan & Modeler
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