new layout with no name

[long island jack]

Now that 59th and Rust is all most complete,i can turn my time to planning the next one(i'm allowing 3 months), the size i have is 12' x 14", been playing around with "Anyrail"track design and have come up with a plan i'm happy with and fits in with the track i already have 2LH,1RH #8 points and 8 lengths of track,all Peco code 83.

   
A box cars-loads in
B tank cars -loads in
C box car- loads in
D c/hopper(grain type)- loads in
E small 2 bay c/hopper- loads in or out??
F box cars-loads out

The time period will be 1990-2000-ish,i have most of the stock above,(just need a few box cars) i have enough diesels to run the layout, train lengths are loco +3 freight cars(based on a gp and 60' cars) and also have all the timber i need.

What i don't have is a type of industry to suit the freight cars i have,if you can help me out with ideas or can see a problem with the track plan, i'm all ears,any feed back good or bad are welcome

Ray
ps. it's already book in for a show October 2014

[FCIN]

Ray;

Here are my suggestions, most based on prototype industries:    

Industries A and B can be a single industry - a food products distributor: Inbound box cars of food products and can goods (perhaps refrigerator cars of frozen meat or produce could be thrown into the mix) and general service (25,500 gal) tank cars of cooking oils. See Lance Mindheim's Downtown spur layout for two great examples. Not sure what type of tank cars you have, so you might still have to treat A and B as separate industries since cooking oils aren't handled in tank cars designed for corn syrup or chemicals.

C - A beer distributor that receives insulated box cars of beer (50ft or 60ft).

D - This facility could be based on a Trinidad-Benham facility that receives gravity discharge covered hoppers of beans, rice and popcorn for processing and packaging. It appears that you have some sort of overhead piping or a conveyor to a structure opposite the facility, but this would not be necessary as there is a nice prototype facility in Chino, CA that would work great on the front edge of your layout: http://maps.google.com/?ll=34.011477,-11...6&t=k&z=19

E - This could be a bulk cement transload that receives two bay covered hoppers of cement - off-loaded into small storage silos.

F - This one could be a paper products facility that ships paper products. In your layout era, most of the box cars would be 50ft hi-cube types, but regular 50ft box cars would also be used.

All these industries would provide for a nice assortment of car types and switching possibilities. Are you planning on using two switch crews to work the spur so that each can work the industries as trailing point moves or staging the train with the locomotive in the middle of the inbound/outbound cars? Either would be prototypical and I've worked spurs where we had to put the locomotive in the middle of the train as there was no runaround available on the spur.

[long island jack]

Cheers for that FCIN
but i'm looking for one big industry,the last two layouts i've built have been small industrial areas,this time i want one big industry.

Switching will be staged in the fiddle yard(or stick ak shortliner) bottom right track

the tank cars are from Athearn,thought they where for carrying chemicals?????
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH73792">http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default ... D=ATH73792</a><!-- m -->

thanks for the imput ,keep it coming

Ray

[FCIN]

but i'm looking for one big industry

Sorry Ray;
I misunderstood or overlooked a word some where. I thought you were looking for assorted industries that would support the car types you mentioned. One large industry that would support all those car types is going to be a tough to find.

the tank cars are from Athearn,thought they where for carrying chemicals?????
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH73792">http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default ... D=ATH73792</a><!-- m -->

That tank car is indeed an older style designed for transporting various light weight chemicals.

An ethanol plant could support the grain type covered hoppers and the tank cars, but no box cars would come into play, nor would the smaller two bay covered hoppers.

Best I can come up with at the moment, based on your track plan, would be to treat the left side of the plan as a small ethanol plant. Use the upper left hand track strictly for tank car loading and lower left spur for grain unloading. Center track for switching the cars out. The right hand side of the plant would have another fair sized industry or two - locations E and F.

There is a small ethanol plant that I've visited in Mexico, MO, Mid-America Biofuels that resembles a mirror image of your track plan. You can view it here: http://maps.google.com/?ll=39.168783,-91...5&t=k&z=17 Note the large grain elevator opposite the plant and across the NS and KCS main tracks. Google maps labels still show the ethanol plant as being the ADM soybean meal plant, but it's no longer that industry. Note all the tank cars and covered hoppers at the plant.

If you follow the NS/KCS mains westward, you'll see a spur branching off toward the southwest, which is the Ozark Valley Railroad short line and there are a few industries located on that line that might be inspiration for what the industry on the right side of your plant could represent.

Just some more thoughts. Maybe I'll find something else.

[shortliner]

Ray - Potato Products plant - Potatoes, corn starch, corn oil, packaging (bags, card boxes, tubes (think Pringles)flavourings) all inbound and products and waste out
Or as an alternative a canning plant for fruit and veg (Shershorns Cannery?) Tin-cans or metal strip and card boxes , sugar syrup, fruit and veg in season , Oil for heating ovens, lables all in - products and waste for recycling, out
The one I always fancied - but too small for your purposes - is the Doone-Maheidin Bagpipe factory!
Hope it helps
Jack

[jwb]

For what it's worth, the specific prototype of that Athearn 62-foot tank car was railroad-owned, for company diesel fuel. The GN and Burlington come to mind as owners, and the BN rebuilt them for use as fuel tenders between SD40-2s in the 1980s. They are a design from the 1960s and are most useful as kitbash fodder. Naturally, you can do as you please as far as how you run them, but that's what they are.

[Mike Kieran]

One idea might be to make it a chemical company and a ready mix plant. You could use the 2 bay hoppers for the chemical plant and not use the ready mix plant. I have 2 track plans using the 8 pieces of Peco flex track, but I used 2 of the #8 switches. One with the ready mix plant and one without.





Box cars are unloaded on the top track, covered hoppers & tank cars on the middle track, and interchange & storage on the lower track. I would run this as a short line contract industrial switching operation like the Morristown & Erie's Bayshore Terminal Company.

[colinw62]

For what it's worth, the specific prototype of that Athearn 62-foot tank car was railroad-owned, for company diesel fuel. The GN and Burlington come to mind as owners, and the BN rebuilt them for use as fuel tenders between SD40-2s in the 1980s. They are a design from the 1960s and are most useful as kitbash fodder. Naturally, you can do as you please as far as how you run them, but that's what they are.

Great piece of info here, being based in the UK I could do with some reference point on car types and their uses. In this case the tank car appears to be a model of a very specific prototype.

Could you suggest an online source or books that are worth tracking down?

Here's one of mine which I bought but I'm not sure of its actual use... <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH73767">http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default ... D=ATH73767</a><!-- m -->
I get the feeling it is a model of an older tank car because it has side walkways which do not seem to be present on more modern tank cars.

Aplogies for going of topic...

ColinW

[FCIN]

Could you suggest an online source or books that are worth tracking down?

Here's a few good sights that you might find helpful:

Union Pacific: Rail Equipment http://www.uprr.com/customers/equip-reso...ndex.shtml
BNSF Customer Equipment http://www.bnsf.com/customers/equipment/
Rail Industry Specialist Inc. Railcar Types http://www.railindustryspecialist.com/ra...anding.php

[long island jack]

Thanks guys for the imput so far,i did a slight change to the plan,i like the idea of a cereal industry (Kelloggs etc)

i've done away with the the small 2 bay hoppers,and extended the factory to add another door for loading,added a pipe rack for unloading tank cars (asume it's ok to have tank cars, c/hoppers on same track)

A-box cars loads in,carboard etc
B-c/hopper loads in,salt/suger
C-tank cars loads in,corn syrup
D- c/hoppers loads in,grain
E-box cars loads out

Couple of question about the above,which type of c/hopper would i need for the salt/sugar unloading area,and would there be a prefered type of box car to use,the freight cars i have all seem to be different,round and trough hatchs ,gated and pipe discharge,the box cars have all different types of doors, most are 50' with a few 60' also a couple of high-cube.

Next thing i need to know is what size would the buildings be,and what would it be made of (steel sheet,concrete,brick) like the idea of a shoe box type of structure,with storage tanks on the roof,the grain storage area would be the tallest stucture.

keep the ideas coming,this may yet change,thats why i allways allow time for planning.

Ray

[colinw62]

In the first 2 plans Building F and Building E in the latest plan both appear to have a track protruding from the building to the rear of the layout, what is this track for?

[long island jack]

Hi Colin

its a dummy piece of track,i'm thinking of having a roller door that end with half a box car sticking out to simulate a internal loading track, fed from the other end of the building.

Ray

[Brakie]

Ray,To answer your question yes its ok to unload tank cars and covered hoppers on the same track..

Here's the rub.

Both type of cars can take 2-3 days to unload into production storage silos so,you would want the unloading areas below your rail docks..

Why?

That way the cars unloading hoses wouldn't have to be disconnected and reconnected after the switching move..Both would cost about a hour of labor-allowing 30 minutes to disconnect the hoses and then another 30 minutes to reconnect them and this includes the time needed to stop the flow of the product being unloaded and clearing the hose since spills would cost money.

[santafewillie]

Salt and sugar are dense heavy loads and normally be in 2-bay covered hoppers. Grain is less dense so it is carried in 3-bay covered hoppers. Roof hatches don't matter, the trough type are newer cars.
willie

[FCIN]

Sugar would be transported in either Airslide (usually 2 bay) or Pressure/Differential hoppers (3 or 4 bay). Both have round roof hatch openings and the P/D hoppers will have piping along the lower side for attaching the pneumatic hoses. The Airslide hopper has special discharge gates and a pneumatic hose is also attached to them to facilitate unloading. Sugar, flour, etc., would not be handled in covered hoppers with trough hatches and gravity discharge gates as those type hatches and discharge gates would allow contamination of the commodity. The type of roof hatches and discharge gates do make a difference.

Grain would be transported in gravity discharge hoppers usually with trough hatches and are three bay hoppers. Doing an Internet search for Airslide covered hopper, Pressure differential covered hopper, and grain covered hoppers should result in plenty of examples.

Not sure what sort of 2 bay covered hoppers you have. Perhaps you can post an example and I can give you a better idea of what those would be used to transport. Most of the short, 2 bay hoppers you see are for transporting cement or similar heavy commodities.