Freelance 2013-2 (MAW)

[faraway]

I intend to to migrate my existing layout from SoCal to the country side of Ohio to utilize my newly built Maumee & Western (plus WAER 344) engines. As usually I do not plan to change the track plan or do a complete rebuild. Smaller portions will be removed and replaced with new scenery. I will use the MAW as a point of inspiration but do not intend to build a model of it. I could collect a hole bunch of fine photos also showing the area on both sides of the tracks. The very limited availability of Google Streetview in that area is a real problem for me. I will have to do a lot of freelance and fit commercial kits as they fit into my understanding of that area.
I see grain elevators in all (small) towns from Woodburn to Liberty Center, John Manville Fiber in Defiance, Cold Storage in Napoleon and La Farge in Cecile. I will mix and match that until my available space is used up.
The very long background building in the center will be the starting point. It will be replaced with elevators, silos, storage bins etc. An order of the usual standard Cornerstone kits has been released an hour ago.
I expect to start with this first step end of the week. You will be kept inform about success and failure of that migration

For now four homeless engines in the staging yard are all I have

[teejay]

What if you just moved to rural Ohio ? ......or not .

T

[faraway]

What if you just moved to rural Ohio ? ......or not .

T

I'll be happy to endup with something you might recognize to be located somewhere between Boston and Denver

[Kev1340]

Maybe we have some members in the Ohio area that could help you out? Either way, I shall enjoy sharing your progress on this new project.

Cheers,

Kev

[kamerad47]

If you model these lines the loco has to rock back & forth as it goes down the track !!!!!!!

[nkp_174]

I live in Southwestern Ohio (Cincinnati suburbs) and would be glad to help if you would like photos or such. I make regular visits to central-western Ohio to visit my family...cornfields all around up there. Up there it is flat while down here is hilly and wooded.

Michael

[railohio]

When the Maumee & Western operated the line none of the elevators shipped by rail. You had sporadic shipments of broken bricks to Liberty Center, unloaded just east of the State Route 109 crossing. In Napoleon: Interstate Cold Storage (reefers), Cloverleaf Cold Storage (boxcars), ADS (plastics), and Carson Industries (plastics). Universal Cooperative occasionally got tank cars. The feed mill in Okalona would sporadically ship covered hoppers. Johns Manville received sand in Defiance, but only at the downtown plant. On the west end there was just the farmers' co-op in Woodburn.

[faraway]

Michael, railohio, thanks you for the offer and the information.
I will do two industries
1. My long background building in the center will be reused as Meadow Brook Meat in Napoleon. The front side of my model and the east side of the prototype have some similarities. Google shows a long string of boxcars and reefers at the loading docks.
2. A freelance grain elevator with several different silos at the east end of my layout spanning over two tracks. I was afraid the prototype was not rail served anymore and railohio confirmed my doubt.

However, I am very well aware that taking four engines and a given track plan and place some Cornerstone kits on empty spots is not the way how a layout should be planned. It is my very special way of evolution of an existing layout. I stay therefor intentionally with the name "Freelance" and used the MAW for inspiration only.

ps. What is Meadow Brook storing in Napoleon? It sounds like meat but is that area a cattle raising area and where is the slater house? There are several cold storage in Napoleon. Is there a local reason to have them all at that spot?

[faraway]

This is the master plan I am working on since Sunday

Grain elevators and silos in the east. The long street in the center will be down grated to a service road attaching the grain silos only. I expect the postman to ring at the door every second with a huge box of Cornerstone kits.


Cold storage in the center. The wall does not fit and will be replaced with a fence separating the service road from the cold storage property. The lead to the silos will continue to be street running but in a smaller service road only.


Residential area in the west. I did just put some trees to demonstrate a none industrial area. May be I try to do something "cute" here. I have ordered three company houses. I did not see them at the prototype but they are small and may give the right proportions and impression.


A yard in the central foreground. It will mimic Defiance with two storage tracks and the only run around required for trains arriving from west. The Defiance interchange with CSX and with NS (in Woodburn) will happen invisible in the staging yard. My track length are not well suited for NS and CSX trains.


Over all I have to do a lot of green, shrubs and trees all over the layout. It will be interesting to learn how much green goes on the tracks until the models will derail. I am afraid the prototype equipment is more robust than 1:87 scale engines and cars.

[FCIN]

Reinhard;

Since the MAW no longer exists, but is now operated by Pioneer Railcorp http://www.pioneer-railcorp.com/ndw.html, do you have any plans to model some of the PREX power for variety? Just a thought that since you're basing your layout on the former MAW, you could build some more of your great looking geep models, but in PREX paint and operate the layout as the Napoleon, Defiance & Western Railway now and then. Of course if you wanted, you could back date the line to the late 80s/early 90s and include Indiana Hi-Rail power too. I visited the line back in the late 80s and IHRC had their chopped nose ALCo RS-11 No. 352 at Defiance the day I was there. Some interesting possibilities here.

[faraway]

Ed, I may very well do some PREX too in the future. But it is more likely to use the layout as a generic one to serve as abase for the upcoming Intermountain GP10. There is a very wide area I can cover with a rural area, grain and green dominated layout.

The postman dropped a nice parcel at my doorstep


That brings my first question.

How are the trucks unloaded at the modern silo? The old wooden had an attached "garage" with doors at both ends for the trucks. I did not see models (and have no prototype at hand) how modern grain trucks are unloaded. I think they tilt and unload at the end (similar to a a dump truck). The structure must be high enough to handle a truck with a tilt loading area.
This what I could find http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/1354856...Vw0A%3d%3d

A video on YouTube shows an open facility too. They do it in snow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...V9h3BmRURw

That looks good but it is open air! Do they unload grain in Ohio open air and all work stops when it rains?

[railohio]

Meadowbrook leases some warehouse space from Cloverleaf, but doesn't do anything with rail.

Cloverleaf Cold Storage handles foodservice distribution, and, contrary to its name, doesn't handle anything refrigerated by rail, only boxcars. Interstate Cold Storage does handle refrigerated rail cars, mostly tomato paste for Campbell's Soup across town.

[FCIN]

They may unload grain at modern elevators using several methods. The tilt-up truck unloaders, trailers with hopper bottoms or trailers that unload by raising the truck bed and even by shoveling the grain out of smaller trucks. I've seen them use all these methods at various elevators throughout the mid-west. Here's an example of a grain trailer with hoppers: http://www.musgraveangus.com/images/grain/semi.jpg and a rather poor photo of a grain truck being unloaded by tilting the whole truck: http://www.bigrigphotos.com/images/378_G...peters.JPG. Some of the elevators I've seen have covered unloading bins while many others are out in the open. I would assume that loading/unloading is halted in the pouring rain.

The Walther's ADM elevator has a shed on both the rail side and the road side to allow for covered loading/unloading. I should mention that the many of the elevators that I've seen don't have covered sheds over the rail loading point either. Here's an interesting rail loading facility that might give you some ideas for layout:     This is on the Indian Creek Railroad at Frankton, IN. The RS-11 is sitting on the siding at the elevator and grain is loaded on the "main line" to the right of the structure you see in the photo. Grain is moved from the numerous storage bins to the loader via the overhead conveyor above the locomotive. Note the spilled corn near the loader. An interesting mini-detail to include. Here's an aerial view of the facility: https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.192418,-8...7&t=k&z=18. There are so many variations at modern grain elevators, almost anything would be prototypical.

Best bet - find an example or two that interest you and model yours similar to them.

[faraway]

This is a possible arrangement. I would like to have the truck unloading not hidden behind the elevator building but build a ramp with a grid located at the old road and get the grain from there via horizontal and vertical elevators into the silos (incl. dry, wet bin ind dryer).
I do not plan to use the shed Walthers supplies for rail car unloading. It is my understanding of the process that the small facilities like this one at the country site do ship only via rail (and street) but receive no grain other than from local farmers. Their purpose is to collect grain from the local farmers.



railohio, thank you for the update. That will make it even more simple to have a general warehouse operation with boxcars in place. I did read on the web side of Napoleon about the famous Campbell soup factory. Looks like it is not rail served at all

[railohio]

Not directly since the late 1980s.