12-21-2013, 10:37 AM
I haven't seen that Mike ....problem with trying to install a real steel mill is space . Whomever invented the term " selective compression " must have been modeling the steel industry 
. It is ( to me ) a fascinating subject for many reasons and I did my best to capture a '50's era mill with my old layout . I had 70 running feet and it was too small for what I wanted to do ! Probably would have needed 100' for starters . For example , my dock scene in the old layout , just to get the iron ore to the mill , would have required 20 feet . I built a 6 foot ore freighter that should have been 8 1/2 feet .
When iron ore is sent to the blast furnace ( Walthers Kit that was really N scale in dimentions ) it produces " pig iron " which , in the 50's , was sent to an open hearth furnace to process the material into more usable steel . My scratch built open hearth ( complete with interior ) was 2 feet long with 16 furnaces ....it needed to be 4 times the size !!
On my new , current , layout I'll be giving just a hint of steel mill so as to use some of the models I built . It will look OK for the average onlooker but will in no way be even close to proto . But I'll have fun in the process .
T
. It is ( to me ) a fascinating subject for many reasons and I did my best to capture a '50's era mill with my old layout . I had 70 running feet and it was too small for what I wanted to do ! Probably would have needed 100' for starters . For example , my dock scene in the old layout , just to get the iron ore to the mill , would have required 20 feet . I built a 6 foot ore freighter that should have been 8 1/2 feet . When iron ore is sent to the blast furnace ( Walthers Kit that was really N scale in dimentions ) it produces " pig iron " which , in the 50's , was sent to an open hearth furnace to process the material into more usable steel . My scratch built open hearth ( complete with interior ) was 2 feet long with 16 furnaces ....it needed to be 4 times the size !!
On my new , current , layout I'll be giving just a hint of steel mill so as to use some of the models I built . It will look OK for the average onlooker but will in no way be even close to proto . But I'll have fun in the process .
T
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.