Mike Kieran Wrote:Well I wouldn't put 10 cars on it. even with 40 foot cars, I think that it's a bit much. I would go with a maximum of 6 cars on the layout. even with 50 foot cars.
Agreed..Six cars should be tops IMHO
That drawing always did bug me since every track is walbashed leaving no headroom to work..
I never could understand the need for a rail crane at the scrap yard since its in the way.. :o
I still like the overall plan.
Larry
Engineman
Summerset Ry
Make Safety your first thought, Not your last! Safety First!
Thanks so far everyone for the excellent feedback & help regarding my project.
SteinJr I took a look at the link for Mike Confalones excellent little project for his Allagash layout. That's a really cool project. I'm tempted to buy the DVD he has produced to help with scenic tips & watch how he does things because the end product is fantastic.
I will add an off scene staging track so i can run trains on & off the layout.
See: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://avrinnscale.blogspot.com/">http://avrinnscale.blogspot.com/</a><!-- m -->
My small N scale shelf layout is set in Aroostook County, Maine, and now features the suggestion of a paper mill (use photo backdrops to avoid overwhelming the scene), a frozen french fry processing plant, weedy sidings for a couple of potato sheds, and a siding for a woodchip loading operation.
I don't know how Potatoes were shipped from Aroostook County, but the Long Island Railroad shipped Potatoes in Refrigerator cars, no ice, with the ice hatches open for ventilation.
Potato barns on the east end had earthworks on three sides piled up to the eves, to keep the barns cool.
I would suspect something similar was probably the case, but , I could see where Aroostook County might have been cool enough already, being so far North, and the better part of it being inland a bit.
Often thought of modeling a paper mill , but it would have to exist without the "sweet smell " that comes with it.
Our house in Lisbon Center, wasn't all that far enough away from the Androscoggin River, so we were often treated to the "eau de Paper Mill ". When the wind was in the right direction we'd lose that,... and then have the scent of "chicken Barns" to "enjoy".
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!
While travelling, I was interested to find B&M Brick Oven Baked Beans is located in Portland Maine. With aerial map views in Bing, etc, you can see that it has/has had rail access. search for "beanpot circle, portland, maine".
The Roberts Printing kit from Walthers would be a suitable standin to represent it.
I'll try to upload a picture of it here. This is from the non rail side.
--Doug C in Salem, Oregon.
If you follow the tracks south and then east you come to an old hot dog factory - another outside-the-box kind of industry with the possibility of a really funny sign! Unfortunately, I can never manage images from Google Earth very well, so although I got the image into my own collection, it vanished somewhere in the depths of Photobucket and I can't locate it again.
Thanks for the response & welcome.
For modeling purposes, industries that use rail service are what its' all about as far as I'm concerned.
So I'm always reading the news looking for ideas, & rubbernecking when traveling.
re
"looking outside of the box for interesting rail served industries should become a layout goal"
As a modeler in Oregon's Willamette Valley, we have a fairly unique industry found in Oregon Cherry Growers. They are a major producer of maraschino cherries, in fact supplying the vital ingredient to Ben & Jerry's "Cherry Garcia" ice cream. For those beyond the northwest, cherry production is also found in Michigan & surrounding areas. For operational interests, the production facility primarily receives tank cars of corn syrup, with occasional loads of sulphur dioxide for bleaching. Currently, product is shipped by truck & container (marachinos are big in Japan). IIRC, I saw a boxcar in the siding in the early nineties but none since.
