The modular club I joined builds 2x4 modules with a double track mainline. I want to put an industry that I can use with my three bay covered hoppers on the module. Other than for grain transport, what would three bays be used for? What kind of track arrangement would this industry have? Is it a single spur, or does it have arrival tracks, leads, ect? This is also the first layout I will be building, so scenery tips would also be helpful.
What you can make is a flat on the side of it with 3 or 4 bay doors for say boxes etc. Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
I have been looking through some of my hoppers, and about half are for potash or some agricultural product. I'm thinking about doing a fertilizer plant in the early 2000's. That way it fits in with the rest of my rolling stock. I have been having some difficulty finding what a fertilizer plant looks like. Google Earth isn't much help, and the pictures look a lot like oil refineries. I also need to find out what rolling stock would be delivered. I have been looking into what fertilizer is made of. The three main elements are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The potassium is from potash, which is in hoppers. Nitrogen is a gas, and I guess some reaction with air, natural gas, and ammonia is how it is collected, according to the Internet. Would that be transported in tank cars? Phosphorus is solid, so I'm assuming it is also a hopper product. How would the finished product be loaded? If the completed fertilizer is in covered hoppers as well, wouldn't they be loaded like a grain elevator? If you guys have any other information on other cars that might show up, that would be helpful too.
Any gas is transported via tank car. You must know though, large amounts of fertilizer together in a closed compartment is a bomb waiting to happen. I will try and locate some pictures I have. Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
They use open hoppers for transports due to the ventilation issue. Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
Three bay covered hoppers can be used for grain, plastic pellets, salt, etc. Your industry could be loads in or loads out. Is there another club module your cars can be sent? General Mills in Vernon Ca has a place that receives flour in covered hoppers. They have two spurs to take 6-10 hoppers per day. They provide flour for the many bakeries in the LA metro area. They use a track mobile for moving cars around. They also send out hoppers loaded w/ bran for live stock feed. They are served by the Los Angeles Junction Ry. The yellow "arms" hold wires for workers to hook safety harness' when on top of the hoppers. Use 4309 Fruitland Ave 90058 to see aerials on Bing, Google &/or historicaerials.com.
A1-Grit (gravel dealer) in Fontana is served by a single siding off a double mainline. They take tankers here and there too. They are located just west of the West Colton Yard. Almost to simple to model but can be effective.
Do you have plastic pellet hoppers? Around here, contemporary era, plastic pellets seem to shipped exclusively in pellet hoppers (round outlets instead of slidey doors). The pellets are unloaded via pressurized hoses. OTOH, I guess you could use "vanilla" CHs for pellets and there's most likely a 1:1 industry somewhere that does. Heh. It would save you having to model the hoses and racks.
I am deciding to go with a fertilizer plant, as most of the cars are relatable to this industry. I am using the Mosaic (previously International Mineral and Chemical) Riverview plant near Tampa Florida. I am planning to get the Walthers Truck Oil Loading Station, a Pikestuff building, and a scratchbuilt hopper loading tower. I'm not sure how fast all of this will be acquired, but this is what I hope to do. This is the track plan from the Atlas Track Planner. The square white building will be scratchbuilt, the small gray, white cylinders, and red roofed building are from the Walthers kit, and the blue is Pilestuff. The last track curves underneath the loader. The small building next to it is the unloading rack from the Walthers kit.
You might want to check this out. Their Sacaton location always have a bunch of hoppers and tank cars
The unfortunate issue with the 3D plan you posted is the lack of car volume. Its much more interesting to move a few caars at a time rather than one or two. By the way the 3D presentation is cool, even though I don't like the plan.
I would say the same thing, and I wish I could do what you said, but my club only has 2x4 modules. There is very little space do do anything. The fact that we use 9" joiner tracks between modules doesn't help. The turnout off the main has to be 4.5 inches away from the edge as a result. Everything after that is closer to the other side, so that means no room for sidings. Most club members just build scenery. What's a railroad with no purpose? I thought some operation would be better than none.
Bremner, your video pointed out a few things I hadn't noticed before. I Google Earthed all of their locations and saw that this giant hopper loading tower I envisioned doesn't really exist for the carloads the tracks can handle. Maybe this is just Arizona, but there is almost no grass on the industry property. There is a lot of unpaved dirt. I still want to keep some on my module so I can do static grass, but now some dirt areas seem interesting. The slideshow and Google Earth helped out a lot.
I could do two models, but a single 2x4 is good because of its small size and low surface area to secenik. A 2x8 module would definitely be better for the track arrangement, but I would need to buy more buildings and more scenery material. I would rather focus on making a really good module instead of having to compromise to make two.
Interesting idea for a project. I do not think that there is a need to include tank cars for gas. The nitrogen would be simply be obtained from air, which is 79% nitrogen. The Haber process to produce ammonia uses nitrogen from the air and hydrogen, which is obtained from natural gas. Also, I do not think that phosphorus would be transported in elemental form as it highly flammable plus an unnecessary expense. As someone else pointed out large amounts of fertilizer together in a closed compartment is a bomb waiting to happen therefore a remote location is preferable. Therefore, your module should fit in well with other members modules if they just depict scenery.
That was I about the bomb. I can thank fire academy and hazmat training for that one lol. I did post up a simple idea for a plant he could use. Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
