Today I reached my first milestone, paid for my first HO locomotive and is about to be shipped from Chuck at Feather river trains. It is a MP Gp38-2 with dcc and sound. Yes Chuck is N scale but he secretly sells HO and I highly recommend him. Have started reading "how to operate a modern switching layout" by Lance Mindheim The book is excellent and already the first two chapters have enlightened me on the fact it's not the amount of industries on a layout but car spots so I already realise having a grain terminal will not add operational value to a switching layout as they are all the same car. I also want a team track for random cars etc, and an interchange track. So what type of industries are good to model? I will have boxcars, tank cars, centre beam flat cars and some hoppers
Time frame is roughly 1980's? How about a frozen foods processor. Such as potatos in, (trucks), and all kinds of boxed packages into reefers going out?
Empty reefers in to load. Box cars in with packaging supplies. I've never looked close enough, but depending upon what they process, could be other items incoming via box cars, maybe tank cars, and?
Yes exactly I will be receiving my first shipment of Aztec cars next week so I will post some photos to give everyone and idea of what industries I should install
I suppose a builders supply/lumber yard would get a mix of things from center beams to box cars. Auto parts distributor of some kind would get loads of box cars full of auto parts. There is some kind of mystery food place near my house, it gets tank cars full of corn syrup. It's a facility with lots of tanks, but small and easily made into a model. A small power plant might get a string of coal cars. A lot of times there are generic looking warehouses that have loading bays next to the tracks. They are rental facilities from what I gather and it's never clear who's using it. Perhaps some sort of food distribution facility that could receive frozen or cold goods in reefers. You could put a scaled down version of a TOFC facility. Some kind of machining/metal working facility, they often have tracks running into them. This could also have a open area where tracks run with a overhead crane. Gondolas and flat cars for large metal things. Gondolas for scrap going out. A scrap yard is another option. Crushed cars and shredded metal outgoing in gondolas. A tank facility for natural gas, big tanks coming in. Fertilizer supply place. I would suggest googling small towns in the area you are modeling. Just put in the name of the town in google images. Than try combos with words like agricultural, etc. See if you get photos of places. I have a tendency to do the reverse and buy train cars I like and then figure out what industries I want, Or if it's a unique car just have it getting interchanged.
Geeky once again some excellent suggestions maybe you can take some photos of the food place near you. I think my next order will be some corn syrup tank cars
Lots of good suggestions. Brewery & Bottling Plant is also a good one, as it gets incoming shipments of grains, hops, fuel, bottles, lubricants, machine parts, etc. and ships out cases & kegs, waste, etc. So you could incorporate your grain silos in a brewery. Otherwise, you don't need a whole lot of space for a silo and a bunch of carspots. I'm sure you've seen the famous hairpin silo on the Willamette (wil-LAM-et) River in Portland, Oregon: From the left: That's a "yard" of 4 short spurs for cuts of 4-5 cars on the left. The 5th track (with the 4th car 1/2 out of frame) is the one that wraps around the silo, with the 6th the main coming off the bridge. On a shelf layout, you'd only have to model the "yard" side, with the ship loading on the "other" side & represented on the backdrop. Or you could model only the shiploading side: And have the constraints of the river necessitate short cuts of 4-5 hoppers. Doesn't have to be the wrap-around, either. This silo near Tacoma, Washington is right by the main: [All photos by Scott Lothes] So it could be modeled with the ship in the background or flipped so the water is at the front edge of the layout and the silos act as a mini viewblock / scene divider. Or there are ways to incorporate the silos in another industry like a brewery or like this California Cereal Products building in Oakland, CA. Cool & curves and in-street running, too. Food for thought.
Mc excellent images I am just worried how much space a grain terminal would need. I do love the idea of the brewery with all different types of cars required to be spotted
Just finished reading the book and have learnt the following 1: industries can have multiple car spots 2: need an interchange track or somewhere for the train to arrive and depart off the layout 3: preferred industries where different type of cars rather than strings of similar cars are required 4: how to create a switching list 5: should have at least two or three level crossings 6: I would like a small yard and engine service facility most likely near the interchange
i like the brewery idea as you can have box and covered hoppers plus you can always place a label off your favorite bottle as the company sign. Space for anything should never be a real worry as you can always use flats, hint at the industry being "off" the side/table, or the selective compression option.
Building flats is something I have used in the past to hint at a much larger facility, I often set them at a slight angle to the track instead of everything being parallel. The track can then come off the switch in a straight line. Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
I'll see what I can do for you on the food place. It's very compact with tracks fenced in down one side of the place. --------------- Go to https://maps.google.com/ and enter this address: 111 S Navajo St, Denver, CO 80223 Click on the pinned letter a on the map and select street view. You can follow that line or any line you want to see other industries.
