I'm trying to decide what else to put on my switching layout. What I've got is maybe 18" long by 4-6" wide open space on my layout. There is room for a spur to enter from the corner of this industrial lot. There is room to put a turnout so there's 2 available tracks on this lot. The rest of the layout consists of a turntable, passing siding, team track, small coal tipple, a couple buildings representing part of the community, a small depot, possibly a small coal unloading trestle by itself on the front of the layout, and this big open space on the back of the layout. What sort of industry might be found in a small community at the end of a branchline? It should generate a decent amount of traffic. The setting is 1950s West Virginia, up a branchline off the New River.
Well W VA had an abundance of coal traffic, so how about that other commodity made from coal, coke with the related coke ovens. Then there is logging.
Indeed... A saw mill with logs coming in, boards going out.... Grain silos? Flour mill? car / truck storage yard and sales? Engine maintenance facility perhaps? Coaling station for steamers?
Your best bet for mid 50's WV industry with heavy traffic would be either Coal, Coke or Raw lumber, (not necesarily a finished piece of lumber). You could model a grain or flour industry but those were very rare in the area of WV you are modeling. Grain and Flour idustries would most commonly be found in the eastern Panhandle along the branches of the Potomac, and in the Shenandoah Valley. I would reccomend you get a hold of some back issues of Model Railroader of Tony Koester's Allegheney Midland or Allen McClelland's Virginian & Ohio for excellent articles and pictures of Appalachian modeling. EDIT:...Down along the New River, Power Plants were not uncommon. It would give you a destination for your coal on your layout.
Alright, throwing some ideas around now. What sort of traffic (types of cars, quantity, etc) would a coke oven generate? What about something to do with raw lumber as you speak of?
Coke would generally have maybe a tool car on a storage track and loaded hoppers on a dump ramp and unloaded hopper in a pit to be shoveled full. Or get fancy with an old steam powered loader. Quantity of cars would vary to the size of the operation. With men hand shoveling the coal in the ovens and coke from the ovens, maybe 5 cars at most would be ideal. If you have a large operation, you could have multiple steam shovels and up to 20 cars. For the logging, you could just build part of a mill operation and use flat cars and boxcars to haul out a finished product or log cars to take out logs.
NOTE: another member of this forum scratchbuilt a fine coking operation, althought in HO. Would be very useful even if for N scale.
There can be quite a bit involved. First step is the logging. Then transport to a mill. The mill can saw dimensional lumber, and ship it out to lumber dealers. Or, you can have a plywood plant. Or, you could combine the lumber and plywood operation. Chips could be shipped out, to a pulp plant. Or, logs can be used for pulp, and paper products turned out. (Paper, newsprint, cardboard, etc.) Plenty of variety in rolling stock. Log cars, box, gondola, flat, tank....... Perhaps a plant switcher? Boxcab E50
I would concider whatever rolling stock you like/have. Furniture manufacture could also fit in this space, and is a use of wood products. Flat cars or boxcars in, boxcars out. Freight transfer/warehouse also fits. Boxcars in/out plus some trucking can be added.
if you want something slightly unusual for your switching layout, why not try a creosote treating plant. creosote plant ar not much bigger than a small lumber yard and were very much needed in the 50's. Basically, treating plant would receive cut lumber on flats. a crane would unload them and place them on a smaller log car. the creosote treating is done inside a tube about 25'- 40' long . the log car carrie the lumber inside the tube by way of winch. The creosote ( stored in a adjacent tank) is sprayed inside the tube. the treated lumber can then be set aside to dry. Treated creaoste lumber was used for ties as well as trestles. it was also use for construction. building such a plant would require a tube large enough to accomodate a skeleton-like log car. building the log car would require a bit of planning but you really only need a pair of those. Youd need a tank and some piping to connect to the treating tube. add a few small office, a few stacks of treated lumber, a few stack of untreated wood and youre all set. operation wise, you get inbound untreated wood ( flatcar) and creosote (tanker) and outbound you get treated wood ( flat car, gondola and even boxcar) . If you have enough space , the treating plant could be added to a saw mill to provide more option for your ho customers
Creotex wood preservation plant in East Texas Receives “green” (untreated) ties and logs. Cut logs to poles and posts. Stacks to air dry several weeks. Uses 2’ narrow-gauge tramway to run seasoned materials into retorts for treating with creosote under pressure. Piles of both treated and untreated material on premises. Ships treated poles to telephone and power utilities. Ships poles and posts to lumberyards and farm supply outlets. Ships ties to railroad contractors and to port terminal railroad and urban belt railroad. NOTE: does NOT ship ties to trunkline railroads because I model Santa Fe which had its own tie plant. Receives creosote in special Koppers tankcar. Koppers tankcar kitbash based on photo from Classic Freight Cars Vol.2: A Rolling Pipeline of Colorful Tank Cars p.50 traffic note: Koppers had a tar products plant in Houston, others outside the region. and its own wood treating plants in Alexandria, LA, Crossett, ARK, Fordyce, ARK, Houston,TX , North Little Rock, ARK, and Texarkana, TX, according to Moody's Industrial Manual 1955. Besides the creosote, the plant also received light distillate petroleum for diluting the creosote. In 1980s, plant generated steam for process by burning scrap wood. In 1950s, plant burned fuel oil. Johnston schematic diagram Johnston trackplan
Kenneth, That is probably one of the coolest industries I've seen in a while; surely not common. Proof that industries don't need multiple tracks to be interesting.
Don't forget fuel stations. Frequently the local fuel depot was served by a rail line, instead of the truck tankers we see now. All it needs is an occasional tank car delivery to keep it happy, and it doesn't take up that much space to model. Just another thought to muck up the thought process! I think the idea for a ceosote plant is cool. Mark in Utah
I like the idea of a creosote plant. What I'm thinking is the spur Ys into two spurs, one for creosote tankers to unload, one for flats to load and unload. I also like the coke oven idea. Just need to do some research on that. Some sort of liquid transfer facility - that's a good idea. Concrete plant? What sort of traffic would that generate? I have a bunch of covered hoppers.
How about this: Tool and equipment manufacturer for the local coal mines. House it within some sort of large brick structure. Have a track running inside, where there would be a crane to handle larger stuff. Perhaps a loading dock at the side too. Opinions?
I'm really liking my idea for the tool and equipment manufacturer. I saw this building at my local hobby shop, which is how I thought of it: http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2606 That would do nicely for such, I think.
