I'm trying to help another member of this forum with his layout and I can't find any pictures of "flood type" coal loaders like the Walthers kit: Walthers Model Railroad Mall -- product information page for 933-3247 Do any of you guys have one on your layout you could post with a trackplan or (even better) photos of the real thing from the Powder River or other points out West? I figure if anyone can help, it's gotta be someone here. Thanks again in advance!
Google Maps to the rescue: Google Maps This is Caballo Rojo mine (I think) It is four silos with two tracks, unlike Walthers version which is just one, but the setup and track plan would be similar. Anyway, from here you can follow the tracks and look at the entire PRB from a satellite view. Good luck with this project, I wish I had a gymnasium-sized space to do a "proper" PRB layout!
Energy Mine on the old D&RGW Craig Branch seems to be a flood loader type. In fact it has a loading tunnel. 40°20'54.63"N 107° 4'20.70"W Check it out!
Here is a Powder River flood loader. And another smaller fload loader from Wildcat on the Utah Railway.
Can someone explain what each of the structures is for? Where does the coal start / finish? Thanks! Interesting: A reverse loop that could be modeled and with some work could use the old "loads out" by aproaching from a concealed position.
Underground.... Steve, There is a seam of coal underground which is excavated by machines called 'miners' and then loaded on a conveyor belt which takes it to the surface. In the Powder River picture the structure to the left of the silos is most likely a crusher building. The coal comes here in boulder sized chunks on the conveyor which need to be broken down to more manageable sizes like 2 to 4 inch chunks. Then it travels up the load out conveyor to the silos to a 'surge bin' which can hold several hundred tons of coal. This 'surge bin' feeds a 'weigh bin' which actually feeds the rail cars or trucks used to transport the coal. In the picture of the Wildcat load out the crusher is most likely at another site probably closer to the mine entrance. 2slim
Are there any other Rio Grande-originated mines that use flood loaders? On the Craig Branch, ColoWyo Axial doesn't, IIRC, but what about Empire Mine?
Thank you 2slim! Is this abstraction accurate? Does the coal go from or to the trucks? So, the basic visible components could be: Storage Crusher Silos for trans and trucks Control tower Weigher Thanks guys!
Thanks for all the help guys. I knew if anyone had resources for this you guys would! That Google map is pretty cool. Shows everything you'd need to model this type of scene. I'm suprised more people that model coal operations don't model these. It's pretty simple to place a loop and a silo in a vacant spot on the layout and there you go. Do any of you have any pictures or links to layouts with one of these on them? Thanks again!
Coal Flood Loader Train Movies aka Charles Smiley has a video named "Soldier Summit Reflections" that shows a flood coal loader in operation. Might check into the video.
Maybe it has not been done much is the difficulty of obscuring the "Loads In" portion. With the 50 car unit trains some like to use achieving the appearance of the cars being loaded there could be rough. In my abstract above one could place a really tall bluff / butte to hide the curve of the loop but with rest of the train would trail righ in front of the viewer. "Groking" it would be a but tough. It's one of the reasons I think I will ship "Mysterium" in covered hoppers. In my head I am thinking of removing the coal loads and replacing them with "clam shell" doors. I think I read in a Trains magazine that this may actually become a law because of the coal dust.
