Rail-Served Industries

FredHickory Mar 29, 2011

  1. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    We get a lot of questions here, and we all have had them, about what kind of industry could we model. I would like to start a home for documenting the multitude of industries in my area that rely (or relied) on the rail for their raw materials, parts, or distribution of their final product. It will thought provoking at least and hopefully provide some guidance for others.

    Please feel free to add a post or 2 if you have some pictures that follow the theme.

    I want to be able to include with the posts, if possible, an aerial shot, description of the businesses, the type of cars utilized, etc. Smaller yards and sidings will also be a part of it. Engines, cars, mainlines, etc. really won't play a part unless they happen to be in the shots.

    I don't have a good vocabulary with respect to types of yards, sidings, sorting, classification, etc. Please feel free to correct my descriptions with the proper terminology. It will help me and all others.

    Hopefully this is the place for the post. If a better forum is more applicable, let me know, I can get a Moderator to move.

    I'll start.

    Sunshine Blvd.
    Here in the Fairfax District in Kansas City, KS there is a rail crossing everywhere you go. It is an old river bottoms area off of the Missouri River. The levees have protected it for MANY years. Current Industries here tend to be small businesses tightly packed along the side streets. Maybe every 3-4 building have or had rail access in the back.
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    The narrow rail alley has a couple of tracks and several sidings to stage box cars. The industries are all one story block or brick from at least the 50-60's. Most of the companies along this strip are distributors, so it's a one or 2 car box car train to service them.

    The UP track is well worn and minimally maintained. Several of the sidings are abandoned. UP services this area with 2 MP15's they use for switching at the GM Plant. There are at least 2 sets working the Fairfax District.

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  2. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Auto Plant Sort Yard

    Here is typical industrial sort yard. It is used to sort large 86' parts cars prior to placing them inside the Plant. The Plant is off to the right with 3 tracks inside the building (not shown). Each car has to be in a certain spot for doors skins, engines, wheels, etc.

    There are actually 2 yards, one on either side of the bridge.

    Of note is the maintenance of the yard itself. Some tracks are abandoned others with more or less use. The ballast is much finer than normal to make it easier to walk back and forth. There is little elevation if any on the ballasting. There are several yard lights very typical of what you can find by BLMA, I think.

    Also note the yard is quite a distance from the Industry itself.

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  3. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Intermodal Yard - Medium to Large

    This baby is north of the river way out in the flood plans. There are 2 tracks servicing containers and another for road-railers. This NS yard is no more than 15 years old.

    Here's the maps.google.com link:

    http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.182755,-94.43352&spn=0.009464,0.030813&z=16

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    The High-Jack can be seen fairly well here. Not a beauty, but gets the job done. Note the way the containers are set, not perfect. There are light standards for night operation and the concrete is joined at 10'x10' squares. Also note the differences in concrete colors. There is a definite track where the Hi-Jacks work.

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    Looks like a service area for the Hi-Jacks. Must go thru a lot of hydraulic fluid, messy. Repair shed, some service trucks. Trailers staged for loading. Service/Security road on the perimeter.

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    Now this is cool. Took me a while to figure what I was looking at. This is the road-railer yard. The bogie's are spaced out along the track. Apparently the truck backs the trailer up to them as you can see (Or takes them away). Spare bogie's lined up, messy again. A simple office building and a few vehicles. Interesting colors on the concrete and definite patterns where the trailers set.

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    Lastly the entry and exit point. Roadways, parking, a guard shack or 2. Fencing will be needed and a little or a lot of real estate. There is a drop-off/pick-up yard outside the gate. The Hostlers run inside the fence!
     
  4. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Here is a neat little Lumber Yard in the heart of the West Bottoms industrial area. There are 2 tracks into the yard. Bulkhead flats and centerbeams is what I have seen here in the past.

    I don't know if this is a sorting yard, trains in, trains out, or a local delivery point. I have not seen any trucks here before, but you could go either way.

    There is an open-sided shed for bunk storage. Very simple construction, a first time scratchbuilding if I ever saw one. There is another one at the far end next to the masonry Office.

    The lumber bunks are stored along the perimeter, Some wrapped, some not. Then a lot of material in the sheds. There is plenty of space between the tracks and storage, but we tend to shrink that! They have an order, but not neatly. Get in get out. A little disorder is the rule here.

    Got a few cars for the guys working there. A neat highway sign on the corner of the lot. Many of these places had the name is 12' letters across the roof. Couple of forklifts, some people, a few power poles and you've got it. The fence can get expensive, but is definitely needed. Think scratchbuilding and you will be money ahead for the new MP15 that serves this yard.

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  5. PhilM

    PhilM TrainBoard Member

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    Incredibly useful Fred. I take it the first 2 shots are looking either direction from the same crossing? I have a very similar set up emerging on my HO layout on a board that is only 8 in wide - so is a bit of a 3 track canyon between flats or very low relief. Please keep em coming (it is a long way to the real thing from here in the UK!)
    Phil
     
  6. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Yes it was a quick shot either direction at the crossing for the Sunshine Blvd. post. Hope they are of some help to you. We have about everything here, so if you need a special shot, let me know. Good luck.
     
  7. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    UNDERGROUND STORAGE FACILITY

    Here is another neat train industry for those that want some elevation in their layout.

    This area is called Subtropolis. It is owned by Hunt-Midwest, Hunt is the catchup king and Lamar Hunt was the owner of the KC Chiefs and creator of the American Football League. The Facility is the largest underground storage facility in the world. It was mined for dolomite (limestone) back forever. Hunt then turned it into warehousing and business space with constant temperatures and steady ground. There are literally highways underground to access the business's there. At one time Bird's Eye Foods had enough frozen food stored here to feed the U.S. for one week!

    What is cool for us is there are 5 tracks leading to the businesses underground! That is serious storage. Not a lot of difficult modeling, you could even have dummy tracks heading into the hill at the edge of your layout. There are trailers stored out front and roadways into and out of the facility.

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  8. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That's fascinating! How long has the underground facility been in adapted storage use?

    Boxcab E50
     
  9. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    It opened up in the 60's. It is now 55 million SF. They are still mining, so it will only get bigger!
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow. So it was open when there still might even have been a few ice bunker reefers bringing in or out loads. The spread of era makes it good for many modelers to adapt.

    Boxcab E50
     
  11. shortliner

    shortliner TrainBoard Member

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    Fred - what is in these two areas please
    Jack
     

    Attached Files:

  12. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    The pictures below this map describe the industries along the rails. Single story masonry buildings. Some with rail dock doors, others without. Some buildings have been torn down and used for trailer and material storage.

    This area has been here since before WWII. They made B-26's down the street. Many of these buildings supported the Plant. The GM Plant was built on the old airport grounds. They rolled the planes out of the Plant and flew them overseas.
     
  13. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Fiberglass Manufacturing

    Here is a local industry producing fiberglass insulation products. They receive in scrap glass, soda, sand, limestone, acids, and shipping out products. Hoppers, Tankers, and Box cars would all fit in the scene.

    This would be a modeler's dream to scratchbuild. The Plant has an east and a west rail dock. Ratty hopper cars are staged across the street in a small yard and shuttled in by a couple of UP MP15's serving the industrial district. It would also be an easy build using some Pikestone or other steel sided building structures

    Storage tanks and piping systems, the various concrete walls and outbuildings, a few containers, some drinking straws for stacks and you have the basics. The pollution abatement system, pipe racks, the substation yard, and the power routing would be wonderful to see in our scale and may be something to save space for if the skills aren't quite there yet. Please let me know if you try it!


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  14. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Coal User - Small

    Here is a relatively small coal user. This is the Powerhouse at a Automotive Assembly Plant in St. Louis, MO. The coal is used to fire multiple boilers for process steam, hot water, and to drive chillers for summer building cooling.

    This might be a nice little scene for a few coal cars running out of a yard with one or 2 switchers. The service track is a dead-end spur. This operation uses bottom dump cars serviced inside a linear enclosure. They back the cars is one at a time, dump, and push in another. Looks like they have room for 7-8 cars at a time on the lead heading off to the right.

    The coal pad is concrete with a relatively small coal pile. The building needs to be tall, about 80' tall. It can be relatively small though. Some small conveyor enclosures angle up from the dump house to feed coal into the building. The heat exchangers inside are condensing, so cooling towers aren't needed, but rslaserkits.com has some custom designs that would add to the scene.

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  15. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Ballast Distribution
    This is L.G. Everist, Inc. in Kansas City, KS. They sort, store, and distribute ballast for the local rail yards. They also distribute decorative and construction aggregate.

    While the plan is relatively large for us, the important stuff can be condensed down to a corner scene or siding.
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    There can be a pile or multiple piles of sorted rock size. Different types, colors, sizes if you can. The conveyors can come out of a small building and out over the pile. This one has a bottom dump area with the conveyor coming out from underground. Give yourself enough track beyond the dump area to push a couple of cars past the unloading area. Note the extra sections of conveyor to allow reaching out to a new pile.
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    Another siding has closed hoppers getting loaded out from a gravity silo. Kinda messy around the operation. As with any industry, if you can have a storage siding for a longer string, great, if not no big deal. Again, you will need some push space.

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    Here is another view of the load out area. Note the gondola and the shed it rolls thru.

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  16. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Rail Fabrication and Distribution Yard
    This ended up a cool find in Kansas City, KS. A & K rail Materials fabricates rail section for the local yards. Rail come in, then is welded to length for the MOW trains. The have areas for ties, new rail, completed rail, used spikes, tieplates, etc. Add more stuff as you like.

    A simple spur or siding could get you a long way with this industry. Pretty simple stuff and buildings. Just be sure is it messy!

    Check out the switch building area at the bottom. An overhead crane straddles the track and build deck. Whole switches are prefabricated and loaded on flats. Cool!

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  17. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Engine and Car Repair
    Got some old junk engines, shells or cars? Here is just the thing.

    This is an engine and car repair shop located in the old GM-Leeds Assembly Plant in Kansas City, MO. The neat thing here is that you can proto this one along a siding or 2. There is a long work shop, but most of the work seems to be outside.

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    From here you can see the engines stripped down, bodies sitting off to the side, cranes, junk, etc.

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    They also work on cars. That looks like an old observation car to me with a tarp over it.

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  18. FredHickory

    FredHickory TrainBoard Member

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    Railroad Tie Processing Facility
    If you are going to build a railroad, you'll have to have ties!

    This is a plant in Terre Haute, IN I pass by when I travel back to Dayton. They receive in the raw timbers and creosote them in this facility. Stacks of raw and finished ties, processing facility, a lot of black tanks, spills, smoke and heat stains. Tank cars and bulkhead flats are king here. this facility looks like they refine their own creosote on-site. Beyond is a smelly landfill and settling pond for those that are serious and have the space.

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