So I figured I should start coming up with ideas for layout designs and while I have a million of them, thought I would go with steel. Of course I have absolutely no idea about anything steel related besides a few generic basic concepts and that PA has and or had a big steel industry. Mainly because they have the Steelers ha. Beyond that nada. And it doesn't help that I saw Walther's Cornerstone "Ashland Iron & Steel" series seeing as now I have to have all of it heh . I know the set is pricey but not really a big deal. So I pretty much need help designing everything. From the mill (is that the right name? Ha) set up to the tracks and layout and how the rail line would service it and what else it would do on the layout and what else would be on the layout as well. I would like the line/track/rail/train (I have no idea what to call it) to be able to make a loop around the layout of some sort if that makes sense? Any ideas of how large this would be? Fit in a 4x8 or would it need more? What areas and locations could a steel industry layout be based in? Anything else I'm missing? Really don't know much about this or rail ways or the like at all. Hopefully all this makes some sort of sense. Thanks
:O Ok now I'm all excited and doing mental backflips! That book and the others in the series look amazing and just what I need! Now if they just had one on the grain industry! Thanks a ton! Still would love any more help or ideas
You are going to need a pretty large space to model a steel mill, especially in HO. I was going to do one in N scale on a 4' by 8' peninsula using the Walthers blast furnace, a couple of rolling mills for the basic oxygen furnaces, another rolling mill for finished goods and the coke oven complex, but with the yards and supporting track, I could get it to fit and do it justice, so I chucked it and used the space for something else. I was going to model a mill in Colorado, but there are steel mills all over the eastern half of the US from Birmingham, AL to West Virginia to Pennsylvania to Gary, Indiana and many points in between, and there are several on the west coast as well, so you can take your pick there. The book Paulus mentioned is an excellent reference and helped me understand how to model the industry. There isn't a book like this for the grain industry that I know of, but Kalmbach's "The Modelers Guide to Industries Along the Tracks" #1 has a pretty good section on the grain industry as well as several other industries. Good luck and have fun
I originally wanted to work in N scale for the size reasons for I could fit more in the same amount of space or to have more in general but only saw the Walther's Ashland set in HO. Do the make it in N and I'm just being blind? We're u going to use Walther's as well or did you have something else in mind? What size would you recommend?
some of walthers steel mill structures are available from walthers in N Scale, but most have been discontinued. you can find some on eBay. you can find some @ peachcreek. or, perhaps from another LHS with items on eBay or connected here. hope it works out in whatever scale you go with. respectfully, Gary L Lake Dillensnyder
I would take a look at the Union Railroad in western PA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Railroad_(Pittsburgh) They serve many of the steel mills around Pittsburgh. I little research and I'm sure you will find a few good layout design elements.
You can use HO steel mill buildings in N, in fact they are more realistically-sized to N scale. If they are a little too big, you can cut them down proportionately and they still look prototypical-sized. The blast furnace in HO scale needs only to have the first floor girders holding up the furnace to be shortened to N-relative height. I once designed a steel mill complex for a friend who built it on his layout. It had one furnace, four mill buildings (3 of which were flats just wide enough to take an inside track), a freestanding BOF, and a yard that held 45-50 cars (a steel mill needs its own yard). It came out to 15 feet by 2 feet, with no room for slag dumping area, coke production facility or engine house.
Freytag's book offers not only lots of info but a track plan or two http://www.amazon.com/The-History-M...8&qid=1368675272&sr=8-1&keywords=dean+freytag
Here you go -- steel mill setup all built, painted, and comes with cars and engines http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-TRAIN-ST...608508?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item1c32a2b5fc
