I'm thinking of modeling two similar industries: a grain elevator and a flour mill. Both would have a grouping of large silos. Operationally one industry supplies the other and would make for great pick up and spotting of cars. However, appearance wise both industries would look very similar to the casual viewer. Does this break the rule "never model the same thing twice"? Opinions needed. Jerry
In my mind's eye, it is not modeling the same thing twice. As you stated, it is a great way to generate traffic on your pike.
Signage and any small details would be key to differentiate the two industries. What better way to let onlookers know that one is a Flower Mill and one is a Grain Elevator than...big bright signs.
Why not. A lot of people don't realize that when the majority of shipments were by rail, a lot of locations, even small towns, might have two or more of heating companies (coal and / or oil), lumber yards, grain and feed suppliers, etc. Sounds like one of those model railroad rules that work - until they don't.
Don't you think that this relates to the same structure/location/landscape feature, rather than a functional duplication ? Would the N&W or C&O have only one coal mine/loader/washer/breaker; only one grain elevator or livestock pen on the C&NW ? Various structures with similar purpose are features on any railroad. Unless there's a reason, build (or purchase) non-identical industries for different locations in your miniature landscape.
Thanks, I appreciate all the input. Dave – There are always exceptions to the rule. Chooch42 – You nailed it: it does duplicate a structural feature. I will be using the Walther's Grain Elevator kit for my grain elevator and will have to kit bash to build the flour mill. I will be using a second Walther's Grain Elevator kit for the silos and off loading building section. The additional attached flour mill section and storage section will be added and configured to fit the siding for bulk flour transfer via air slide hoppers and bagged flour on pallets for loading onto box cars. When detailing and scenery I will vary the building colors / details and surrounding scenery. I cannot fix the obvious duplication, however I don’t have to add any more to it. Jerry
Sometimes it is helpful to go clear out of the box. For instance, you have a grain silo. You could do a flour mill, and somewhere else, a complete cookie factory, where you could spot cars from off the layout in a perfectly normal setting, Eg. You would have hoppers for flour, tank cars for oil and liquid sugar, reefer cars for chocolate, and reefer cars for outgoing cookies, or maybe boxcars if the cookies are not carrying chocolate.
A few ideas I had. Take a look at some mills/elevators and you will see that there can be a lot of differences. Signage was mentioned above, a lot of mills and elevators will paint the town and/or company name on the silos. Are the silos painted white or left bare concrete, or need repainted with a mix of bare and painted areas. Change the head house on top of the silo, they are all different. Add some steel grain bins or drying equipment next to the elevator. How about using a wooden elevator instead of a concrete, or a wooden elevator next to the concrete one. Adam
Great idea! My planned tractor parts manufacturer could be the cookie factory instead or add another industry location, which may be possible. Thanks, Jerry
I like the idea of changing some of the components. Painting one set of silos bright white and adding name signage and then paint the other set of silos a drab concrete gray would tone down the similarities. Grain bins are an excellent suggestion and I do have room for them by the grain elevator siding. I am modeling current era using mostly steel and concrete. I've been trying to keep wooden structures to a minimum. Just making anything wooden look new would be a great means to an end. Thanks, Jerry
Every town has a team track, a freight house. I have a coal dealer and a bulk pier where hoppers are loaded with coal. But no hopper goes from the pier to the coal dealer. This would be more easy by truck. The hopper goes offline and another hopper from offline (from staging) goes to the coal dealer. Wolfgang
Hi, Go for it. Look at any town or city an you will see multiple buildings that look alike, Admittedly there are also many that don't. Due to not paying attention to what I was purchasing I have a few duplicates. I placed them in different areas, that makes it a bit harder to see that they are the same kits. Slight changes with the detail and painted a different color helps hide the fact. Some are placed next to each other in the business district, just like they are in down town Any City. Gary
Thanks Wolfgang and Gary. Everyone seems to have the same attitude, "go for it". What I have learned is to add a little spice to the mix and vary the look and you can get away with most anything without spoiling the layout. Jerry
Consider adding a track for cleaning out the cars before loading them. This will also let you increase the number of cars on the layout and number of movements that must be made within an industry, but the total number of cars per train does not need to increase. For example, you may have 2 to 4 loads to pick up at the flour mill, but you'll also have to move 2 to 4 cleaned cars from the cleaning track to the loading track, and then set out 2 to 4 empties to be cleaned that you brought from somewhere else on the layout. I like the idea of using covered hoppers for bulk flour and box cars for palletized bags of flour. If you set up car cleaning tracks, the equipment and debris along the track where you clean out the box cars will be much different than equipment and cleaning facilities for the covered hoppers. Will you be moving flour in the same type of cars that you move the unmilled grain in? For my Corn Products plant, I use 4-bay covered hoppers for grain and 3-bay covered hoppers for starch.
Never heard that rule before. Think in terms of zoning. Industrial areas have groups of similiar industries so more than one makes perfect sense. Moving flour from an elevator to an adjacent mill by rail however doesn't seem correct to me, if the mill is in a grain producing area it probably gets it's supply direct from trucks? Usually rail transport is just used for longer runs than can be represented on the average layout. If you can visually and operationally separate the two locations some how it might make sense otherwise I'd try to think in terms of on scene and off scene transport, stuff come from somewhere and ends up "here" or is shipped from "here" to out there.....dave
Dave: The "Rule" comes from "Track Planning for Realistic Operations" by John Armstrong. I totally agree with your point. I will most likely only model the flour mill and in so doing will eliminate the duplication issue. Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Jerry
Dave H: May not have room enough for the car cleaning track(s), but I like the idea and will try to fit it in. I will be using 4-bay hoppers for the raw grain and air slide hoppers for the flour. Thanks, Jerry
