Hello all, so now that I've got a layout and a general plan of what industry(ies) that may exist on the layout. there will be a #10 LH turnout where the #5 turnout is(I'm not sure what to do with the #5 RH turnout yet.) This is an NP/GN layout with possible sprinklings of Q and SP&S, but the general idea here is two different areas split by a divider. the far side with the station will be somewhere along the stampede pass route. the near side will have an industry that ships fruit, grain, lumber, and other oddities like Hay, tractors, etc. Is there a possible way to model this or what form of industry would this be representing? I have a general idea but it needs a bit of refining.
I can imagine all of these EXCEPT tractors being shipped from one general location, though probably not from the same industry. A farming and lumbering region would be more likely RECEIVING tractors than shipping them.
If I'm understanding correctly, this is kind of a team track, right? I'd just do a loading dock which, in theory, could be used by multiple companies representing the industries you described. Andy Tetsu Uma
I agree. Here in the Bay Area, I've seen a couple of different team tracks in use. One in San Carlos used to get PFE cars unloading produce and boxcars of lumber at a dock. In Richmond, they would load gons with huge bags of sawdust or wood chips, flatcars with steel plates and unload covered hoppers with...something. This was done with no dock at all. If you're going to load/unload tractors, you'll need some kind of ramp to get them on the flatcars. team tracks are pretty versatile "industries".
From the farm and ranch perspective a farm supply and grain elevator combo. A large local CO-OP elevator sometimes had, in addition the typical grain elevator a farm supply store, often attached. The CO-OP also sold gas and diesel and in my younger driving years I often bough my gas there since it was cheaper. The retail part of the CO-OP also sold stock watering troughs, chicken incubators, hand tools like shovels etc., dog food, gardening supplies and feed and seed. They also could be an implement dealer, usually housed separate, that sold Deere or New Holland farm equipment. The small rail yard in the town where I spent my younger years had one of those directly across the tracks from the small station. Just to the north on the same side was a livestock yard, then a loading dock with end ramp, and finally a fuel dealer who received rail delivery. Outgoing was obviously the grain and live stock. Incoming was the farm equipment and fuel. The CO-OP also stocked hay and straw bales out back a distance from the elevator. The track that all this on was a single track with connections to a 2nd track at both ends to run around and the entire yard was not more than six tracks. Four in front of the station and two behind.
Why do you have a switchback spur? Is it possible to set up each industry with its own track that doesn't need to be used as a switchback? If you're keen on having to move cars around to get to the back track, why not put two industries (with different shipping schedules) on the same long spur? Then you can have your car-moving and an extra industry to boot. If you get tired of car-moving just to move them (it happens), then that situation is easier to fix than to tear out a switchback.
switchback spur? it's gonna be a bit hard to give each industry it's own track on a 2' x 4' I'm trying not to overcrowd the scene. Ken tractor receiving actually works much better thank you! Tetsu, a loading dock was something I had in mind. the fruit reefers would be placed on the left side of the industry track, while flats are in the middle, and on the far right would possibly be another industry or something. it'd take some shoehorning but I'm sure I could fit a curved turnout in there somewhere. John, I was going for moving bagged grain but maybe I could place a grain co op on the layout just beyond the curved turnout. before we go any farther what is a team track?
For the Stampede Pass main line, is this going to be on the west slope? If so, there'd be basically two possibilities for your near BN/BN time period. Forest products, such as the old mill at the Henry Spur and perhaps at Lester. I cannot recall right now, what, if anything was still at Lester by the late 1960s or early 1970s. Or coal, such as at Ravensdale.
stampede was going to be repped by a station scene as I was planning to throw the oddball pass. train on there every now and then, the industries would be somewhere in eastern washington because of the apples and other farm related items.
I'll give my standard advice for setting up a versatile industry. If you set up a reasonably large, nondescript building and give it a generic name such as ABC industries, XYZ manufacturing, QRS distributing, etc. then you can pretty much spot any kind of car there that you want because it's not obvious what's going on inside the building. It can even change from operating session to operating session, for instance "Emerson and Son distributing" could be a produce supplier one session taking reefer cars, and next time the farm supply distributor taking boxcars full of equipment, dry goods and yes, even an occasional tractor!
works for me because it was going to be called Sampson Farm Supply(my Grandfathers last name). there'll be a couple buildings probably just two, SFS, and a yet to be named apple orchard/ fruit company.
I'd have to agree wth Kenneth , I saw last week on BNSF 10 flat cars with 2 each Case IH harvesters heading west from Sandpoint most likely to Spokane to St John Hdwe & Impliment dealer locations along the Palouse where the majority of grain has been grown for the last 100 years . I do know that back in the 60's Ingorsoll-Rand had a manufacturing facility making all kinds of air handling equiptment in Portland as their weekly semi used to stop in Pocatello Idaho for fuel late in the evening . ( I worked part time at nite while going to college there ) . Lots of lumber operations along the Cascades, tons of potatoes , and other veggies out of central WA including apples etc .. So you could just about name your veggie / cash crop and it is grown along that corridor for sure .
It means you do not actually model that portion, but may simply have a stub track leading off beyond some scenery, (or however you design it), and simply imagine that is where trains originate or terminate. This explains how cars come onto or depart from the layout- To and from the rest of your layout, located somewhere beyond the horizon.
It's just a neat method for imagineering your layout to a larger size, than what you physically have available.
A "team track" is a spur or siding that serves mulitple industries. The term "team track" comes from 19th century shippers driving their teams of horses (mules, oxen, etc.) to the track to load or unload. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_track Good call on the Co-Op, John. Rural farmers used to count on them quite a bit for various necessary items, all right. Andy "Tetsu Uma" Tetsu Uma is Japanese for "Iron Horse." (Tetsu=Iron, Uma=Horse) The Japanese for railway is Tetsudo for "Iron way/path."
Ok, so here's a video showing two trains running simultaneously without block control, it'll require a number of Powerpacks but I may have found a way around having to get DCC(crosses fingers and thinks of future dream layout). [video=youtube;kwLkbMeFNfo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwLkbMeFNfo[/video]
