I'm interested in designing a roughtly 1' x 4' N scale switching layout that is focused on a single industry. Especially if its an industry with multiple cars types and switching spots. Is anyone familiar with any track plans for this that I can consider? Even if its a slightly different size, I can look at it and consider modifying for my space. Thanks in advance.
A 1X4 switching layout is certainly possible, but making it a single industry complicates things........industries big enough to require multiple car types tend to be large. My paper mill takes up a 1X2 foot space, which would take up half your space. The mill gets assorted tank cars and boxcars as well as woodchip cars in, and has boxcars going out. A grain elevator with a feed mill would possibly fit in your space and get grain in (either boxcars or covered hoppers depending on your time period) and grain and/or feed out. Most people doing what you are, tend to do multiple small industries/businesses (things that only get 1 or 2 cars at a time) so they can do multiple car types, and have short sidings. Sorry, can't help you with the track plans........I've never looked into small layouts. My space is 16' X 42'.
A brewey could be an idea, multiple cars coming and going and if you put the big building in the back as a half relief you could probably make it
Thank you both for the input. YES! I plan to use the building in relief, rather than modeling the whole building. My idea is to have the building(s) run the length of the layout, thus serving as the backdrop as well. I certainly like the idea of a brewery or paper will where multiple car types would be in use. My current HO scale layout is 1' x 8' similar switching unit, but like mentioned above, its all small customers that take a car or two each. I want to create something where the whole layout is the same industry. A specific track plan(s) for this would be valuable as well. I'm doing some online searching, but not really coming up with anything. I know designs like this exist, just can't find them.
What I do plan to have in my layout is a brewery, inspired by this real one in Italy abandoned in the 20s, but placed exactly where i intend to replicate reality, on a mountain railway in central Italy. This is actually a few hundred feet from a 2 track station and was connected with a siding (single track), (see original plan below, with the mainline on top) My plan is to actually run two tracks, one that runs inside parallel to the fence, and one that goes inside the building in the right lower portion, the rest of the building will be a low relief background. While the first will be used as a general purpose track, the second will be for unloading hoppers directy to the bins placed inside the building (we are almost 3000ft altitude here and in winter it freezes badly, so all cereals are stored inside, which by the way saves space). The two tracks combine with the station's passing siding to create something similar to an Inglenook switching puzzle; I will not use it as as such, but it is an interesting preposition anyway. More info here http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/Inglenook/inglenook-layouts.html I did also a traffic estimate, based on the real brewery that was producing something like 2000 gallons of beer per WEEK, using a 50% of rail traffic for shipping out, but 100% for incoming cerals, I ended out with a decently sized traffic, enough to justfy two pickups, setouts per day (but european wagons in the time i model were mostly four wheels, so for the US, it will differ significantly). Boxcars in for: empty bottles, bagged hops, boxes, empty casks etcetera.... Non iced reefers outbound for getting bottled and barreled beer out (1000 gallons is quite a lot of them) Hoppers in for cereals Tank cars or coal hoppers for fuel Gondolas out for spent cereals, in real life these went out to apple growes as insecticides (!). There is a kalmbach book on breweries that gives you all kind of information to reproduce the traffic. hope this is useful.
Don't know the article, but yeah, a large bakery could use covered hoppers, tank cars, box cars, reefers, and if they were renovating their equipment, perhaps flat cars too, and even a gondola or two for the outbound, scrapped machinery. If the semi-modern era, the PikeStuff's Milton A Corporation kit could be a good start. You might have two separate rail docks/tracks, for receiving and outgoing shipping. You could add a truck dock, with tractor-trailers too, for local customers. Perhaps it is in the middle of an expansion, and also needs building materials, piping/ducting, air handlers, machinery, storage tanks, etc.
I have a single industry layout which uses multiple car types. However, it is 2 x 3 feet N scale, and not actually an "industry" but a Navy Base. For BLIMPS. "Train-set" 9 3/4" radius loop is not a mainline but a circulation loop. Layout has one track running off the edge to represent an interchange with trunkline railroad. Spur to fuel dump which is military/naval equivalent of a bulk petroleum dealer. Gets tank cars of Aviation gasoline (according to my oral history interview with a blimp ctew member) Spur to naval store warehouse for boxcars, with room mat end of the spur for helium tank cars. Spur to open unloading area for gins and flatcars, with a end-loading ramp for vehicles on flat car. Most of the structures are scratchbuilt or kitbashed to reflct prototype building at U S Naval Air Station Hitchcock (LTA). LYA stands for "lighter-then-air" so this is the LIGHTER THAN AIR RAILROAD.
Love his Dawson Station layout. It is modeled off the real one at the Hull-Oakes sawmill that I've used for info and information for my sawmill. Check out is videos on the railroad activity at the mill which lead to his model.. Part 1 -- Getting to the mill. Part 2 -- At the mill. Also parts 3 & 4 are there along with a nice mill tour. I enjoyed and learned a lot from his videos and hope to build a loading shed for my mill complex also. Sumner
Interesting that the loading shed appears to be one-sided, but center-beam flats must be loaded equally and simultaneously on both sides, to avoid tipping over from an unbalanced load. They must be just running their loading forklifts across the tracks, around to the other side (opposite the shed) somewhere.
