Scratch built a loading ramp for the team track / yard this week. Between the dark wood and cinders, it's a little difficult to see. It will eventually have an overhead gantry crane to unload stuff that doesn't have wheels. It was a pretty simple project. Some balsa wood, wood ties, wood dowel rod and some cinders, and that was about all there was to it. Paul
Thanks, Tom. Your posts--especially on your heavily modified locomotives--have taught me tons of stuff. Do you still live on the western slope? If so, we're not that far apart. My cousin recently retired from the BNSF (for him it means Big New Santa Fe). He was a career conductor and part time safety something or the other based out of Winslow. He worked for the ATSF / BNSF from 1974ish when he graduated from high school til last fall when he retired. His name is George McGuire. One of his sons is an engineer for the BNSF. I think he's on what he called the extra board due to lack of seniority. His father--my uncle--was the senior highway patrolman based in Winslow for 28 years. His best friend is Jerry Walters. Jerry was head of Bridge and Building for the division around Winslow. Many years ago, when it was still the AT&SF, Jerry gave me a two day photographic pass to crawl on, under and around the Canyon Diablo bridge and take pictures. If I can figure out how to scan slides, I'll send you some of the shots. It's an amazing bridge. Completely off the subject, but still railroading. Paul Moore
Hi Paul, Yep, still pulling a throttle for BNSF here in GJ. You cant get those passes anymore on camera everywhere you go no matter what job you have around this outfit.
Thanks. It's been fun. The last four days the weather has been horrible, so no bicycling, which leaves plenty of time to work on the railroad. Paul Moore
OK...for those of you with more prototype knowledge than I (which means just about anyone on this forum), I have some questions. Today I nearly completed my scratchbuilt coal bin. It's just laying on the layout until I figure out what else to do with this area. The plan is for it to be a company service sort of place where the general public can buy coal for their heating stoves, etc. Next to it will probably be a combination small office and speeder shed. Behind that--near the old Mack tank truck--may be a tiny tank area where a tank car can be spotted to sell kerosene, heating oil, etc. The round piece of paper in the foreground is going to be a pedestal crane. I'm struggling with this whole area of the yard, as to how best to use the space and make it sort of realistic. Do the ideas sound ok? Do you have any suggestions? Should it be railroad owned or a retail enterprise? I am ALWAYS open to suggestions and have incorporated many from two friends who live out of state but have given me good input. Keep in mind that this is a small branch line fictitious railroad--not anywhere close to a class I affair. If any of you have done some of these things on your layout, please post some photos. I'd love to see what you have done. Thanks in advance, Paul Moore
Paul, What kind of hopper or gondola car are you using to unload the car? Are these drop side type? or bottom door? If bottom door, I would excavate under where the hopper would unload so the track appears to be elevated, maybe use a three sided railroad tie wall and you would have to move the parallel track away to provide room for the wall. This should be a retail enterprise. For drop side gons, show a pile of coal at the end of the portable conveyor maybe with a pair of workers shoveling the coal on to it or a small farm tractor shoving coal onto it. Let your imagination fly! John
Hi John, Thanks for the ideas. The gons will not be drop bottom. The unloading will be via pedestal crane / laborer in gon shoveling. Your second idea fits the bill perfectly. Using that approach, I may have to move all of the railroad associated stuff onto the parallel track and leave this track for retail stuff. Do you think there would be a very small fuel oil facility associated with the coal sales? Thanks, Paul
If you can fit it in and make it work without it being crowded and condensed. You will probably need a small pump house to get fuel from tank cars to a fuel pump or horizontal elevated storage tank. There is all kinds of neat little things you can do! John
I read Model Railroad Hobbyist and its discussion forums, and there was a thread on coal dealers by Jim Six this past winter that was very interesting. Unfortunately, I tried searching for it and I couldn't find it, but there were several examples of small town coal and fuel dealers. I'll keep looking.
Since this is most likely now a retail location instead of a company service location, the motorcar shed would be moved elsewhere, leaving room for a small office / pumphouse / fuel oil location. I agree with you about not being too crowded. Something too many modelers do is attempt to put too much stuff on a layout and make it too busy. If the fuel oil structures won't fit, I will leave it out. Thanks, and I'll think about it. Paul
That one is good, too. There was some spat that caused Jim Six to delete everything, so I wonder if the coal dealer stuff disappeared. He had a long-running thread on modeling the depression years and one on one-town layouts, but I thought the coal thread was separate. EDIT: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/32853
Look at this layout, it is a friend of mine who helped me a lot about scenery and detailing. Look at photos 25, 71 this kind of applies to your situation. http://www.gatewaynmra.org/2012/bill-giese-beautiful-rock-island-ho-model-railroad/
