Coke furnace (They were very polution heavy, and as a result of clean air regulation, shut down. On most modern mills, coke is now imported from other states with more lax regulation and better scrubbing equipment.)
Not so common kits
Rail shop. - All those cars need repairing
Hullets & other Cranes - All over the place. Including large ones which scoop up raw supplies and put them in ore hoppers on their way to blast furnaces and electric shops
Office building - any industrial building will do.
Sinter plant - (plastruct kit) recyles sinter ash from blast furnace exhaust into usable material
Lime plant - (plastruct kit) Lime is a catalyst material necessary for reaction inside blast furnace. It also protects furnace walls.
Dorr Thickner - allows all the ashes to sink to the bottom of a giant water tank. The water is drained off and the ashes collected and reused.
Open Hearth - a favorite of mine - refines pig iron into steel. It was replaced by Basic Oxygen Furnaces and Electric Furnaces. They were used up until the 70’s/80’s
BOF - Basic oxygen furnace. There used to be a ?Trix? kit for this, but it wll cost you an arm and leg to find now.
Oddball buildings:
Vulcan works - crude shapes that came out of rolling mills were further shaped, cut, and welded to make usable products. IE: large pipes with flanges on the end for mating to other objects.
Coke furnace (They were very polution heavy, and as a result of clean air regulation, shut down. On most modern mills, coke is now imported from other states with more lax regulation and better scrubbing equipment.)
Not so common kits
Rail shop. - All those cars need repairing
Hullets & other Cranes - All over the place. Including large ones which scoop up raw supplies and put them in ore hoppers on their way to blast furnaces and electric shops
Office building - any industrial building will do.
Sinter plant - (plastruct kit) recyles sinter ash from blast furnace exhaust into usable material
Lime plant - (plastruct kit) Lime is a catalyst material necessary for reaction inside blast furnace. It also protects furnace walls.
Dorr Thickner - allows all the ashes to sink to the bottom of a giant water tank. The water is drained off and the ashes collected and reused.
Open Hearth - a favorite of mine - refines pig iron into steel. It was replaced by Basic Oxygen Furnaces and Electric Furnaces. They were used up until the 70’s/80’s
BOF - Basic oxygen furnace. There used to be a ?Trix? kit for this, but it wll cost you an arm and leg to find now.
Oddball buildings:
Vulcan works - crude shapes that came out of rolling mills were further shaped, cut, and welded to make usable products. IE: large pipes with flanges on the end for mating to other objects.
The Blast Furnace is the most important building, and is available in N scale. The other buildings can be kitbashed. Besides the buildings of the steel mill, there are other structures related the the production of iron and steel. I have a a harbor next to my HO scale steel mill that contains an ore boat and two Hewlett Unloaders. The Coke and gas retort may be at a distance from the steel mill.
My compressed steel mill occupies a space of about 3’x6’. The Blast Furnace is available in N scale, and is the best place to start. The other structures can be kitbashed without too much trouble. A steel mill has other related industries that are railroad intensive. My harbor contains an ore boat and two Hulett Unloaders, which feed a four track yard with 24 ore cars. The Coke and Gas works may be at some distance from the steel mill. A limestone quarry provides the limestone flux. A slag pit is a necessary part of a steel mill, as are scrap iron piles. Click on photos to enlarge them. Then, click on “Previous” or “Next” to see other views of my layout.
The Cambria Iron Company of Johnstown was literally the pioneer for steel making in the United States inspiring operations in Pittsburgh and other cities. Read the progress of steel making from 1852 forward at the Johnstown Area Heritage Association.
Take note of the much larger picture of a geographic region that contributed extensive coal and water resources to serve over 20 miles of mills from open hearth to rolling bar to rods to wire to coke (long before a cola became the original coke).
Freight car building began near the end of the 1800s with eventual buy-outs by Bethlehem Steel and becoming Johnstown America inheriting cars like the aluminum Bethgons. Dedicated industrial railroads (with SW1500s) also served coal mines, slag, and mill operations.
Halfway down the article is the still standing, octagonal Blacksmith Shop, constructed in 1864 – Illustrating a prototype with more than a blast furnace. Thus, if your mill is founded early enough, there can be really broad types of buildings.
Get the book that Stein suggested. I have it, and it’s excellent resource for modeling steel mills. They even have track plans for steel mills in the book. Where the buildings are situated, etc.
I decided instead of buying separate buildings I will buy a warehouse or two type of buildings with where my switchers or whatever locomotive that is assigned to working in the steel area can pull/push cars into. The two buildings will be in a sense old used up buildings converted into a small steel mill since the steel will be used within my freelance little world. That way it will be my own creation and have enough room for a small yard to store coalporters or any other type of cars to help create steel.
