Just thought I would ask those of you whom have constructed a cement facility to share your pics. I am almost ready to construct my benchwork but still need to finalize my layout plans for structure placement and so on.
I currently own about 26 model kits, must of them are from Walthers. My cement facility will consist of the following structures; Valley Cement Plant, Medusa Cement Company, Glacier Gravel, Open-Air Transload, Co-Op Storage Shed, and in addition, I will construct several other kits to support fuel operations and more warehouses.
I’m going to pay attention to this as well. I have an approximately 2x8 foot area to build a cement plant and haven’t come up with a decent arrangment of the structures, even comparing to actual photos of the plant I am representing (the long gone Lehigh Cement plant in Fogelsville, PA). I have several different views in a book on cement production int he area, plus some aerial views from both the 30’s and 50’s.
Interesting. My layout theme is based on the PRR, era between early 1970’s to 1980’s. My space available is about 10’ x 12’. Lots of ideas floating but nothing concrete yet!
BTW, what’s the name of your book? I need to buy some reading material to further study my complex options.
Google search, aerial picture cement plant (or variants thereof) will get you pictures of real cement plants.
Feel free to adapt to fit area available on your layout.
One standard trick for modeling large type plants is to model a small two or three track industry yard in front of the plant. Actual trackage inside the plant is represented by a single hidden track behind the buildings.
Then a small industry switcher can come out from behind/“inside” the plant with a cut of outbound cars (empties or loads), leave the outbound cars on the yard tracks, and get out of the way. Train on the mainline stops at the industry yard, picks up outbounds, drops of inbounds, moves on.
Switcher now organizes the cars (according to how the plant tracks supposedly are organized), then shoves cars “into the plant” (ie into the staging track inside/behind the buildings.
Might work for the OP, but not for me - if you’ll recall my track plan, which you provided great input on, the cement plant is on the center leg of an E shape, so it’s accessible from 3 sides. No ‘behind the backdrop’ space for me. Although it’s certainly possible to block off one side, but that would make the operator at Chapman feel awfully lonely, between the ceiling sloping down and the plain side of a backdrop behind them. I may block the short side as that’s probably the best location for a workbench, although 2’ wide isn;t much for a workbench. Force me to keep it clean though.
Plenty of time to think about it, this will probably be the last part of the layout to be worked on, since it will fill up the middle of the room which is a space the comes in pretty handy to build each benchwork section.
You are of course right in pointing out that the modeling trick of abstracting away within-plant tracks would not really work all that well, if modeling within-plant tracks is exactly what you want to model
But googling for and looking at aerial pictures of the prototype is a fairly good idea if modeling within-plant tracks somewhat accurately is what you want to do. It is hard to beat prototype pics if what you are concerned with is getting a prototypical look and feel.
Also, there is also a double page sketch on page 55-56 (or thereabouts) in that Lehigh Valley book you have showing a schematic of a plant, including rail service, as well as quite a few other pictures of plants from various eras.
Or just google for e.g. cement plant Pennsylvania - I found that there was en Essroc plant on 401 West Prospect Street, Nazareth, PA
So I go to http://www.bing.com/maps and enter that address, switch to over picture view and zoom in, find a small, eminently modelable interesting looking plant by Easton road and switch to Bird’s eye view to study it from several directions.
Interesting track configuration. Switchbacks, runarounds, couple of storage tracks, one track running through covered loading/unloading between the silos and a building.
I only meant that hte hidden behind the building approach wouldn;t work for me. Workign from overhead photos is exactly what I’m doing.
As for the plant in Nazareth - actually there were several at one time. One is still there. That’s near where I grew up and I remember driving past them all the time - which is partly interfering witht he planning. I have picture of one plant and rather vivid memories of another that was laid out compeltely differently. The one I rememebr most was build somewhat intot he side of a hill, so the track supplying coal and additives came in at a higher level on top of a heavy concrete structure that formed various holding bins. The tracks for bulk cars came in at a lower level on the same level as the base of the storage silos. The railroad there was either LNE or L&HR I think, although I don’t recall EVER having to stop for a train - yet I remember hopper cars on the elevated track. The plant was modernized in the 70’s and now has an open rotary kiln and most if not all inbound and outbound traffic is trucks. There are few remnents of the older portion where the rail activity was.
A train I observed on its way to serve the Davenport, CA cement plant consisted of both covered and open hoppers. Coal going to the plant in the open hoppers, with empty covered hoppers to carry cement out. So, seeing both open and covered hoppers at a cement plant is no cause for alarm.
This is a track schematic for Creal where a giant cement plant is located. It is at the end of a branchline starting from Mojave. Note that the end of the branch creates a switchback leading to the plant, serving as switching lead. In particular, note that certain tracks have been assigned for gypsum, tank, and coal cars.
Here is a link to a blog by a modeler who has put up Walther’s Valley Cement as a three track industry in a corner - one track for bulk hoppers, two tracks for bag loading (bottom of the page linked to):
It sounds like you are modeling the entire operation and it should be quite interesting and large. I narrowed it down to model only that which can be seen easily from the highway. I turned everything around for the layout but my goal is in the link.
Don’t know if you had a look at Charley’s layout in the link I gave you? He has since done some more work on his little cement plant, and it looks pretty nice, in my opinion:
I spent 25 years working in a real one. If you need help contact me.
DO NOT GET TOO REALISTIC. THEY ARE EXTREAMILY DIRTY AND THE NOISEST PLACES YOU CAN FIND. You don’t need neighbors calling the cops or you wife moving you out of the house on a broom.
I went to work at 2:45 PM one after noon when I was shift repair man a chain had come out of the kiln and caught in the side drag. I answer the alarm to help the guy I was replacing. He was not there to help for some reason. the kiln had gone raw and by the time I got it done and found him the day crew thought I had been there all day.
Cement plants changed designs over the years. the plant I was in was the second one built (1946)and I left just before they started the 3rd into operation in 1997 . My father in law worked there too. At 98 he can still tell me what #1 that was built about 1900 was like.
I could get photos of the first two but I would have to .take pictures of pictures in frames.
