So as I’m getting ready to do the next part of my layout, the Ethanol section I’m realizing i’m not going to have enough space on my 4x8 to set up all the structures that are in this series.
So my question is what main buildings do I need for a small ethanol operation? I plan on having 2 to 4 storage tracks for tank cars and hoppers. If this isn’t going to work Ill just have two tracks one for hoppers one for tank cars, along with the unloading track and the tank filling track. Any input would be great.
I am pondering the same thing. At minimum, the two structures you will need are the loading/unloading building for the hopper cars and the tank car loading platform.
Even if all the Walthers Ethanol structures are used, it would be a pretty small plant. You would need I would say 2-4 of everything in the series to get a typicall prototypical ethanol plant. They are just really expansive.
MR did an ethanol plant for their WSOR branch from 2008. The layout is featured in the Jan '08 issue and the structure building was in the April '08 issue, the very first issue of MR I bought actually. It is pretty nicely done, but to me could have had a few more things done. The plant was built into a corner of the layout, with very limited space so I’m quite sure that had MR the room, they would have made it a little more prototypical.
Some things, like DDG/DDGS loading, gasoline (or other chemical) unloading, and heck even a major portion of the grain can all be truck served and don’t necessarily need to be modeling on layout. Other items, like the cooling towers, fermentation tanks, and more prototypical items like grain dryers, ‘day’ silo’s and other ‘day’ tanks (only large enough to hold enough material to hold off the plant untill the train arrives) could all be modeled off layout, or even on the backdrop as pictures.
Also remember you’re only modeling. You don’t need to build 100% of something. If you can get away with building say 30% of an ethanol plant and it looks and feels like a full-sized prototypical ethanol plant then all you really need to model is 30%. Of course the trick is to figure out what 30% should be modeled.
It also just hit me, MR just did a feature article on ethanol a few months back. Maybe someone can chime in on which issue.
I agree you don’t need to model the whole thing. That is my plan. I am building a large layout but I only want to dedicate a small footprint to the plant, so loading and unloading and a couple of structures is about it. The rest of the plant will be in the aisle. That way it is big enough to need the level of service I will be providing and still let me build the rest of the layout.
There are 5 main buildings or structures on every ethanol plant, which are indispensable for ethanol production. These are: 1.Grain Silos, for grain storage from the covered hoppers 2. Production center, main structure where the ethanol is produced 3. Cooling tower, in here the vaporized alcohol is condensed. 4 Fermentation tanks, where the grain, water and microroganisms make their magic. 5. Storgae tanks, in here the ethanol (ethilic alcohol) is stored for shipping in tank cars. Some plants are bigger than others, cool thing about this kind of industry is that it comes in all sizes!
The Volmer / Kibri Refinery (European refinery kit) is a small kit that may fit your needs in the limited space . The Pike Stuff buildings may also fit your needs since they can be cut to fit and placed on your MRR. Have you also considered scratch building the tanks? PVC schedule 80 pipe and the next size smaller end caps from Lowes or Home Depot make for some really nice looking industrial tanks. I did my model cryogenic plant with the PVC pipe, end caps, and Evergreen styrene. A little glueing, drilling, and sanding and the use of the Walthers valve & piping kit is all you’ll need to do some really good, convencing tanks. …
here’s my cryogenics plant done with nothing but evergreen styrene, pvc pipe, and the walthers valve kit. (The cooling tower fans are actually nyquil cups)
You could cut the silos and the tanks in half and place them against the backdrop, or you could model only the front facade of the prodcution building as a backdrop 3d building. There are many ways to compress a scene with great and realistic results.
Ibeleive this is the prototype Walthers used for its ethanol series, it is located somewhere in Illinois:
Take a look at this russian web page with lots of pictures ethanol plants around the world:
Gidday, Jeff Wilsons “The Model Railroader’s Guide To Industries Along The Track 3”.I bought it for the cement article , but ethanol certainly looks an interesting and busy industry to model.
Chuck