I like the look of depressed center flat cars and want to incorporate them into my layout/model. However there’s a catch. I only want to use either 4 axle DP flats or 6 axle (if they make them, or possbily a good modeling opportunety to make one) as my main trackage will use only 11 inch curves and my main loop will use 9 3/4 inch curves. The main loop is just that, a main loop so I can run my trains and not have to plan out a session. I already have ideas as to what buildings to use, most likely a Walthers or DPM modular building and Walthers Dayton Machine building as a loading area, I’m just looking for ideas on what kind of industry this could be. If it helps, and I’m sure it will, the buildings will be made in a general down town setting, although off the main roads possibly in an industrial area with a few other businesses, and is modeled in early 50’s with diesel and steam power.
You don’t say but I hope this is N scale because in HO it would be a disaster. I would look at a company like Mesta Machine that is now out of business that built steel mill rolling mills in western PA. The building was only about 50 x 100 yards or so but shipped rolling mill stands made of cast iron and other large steel mill components weighing many tons requiring those types of cars both for weight and height. Many swichgear companies like GE, Westinghouse and ITE shipped large transformers and such on a variety of flat cars
WHOOPS!! [#oops][banghead]. Yes, this is all N scale. Lol, I can’t help but laugh at myself for this one. I think I like the idea of a company that makes large transformers though. It would definetly be something, it would require inbounds of material probably every few days, and I imagine I could easily incorporate them into a session with an outbound transformer loud from once every few days to once a week or slightly more. Thanks for the idea there buddy. But crap, that means I now owe two people in the forums a beer. Ugh…well I live at…the local bars are…
You might want to look at this website.
years ago, wagner electric had a plant in st louis that built transformers. i believe they also reconditioned large transformers so the heavy duty flat cars came in and went out loaded. one track went into the building in a pit that was level with the plant floor and the cars were loaded and unloaded with a huge overhead traveling crane. i doubt if the transformer went back out on the same car but who would know the difference? special car use charges on this special equipment were very high so they probably did not keep railroad owned cars around for future loading very long.
grizlump
My father was plant engineer at ITE at 19th and Hamilton Sts in Philadelphia. A Reading branch ran in a trench by the plant. The heavy switchgear was loaded on a short one car siding from the basement of the building. A short overhead crane came out of the building over the track for loading and to the best of my knowledge travelled about as far into the building as out. If I remember correctly the building that built that equipment was a high bay single story building and the loading area was a pit. I can remember watching from across the tracks in another building during summers worked there that a car was often there for four or five days before loading to clean up the deck from the various brackets other users had welded to it and prepare the new ones for the load. Once that was done the load was put on the car and shipped rather quickly probably for demurrage reasons but there was quite a lot of clean up and layout work that predceeded loading the car. As far as incoming cars transformers are filled with sheet steel plates that are interwoven to form the core and a lot of copper wire that is would around the core. Various forms of insulation are used to prevent short circuits and then the transformer is filled with oil. I doubt the oil was left in the transformer for shipment to help keep the weight down and the end user would then fill it after installation. None of that material came in by rail. Even in the early sixties it came in by truck. No reason why it couldn’t however dependent on sourcing.