i just recently finished my newer half of m layout i laid the track and stuff., and i was wondering if anyone out there had any ideas, industrial wise when i could place in this location , at its high point its going to be roughly 1/2 in. high then the track, and the location and next too the mainline littel outside a modern rural town. i was planning to make this area mainly woods with one mid size industrial building. but wasnt sure what. I was thinking of maybe a lumber mill or something… Give Me your opion
I like to keep it somewhat simple as if its too complex you or your guests may not want to operate it ( can’t keep up ). The lumber mill is a good choice as you could do it with two tracks. A cement plant would require different car loads like the lumber mill. You could have one major plant and a couple nearby. It seems most people limit the towns on their layout to 3-5 industries as it would not overtax operators.
I did 2 industries and 1 interchange track on my small town siding.
It looks like you have plenty of space, but don’t cram it full of track. I think of it like this, if my towns are too spread out the mainline will shrink that much more.
I was thinking about maken at this point but i decided not tooo cause it would be big enough, I might just go with the lumber mill, nothing large a mid size one cause at the moment my rural town just has a grain elevator, and a future coal minemaybe, and i didnt want any other large intrustries and since it will be located in a wooded region it might work well cause i want to save the rest of the space as a scenic part of the mainline and maybe a camp site or somthing…
sry about repetivie post i got an error the thing froze and when i returned it repeated my post
A lumber mill sounds good. How about a mobile home manufacturer? Possibilities there. I just a few ‘industries’ on mine. There’s a shipping/recieving company, a freight terminal and I have a spot picked out for my third. Haven’t quite decided on it yet.
If you appreciate the old style as seen in John Allen and recently here with Bob Grech, the key there is to cram much detail into an area. Even an open area, like a desert, need lots of stuff. I would look at the buildings and idustries I like, and see how many I could get in. I realize this is opposite of some of the other good advice you are getting, but there are several schools of scenicing and all have their fans. You need to decide where you are.
Athrill - im going for a moderan style, for my layout is in the modern era and a freelance model of Western Pa in small rural town
PS, If nayone has layout pics of there lumber mill please post
Since this is a wooded area, may I suggest a log reload on a team track spur? You could place the spur so it wanders off toward the woods to a spot where a skidder loads logs or pulpwood from arriving log trucks. Place a small wooden dock on the spur and ship in bulldozers, boxcars of equipment, empty log cars, gondolas, and even some tank cars. It’s a mini industry within a little space and fits the wooded scene!
I just noticed that the picture above, turned up by Google, is from one of our RR forum members, Mr Anthony. This is no attempt to hijack Mr. Anthony’s pictures or talent. Being one of his pictures, I feel that some credit is due for the source.
The lumber load on team tracks is a great idea. There is a team track down here (La Marque Texas) that has been used to offload gravel. They have a caterpillar crane that simply climbs from car to car shoveling out the gravel into waiting trucks – no buildigs needed.
nice thnx for pic , but i need more of a lumber facotry then a logging camp type ting
Walthers has a fairly decent kit of a modern lumber company. That’s the best I’ve seen. Everything else just screams out 1800s or looks too toyish. I too model western PA only in the 90s while Conrail was still around.
Ya whalters was a pretty nice one that i saw ill proably go with that. I was thinkin about modeling conrail because theres more for it but i prefer Norfolk southern, if you could can you send me some picks of your layout?