Does anyone have some ideas to share on paired Loads-in-empties-out industries? Or maybe some place that already discusses it?
I lean toward industries that are relatively compact… The layout isn’t centered around this, and I don’t want to dedicate great chunks of space for something massive, e.g. Oil Field and Refinery…
The L-I-E-O area is in a hilly/mountainous area rather than flatlands, waterfront or similar. The terrain is not yet built, so some flexibility, but roadbeds are laid and are multi-level here, so going to flat or otherwise isn’t really an option.
And yes, my fallback is coal mine and coal customer… But I was hoping for something just a little more off the beaten path… LIEO always seems to be a coal mine and coal customer…
I’m doing a l-i-e-o on my 2 level layout, a coal mine on the top level against the wall, tracks run thru the wall down a helix and out into a port area E-o-l-n on the bottom level on the same wall. The Helix has a dedicted track for this.
It will work with most industries. The forest would be off layout and the sawmill could be represented as a backside flat with the finished lumber represented on the layout.
A coal mine and an power plant are a natural. Large power plants often use loop tracks to receive unit coal trains. You wouldn’t actually use a loop but your loaded train could disappear as it entered one side of the simulated loop and seem to reappear coming out of the side of the loop with an empty train.
How about a ballast quarry? That way, you can use whatever you have left over and spread it in and around the operation, in hoppers, etc, and keep a realtime supply handy.
Sugar factory, shifting molasses in tankers.
Grain elevator…if it seems fitting…it would have a smallish footprint.
Sulfur or potash mine? The sulfur would look distinctive in open hoppers.
Lime for smelting and cement works…that is usually quarried.
Logging reload paired with a sawmill, or a sawmill paired with a lumber yard. You can hide the interchange area with a dense forest or other town buildings.
You have two options, flat cars/gondolas carrying frames or high cube box cars carrying same.
This gives you a reason for priority freight as the auto industry, like many others, operates on the just-in-time inventory situation so those loads had better arrive “on time.”
You could also do intermodal. Loads one way, empty cars the other.
Geez, most of Southern New England’s freight service was loads in, empties out. It’s what killed the New Haven.
1). Reefers full of meat, fish, vegetables, or fruit.
2). Autoracks (modern) and auto boxcars (1940’s era)
3). Manufacturing ingredients like tanks of fatty acids (used to make soap)
4). Loads of bricks and other construction materials
Essentially, anything that you can imagine that would be shipped in by rail, and out by truck due to the smaller size it’s made in. And a lot of these kinds of businesses can be made as big or small as you want. A reefer can be used next to an old one-door freight house or the equivalent to Boston Market Terminal.
Even your oil or coal cars can be dropped off at a local oil or coal dealer that only get’s one car at a time.
