Ok so here’s the deal:
long story short, about seven months ago my housing situation changed and my modest layout (a U shaped 9x7 HO ISL) had to be disassembled and went into storage.
I’ve been toying with the idea of either going with some sort of N scale layout. But that doesn’t appeal to me because I’ll want to go back to HO as soon as I possibly can. I have an L shaped space of 60x47 inches (yeah the one wall in this space is 47". Who designed that?) In order to maximize existing supplies, I considered an Inglenook puzzle to tinker with. That’s when I got an idea. I have sufficient boxcars and covered hoppers (modern era) to consider either a brickyard or a lime kiln. I’ll admit the idea of a lime kiln appeals because I’d want to fashion a rotary kiln. I also considered the possibility of a plant that makes railroad ties.
Here’s where the interesting thing happens: for reasons I cannot explain, I thought about adding an industrial narrow gauge train to it. One of the lime kilns back home in PA used something similar and it was the largest kiln in the world when WWII started. It also occurred to me that I could use a little narrow gauge train to shuttle bricks or ties around. Which leads me to two questions:
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I’ve never seen an industrial narrow gauge railroad with those bitty Plymouths in the modern world. This is important not only because of the equipment I want to use but because I’d want to incorporate whatever I build into a future layout.
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Can the Minitrains be modified to use N or even Z scale couplers? If so, is there any chance at all that they’d operate semi-reliably?
Mall in San Antonio…
used to be a cement plant. Has old RR equipt on display.
Cement plant included in plan for a San Antonio layout
I’m a retired trucker and I know of at least two narrow gauge railroads still in operation. One in South Carolina at a brick plant. They had two small Plymouth locos and maybe 20-30 tiny dump cars that hauled the clay from the mine to the plant, where the clay went into a rotary drier. The other narrow gauge rr I know of is in California at a drywall and plaster plant in a town called Plaster City, west of El Centro. However this narrow gauge uses modern cars and locos and long trains that haul the ore along distance from the mine to the plant. I used google earth to follow the line from the plant to the remote mountains where it is mined and it is a long ways. The line at the brick plant is short - maybe a mile or so and does cross a county road with flashing signals but no gates. I can’t be sure but I think the cars of the brick plant are couple with loop and pins with safety chains. Hope this helps a little.
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=8702 This is a path to a picture of the brick plant train. Best i could find
“Modern world” as in today? I think pretty rare, as indicated above.
1970? Yep. The one I remember best was the old tie and lumber treatment plant just south of the Monon’s McDoel Yard in Bloomington, IN. It had a fairly simple, but interesting layout, strung along the Monon’s mainline leaving town. It would be ideal to model, if you’re looking for something specific, but great for ideas about a good basic layout of how things were set-up at a typical creosote plant.
I rode by this every day on the way home from 9th grade and was a very observant model railroader by then. In fact, built the Elk River RR(?) that was done by Frary and Hayden in RMC about then. Used those very models, too.[:D]
Was smart enough to sell the remains of that effort not long before the current generation came out and depressed the collectors market for the old stuff…[8D]
A place to look for more info on this specific plant would be the Monon RR Historical Technical Soceiety. They just inaugurated a new discussion site. You have to register, but pretty sure you don’t need to be a member. There are past discussions on this plant archived on the old lists, linked at this URL for the new site:
http://www.mononboard.org
Ifound a review of the - BCH International HOn2-1/2 MiniTrains - set with diesel locomotive under Product Reviews in the News and Reviews section of this site. It says it eould be difficult to reolace the couplers.
The 3’ gauge Palmetto Brick line is still operational, although not in use due to the decline in demand for construction bricks. They operated the line last fall for guests from the Narrow Gauge convention. Here’s a photo I took on that line back in 1994.
I visited Wallace, SC last May and the equipment is still accessible for photos from the public road with a long lens. There was a sizeable article about Palmetto Brick in the August, 2011 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman (with numerous photos).
I had the MiniTrains back in the 1960’s. I recognize that a further downsize to an apartment-sized space may be in the future, so I have drawn up tentative plans for a micro-layout of industrial switching using these HOn30 models. I have purchased one of the Plymouths and one 0-4-0. The HOn30 from Peco will make this far easier than trying to adapt N track.
Using jumpers, I have tested these new locomotives - just back and forth on a 3’ section of track. The operation is FAR better than the originals back in the 60’s. I think that clean track and wheels will still be critical for good operation, but these new ones run slow enough to make an operating layout possible. As to the couplers, I never tried changing them on that early set. The tolerances for error would be pretty small, so a magnifier might be needed for proper placement. Still, if it can be done for N scale, it can likely be done for HOn30 using the same curve radii.
Bill
Just for curiosity sake, here is a site to see the narrow gauge at plaster city:
http://www.whitepassfan.net/usg/index.php
The Monson Railroad was one of the Maine 2 foot railroads which ran from 1883 until 1945. It’s primary purpose was to carry slate from the mine to an interchange with standard gage Bangor & Aroostook RR. They also had a limited passenger service. The RR had only about 8 miles of track.This photo of Monson #3 at the Monson, ME station:
http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/9181/enlarge
For more information, the book “Maine Narrow Gage Railroads” has a chapter and pictures of Monson RR
http://www.amazon.com/Maine-Narrow-Gauge-Railroads-Images/dp/073851179X/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1332862729&sr=8-14
The Minitrains are HOn30/HOne which is used to emulate 2 foot narrow gage. Peco has a couple styles of HOn30 track, Walthers seems to stock only the “regular” track, the other is “crazy track” which simulates poorly laid or maintained track with ties that are out of alignment. If you do not like Peco turnouts, you can use N scale turnouts instead
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Track&scale=Hn30&manu=peco&item=&keywords=&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=300&Submit=Search
I didn’t forget about my own thread! Just been busy with that thing that gives me money that allows me to buy tiny plastic trains.
The coupler thing is discouraging. I figured it they could be converted, then if N can have remote uncoupling then why not HOn30. But at the same time, if the full size ones use something like hook and loop, then that’s what I’d want to use. I’d somewhat assumed they used a tongue and pin like a tractor and a hay wagon, actually.
I’ve definitely picked up an idea or two. For some reason, that clay mine inspired me to think about glass recycling for reasons I can’t figure out.
That Palmetto Brick Co. line in Wallace, SC uses link and pin coupling - as can be seen on the front of the locomotive in the photo above. I always find it amazing to see operationg narrow-gauge using link and pin in the year 2000+ !
Many of these industrial lines use a semi-perminately coupled train that just shuttles back and forth from loading area to the dumping area. There is no need for switching unless one needs to set out a bad-order car. There at Palmetto Brick, the locomotive would uncouple from the train loaded with clay and the loaded cars would be pulled into the dump building by cable.
My concept on using these things on a micro layout is to have one running on a loop with an automatic stop at the loading or unloading site before the train disappears back into the industrial buildings. The other would shuttle back and forth, using one of those automatic reversing units. A bit of standard gauge HO using a 45-ton side rod diesel or other small switcher would have access to a couple spurs and a sector plate (hidden within a building) for “staging”.
The glass manufacture idea has possibilities. The short line Winchester & Western RR in Virginia survived for the purpose of hauling high quality sand in covered hoppers. Those loaded hoppers went down to Williamsburg, VA so that the sand becomes Budweiser beer bottles. There is no reason why such an operation couldn’t be conceived/created using narrow gauge to add in recycled glass or for that actual run to a sand pit.
Bill
The hook and loop couplers aren’t that obtrusive. They can be uncoupled using a brass rod with an L-shaped flat on the end to lift the tabs that extend below the coupler. A couple companies offered hand-operated uncoupling ramps as well.
In addition to the revived BCH Plymouth and Baldwin, there is European-proto equipment from Bemo and Liliput.
Pretty sure Bemo’s offerings are mostly HOm, which runs on 12mm gauge track. They may have some items convertible to HOn30 (in Europe, HOe), as that is something which more European manufacturers are providing.
Re couplers…I don’t have my old Minitrains to refer to, but IIRC the loop coupler is molded into the endbeam on the locos. I’m fairly certain this can be cut away and alternative couplers mounted. I’m pretty sure that a M-T N scale coupler should fit. Converting the couplers on the cars will probably be trickier.
I also never gave much thought to what sort of curve radius they can negotiate. I’d imagine its pretty tight. They’re just a little too pricey for me to pick them up to tinker with.