I have a 11 ‘x 14’ HO layout and i am going to run a coal train to a dpm power plant i have on the layout . I now have the chance to get the Apalachin flood loader for the layout heres were the problem starts .
The flood loader will have to be put were i had planed for the power plant because thats were i have the room for it. And for the sideings to be as long as the coaltrian (20 to24 100 ton hoppers not counting the motive power ) .
I would be moving the power plant to my industral switching part of my layout .
The problem is i dont have the room for a train that big there .this is how i was thinking of making it work
Now here is the question .
Will it work and would the real thing split a unit train to deliver it’s load ?
I would pick up the unit train at the flood loader (20 to24 cars).Then bring it to my class yard and brake it up into a smaller train . Deliver one part of the load (10 cars) to the power plant . In a day or two thay would call and say it’s time to bring us the next shipment. At that time the local crew would bring the next set to the plant (the last 10 or so) drop them and bring the emptys back to the yard. Were thay would be put into a unit train and shiped to the loader . I would have 2 unit coal trains running so there is coal ready in the yard when its called for. I would just be staging part of a train in my class yard for when it’s needed.
Is that to much work for a railroad or would thay do this if space is a problem?
i have 2 A/D tracks and 4 class tracks in my yard so i dont think space will be a problem there
Yes they would, the TP&W here in Peoria would do this for a power plant that only held so many cars. Depending on the railroad and agreements, they may allow the power plant to use their engine to move the cars. So to answer your question yes. You could also instead of running a unit train, make the coal pickup be part of a manifest train, bringing in the required number of cars for the lead, or bring all and leave the others at the yard and bring them in as needed.
On my layout, the coal dumper lead is only 8 cars long [:(] but the side/holding track is 12, so I have to split them up, then send power over to move them around. There is usually a prototype to justify your model idea [:)]
Guess it depends on your “agreement” with the utility as how they need to be served. Dave indicates that there us some basis in the proto type, and some additional possibilities for how you handle the flow of cars to the loader, but still maintain a unit train from the loader to the yard/power plant. It’s your world all you need to do is justify the operation to yourself, and then let the “nit pickers” argue the logic of make money your way or make none their way!
Enjoy your hobby.
Will
There are numerous older plants that don’t have a ballon track and have to split the train in two or more pieces. There are also smaller plants that don’t use a full train. The UP runs coal trains to smaller plants and may have 2 or 3 customers on one train. They call these “grocery” trains. They also run one down to Texas for the cement plants down there.
If you thought about it, it’s a good bet that the real RR’s are doing it. I was worried about running a 2-3 car set of well/intermodal cars, seems from an RMC article one time there is a shortline that does that. I also try to make sure my small world is following big guy pratices. Nothing wrong with that.