Planning the Pencil Line RR Questions?

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

Hi, I’m Scott and I live in the Pac Northwest. I’ve always wanted to take my “N” gauge trains from the stored, run on the table twice a year thing to setting up a more permanent layout. But I believe a railroad needs a reason to be. So I came up with the idea for “The Pencil Line RR”. A prototype shortline that brings in commoditities to make pencils. Questions are many and a lot I have found answers for, yet… I have a small room (13X13 feet) that doubles as my bedroom. Hence a modual self point to point layout design. There are plans for a Logging branch, Graphite Mine, Clay Mine, Main Industrial Complex, Town(s) for workers and support, and a connection to a mainline railroad. time period is from the transformation of steam to diesel to now. Logging will be exclusively steam (hoping to find Atlas shays) with a mix of power for the other needs. Entrance door to the room is in the northeast corner on the north wall. A closet is against the east wall sticking into the room taking up the southern half of the east wall. There is a good sized window (45in. wide) in the center of the west wall. Here we go.

  1. How is graphite from the mines shipped? i.e. hoppers?

  2. How is clay shipped from the mines?

  3. Metal and eraser materials are planned to be shipped in, milled and cut for ferrules and erasers. For the metal brought in… Flat cars? Coil cars? Gondolas? Eraser material in box cars, check!

  4. I’ve tried to picture at least one bridge spanning the 45 inch wide window. To much?

  5. One, two or three levels? Why? Logging. Should I start with the mill and unseen forest operations, or build an upper shelf for the timber loading? The rest of the operations can happen on one level.

Well, there is where I’m at. Any assistance in my planning would be a great help! Thanks!

2

It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think a real pencil making factory would be getting like flatcars with logs on them and turning the logs into pencils. More likely the wood would come pre-cut into fairly small pieces that the factory would then do the final cutting and assembly work on. Similarly I don’t think they’d be getting hopper cars full of graphite from a mine.

I guess I’d do a websearch on “how are pencils made” and see how it really all works.

3

I did some more research. Logs go to mill, then to main plant as thin boards that are cut down into planks (2 halves) for pencils. Graphite from pit mine leaves the mine in powder form, thus could be delivered in covered hoppers, box cars, or containers. Clay from a pit or deep underground mine leaves the mine processing as powder also, transported in covered hoppers-box cars-containers. (small operations at both mines can be handled with GE 10 tonners and small hoppers). Graphite and clay mixed at pencil plant into strings, then kiln fired. the strings are then soaked in wax or oil, and then laid into the slots in the wood planks. the top plank is glued and pressed in place, and then the pencils are cut apart. The pencils are painted, have the ferrule and eraser attached, and then fold pressed to mark name and grade. This gives me several locations to model operations on. Log loading site, first cut mill, and milling at the main pencil plant. Graphite and Clay mines with on site processing plants. the main pencil plant buildings, support Company town, and transfer yard connection to mainline. Whew! he he he!