I say for easiest, coal because the cars can be cheap, requires little minimum of radius and can be light for the engines to pull.
The most difficult I would imagine would be the automotive industries that would deal with automax cars, autoracks and the 86 foot autobox because of the length of yard leads required, money investments in the cars and some cars recommend 36 inch radius which is inconvient for those with small basements or attics.
logging lines are easy too and container car railroads would be hard as they would need a wide turning radius
Easiest: any type of factory/warehouse that receives box cars - no one knows if they are empty or full
Hardest: open autoracks from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s…but I am certainly going to give it a whack!
I’d say that a basic midwest grain elevator is the easiest to model. It doesn’t take much to scratchbuild an elevator (I’ve built three so far), and any old 40’ box can be spotted next to it.
The hardest industry to model? A shipyard or steel mill.
A full blown oil refinery would keep you busy forever with all of the spiderwed of piping…steelmills are difficult due to the large space required and specialized cars and machinery…before Walthers products few modeled an intergrated mill
One of the easiest is a transload…a siding a truck and a conveyance device (conveyer, PD unit or fork truck) is mostly what you need and very little space.
Back a 18 wheeler to a boxcar door and start loading or unloading.Every so often i see this done where i live and happening in 2004.
The two easiest…
A team track! Almost any kind of car with any kind of load.
Also, don’t forget, if you have engine servicing, you want a sand house spur, and an oil spur, that could be combined into one track, eh?
Most difficult would have to be a steel mill.
Easiest: Interchange track. It’s said to be the “universal industry” as it takes any and all pieces of rolling stock.
Hardest: This is to a high degree, subjective, but I am leaning towards possibly a refinery/chemical plant (LOTS of piping and supports to model), or probably the steel industry which can be an entire layout in itself. Most of the parts and structures need to be heavily bashed or scratchbuilt.
Just my opinion…
Easiest: A Nuke waste site, just a set of tracks leading into a big mountain
hardest: chemical refinery…whole lotta work
Don’t forget the protesters.
I agree that a realistic oil refinery is the hardest industry. I am planning on building a 24,000 barrel/day refinery on my layout. I have years of research invested in it. Good thing I don’t need any permits.
I am just starting, so they all seem difficult to me!!
i just bought a grain elevator yesterday. don’t have time right now to build it or the confidence at this time of night to start. probably do that over the weekend maybe.
grain has to be the easier. just need hoppers and you’re set.
hardest probably the steel mills or steam repair shops.
Easiest: a team track or rural grain elevator.
Hardest: CB&Q West Burlington locomotive shops, and I know a guy that is going to tackle this huge building! (The main room of it was 7 acres) He says that the finished model is only going to be the front wall, and that is still going to be 8 feet long!!
I will add that a team track is the easiest industry–some had platforms to match the open door of boxcars, others were just a track where the consignee was on their own to unload. Chemical or Refinery plants would seem the most difficult, with the maze of piping and tanks involved.
Easiest: Warehouse type building. With decals it can be transformed into a furniture factory, freight express company, dried food shipper, produce company, take your pick.
Most Difficult: Steel plants/ refineries. For those familiar, check out Dean Freytag’s layout in past issues of MRR. Wow! That huge plant is still impressive!
(and for you RDC fans, he took an RDC and turned it into an electric MU Car. Now that’s creative! )
easiest = manufactured home builder
difficult(est[:D]) = widget maker — the pieces that come with very tiny door jams
While a grain elevator can be easy to model, it can just as well be hard. Right now I’m working on modelling a rural elevator that has half a dozen large grain bins (only half of those are small enough to be model with the Rix bins), about the same number of multi-bin structures, and a few smaller bins. It’s a mess of conveyors, piping, and catwalks.
But still, I’d say a refinery one of the hardest things you can do.
As for simple industries, concrete unloaders can be as simple as a set of conveyors spaced to hit the two bays of a covered hopper that unload into a waiting truck.
IMHO Boxcars,Tank cars,covered hoppers and steel coil cars are the easiest…That’s one reason I use so many!! [:0][:p][:D]
Have you checked out the Walthers grain bins? They’re HO scale but I thought they looked big to me, almost O-scale at 5 1/4" diameter. They’re much larger than the Rix models.
http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3123
Hope this helps and gives you some more options with your model.
A subway would be easiest. All you need are some steps going underground.
One of the harder ones I would think would be a steel mill, to do it justice.