I know I should post this in the Layout building forum but maybe someone can help me here. The area I have isn’t very big (2’x1’) but I still want to put something there as a source of revenue. I’m modeling Appalacia in the mid 60’s and I was thinking of the possibiltiy of a small venture mine. If anyone has any ideas for this space please post.
Hello “izzy,” How about a truck dump of some sort. This would be a ramp on the side of a hill or cut above a rail sput. Dump trucks from an off-layout coal mine back onto the ramp and either dump their contents directly into a hopper car, or dump onto a conveyor that extends out over the hopper. With the conveyor, there might be a small shed over the dump end of the conveyor to cover the motor and machinery. See the October 1998 “Model Railroader,” page 79, for an example of a simple truck dump ramp. So long, Andy
A truck dump justifies more traffic than a small mine. You can assume the larger mine is some distance away and coal is trucked to the siding.
http://www.appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/abcsofcoalloaders.html
Blair Line has a model of the simplest type in N and HO
http://www.blairline.com/truckdump/
Those are good ideas. Here’s another one that I came across that works for Colorado and may very well be applicable back east. I was surprised to learn the number of explosive plants that used to exist in mining regions, but it makes sense.
These days, explosive plants need lots of space to model, but I’ve seen photos of older plants that weren’t all that large, at least when it comes to unloading areas for inbound chemicals, the processing plant, and tracks into secure storage bunkers. These are usually seperated by quite a bit for obvious reasons, but some selective compression might make this a good industry. You don’t want to put someone’s house or other industry too close, no matter what the era.
It will also generate loads to your mines, which increases the possibilities for operation.
Another option is to build a small factory for mining equipment or other supplies a bit less dangerous than explosives. Finally, a sawmill that specializes in producing mine props could also generate some loads. All these ideas are based on adding a little variety to the empties in/loads out traffic that mines primarily generate. Particularly in Colorado metal mining, incoming loads to mining areas oftentimes nearly equalled outbound ore, etc. This is obviously a formula that needs some adjustment for coal and other mineral products, but is something to keep in mind.
You can put up the IHC Silo and call it a Ammonium Nitrate Loader.
Nothing else because the stuff is very dangerous. =)
You could put in a siding for loading pulpwood. The logs could be trucked in (or brought behind horses depending on your era). Basically just need a spur track parallel to the mainline and some log piles. In modern times a log loader could be in the scene too, before maybe the 1960’s they would be loaded by hand.
I had a two car pulpwood siding on my last layout, total space was about 10" x 20". I had the siding on the aisle side of the mainline, so I just put in a dirt area next to it with some pulpwood loads and a few figures and vehicles. With careful planning, you probably could fit in both a pulpwood siding and a truck dump as described by some earlier posters above, maybe the pulpwood on the aisle side and the log dump on the other side of the main, with a road to the mine disappearing into the hills/backdrop.
Safety Valve,
Actually, for a modern explosive trans-loading facility, putting up a silo and loader is just about what you might need in a coal-producing area. I saw a picture not too long ago of a ammonium nitrate facility that was basically that. It may have been used to unload hopper cars and reload it into trucks for local distribution, I don’t recall.
Handling explosive loads in trains can also add interesting requirements for car placement, etc depending on what rules apply.