Single-industry pikes

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

Do any of you have a one-industry railroad? Very few do. HO dude Dean Freytag (sp?) has a steel railroad based on a fictitious Ohio/NY line. A few people have coal. I think a full-blown oil refinery would be pretty cool.
The downside is lack of variety. But on the plus side, you can really do some cool prototypical modeling with just one industry!

These would be really neat single industries to see on a model rr; things I’ve never seen modeled as single industries:

  1. A full intermodal operation incl scale ships, gantry cranes, stack yards etc

  2. A full oil refinery modeled after ones in LA or Houston

  3. A military port with ships, trucks, tanks, ammuntion, etc (like at Blount Island, Florida, served by a reversing loop of CSX).

Some industries with huge warehouse structures would be boring, IMO, for example, a modern auto plant with closed rack cars. An older one with the open racks might be more interesting. On second thought, if it’s modeled right, practically nothing is boring.

Dave Vergun

2

Some industries like mining and logging lend themselves to this concept, but I perfer variety. Grain hauling will be a major feature on my railroad, but there will also be things like auto hauling, coal, lumber, oil, chemicals, general freight, and of course a few passengers.