I saw gandydancer19’s post about industries that you folks model, and it sent my brain working, but only for a little bit. I’m now at a wall [banghead] and have no idea what to do.
I have a small space (about 6" by 5") to put a small industry. I’m looking for something that will fit in a small Appalachian mountain town in the 50’s. I already have coal and lumber, and was looking for something a little different that will generate a lot of traffic for my branch line.
If anyone has any ideas, feel free to give suggestions as, like I said, I’m confused.
How about a company that makes shipping pallets. It would use lumber and give you something to ship. There would be sawdust waste to haul out and I think the plant could look ptetty interesting. A barrel factory would be fun, too. Maybe with a little brewry in the back.
I work for a window factory who opened their first plant back then, it was a small custom window plant - it might make a good model. This allows you to use wood and glass as raw materials and the scrap you haul out is sawdust and glass scrap (we grind our scrap glass and ship it in a hopper - makes for a very interesting load - looks like crushed ice). The products are shipped in crates, so you rarely see anything that looks like a window outside the plant.
How about a fuel oil distributor? Even if coal is the primary source of fuel for heating and power in the area, there is still a need for fuel for the cars and trucks in the region. A couple of tanks and some small out-buldings would convey the idea.
Nothing to ship out, but you would need tank cars and an occasional box to supply the place.
Appalachian mountain towns are known for furniture making - i.e. Hickory, NC.
What about food goods? There are a lot of small farms in them there hills. A produce warehouse or meat plant would allow you to bring in reefers for outbound shipments.
Farms also need ag supplies so a feed store would support box cars of inbound goods.
Look at the different structure kits that Campbell Scale Models offers - they are all right down this line. This web site: http://valleymodeltrains.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_273 seems to have the easiest to view listings of models by manufacturer but I have never ordered from them.
No I don’t have a still yet, but I do have a heavily weathered .99 train set caboose set near a swamp in one corner. I still have to add details like junk and rusted cars to get the “backwoods” feel I want to get.
Lots of good suggestions, but I agree with Chip. A team track will generate more traffic than all of the industries combined, and it will also allow you to use almost any type of freight car. This is because a teamtrack represents all of the industries in town (and perhaps a few out of town, too) that don’t have direct rail service. The connection is made via truck, or in the early days, wagon - hence the name “team” track.
Mine is a bit bigger than 5"x6", but the idea is the same.
With the small footprint you’ve described, the only things that would generate carloads for your railroad are eiter a team track or a transload facility of some kind, unless you can arrange a ‘virtual’ industry (the shipping bay is modeled, the manufacturing plant is in the aisleway or on the backdrop.) My residence (3BR 2B with attached garage) has a bigger HO footprint - and I can’t think of any kind of stand-alone industry the size of a house that will generate significant rail traffic.
Transload? Truck dump for a coal mine or gravel pit, or a truck-to-flatcar log reloading facility. The problem with a dedicated transload facility is that it would almost certainly be limited to a single freight car type.
Well, you’ve got 1577 square feet. It will be a tight squeeze. I used a compressed version of a Campbell kit (Seebold Manufacturing was the kit) to fill a space about that big (small). My little plant is a barrel hoop factory, a supplier for the nearby barrel factory.
It may be a stretch to think of a tiny industry that could justify rail service, but I think you can do it.
You may want to clarify if the 6" x 5" space is just for the structure or industry or if this space also has to include track and track clearance. Also which direction the track that serves this area will run.
No use getting incorrect answers for incomplete questions.
Thanks,
-John
p.s. I assumed the space was just for the structure itself - 43.5 by 36.25 scale feet. No bad for a small building but not enough space if this area included track space.
Campbell has a small LCL freight house (3" x 5.5") that would fit in this space including track.
The 6" x 5" is for the building footprint alone. The track is not included. And to add a correction, I figure I could squeeze another inch or so on each side to make the footprint 7 x 6; I would just have to cut down on “parking” [;)].There is also a smaller area on the other side of the spur (3" x 5") that could be used as another portion of the building, i.e. interior unloading. I know that these are kind of odd measurements, but I figure I have to work with what I have.
I like the idea of a team track; grocery, LCL, off layout mill.
If you get creative with how you design your “team track” area, you could easily accomodate 2-3 types of cars there.
A “pit” with conveyor to unload hoppers, a raised platform with a ramp to allow the loading and unloading of boxcars and flatcars, perhaps even a pumphouse to facilitate the one car a week fuel oil dealer that transloads into a fuel truck as necessary.
Depending on the size of the town the track serves, you “could” see all sorts of traffic. Example: Today at work, we were blocking out a southbound train and found out that a car had been sold off to another business. The boxcar got pulled and set out to a loading dock so that the company could unload it right there in there in the yard. Just a few weeks ago we had M1 Abrams being loaded onto DODX flat cars off the same loading dock. We also use it for unloading intermodal tractor trailers.
Ever seen photos or sketches of a Vinegar Works? It fits the Appalachian locale (the remains of one stood alongside the N&W Shenandoah line in Northeast Roanoke, Va until just a couple years ago). Farmers bring in wagons or trucks of apples. BIG wood tanks (similar to a RR water tank in size, but usually under an overhanging roof) make it an interesting structure. Tank cars, box cars would go there. Empty barrels in, full ones out.
I think that the first Wathers building would be ideal for a company store in Appalachia. Very common and used to give miners credit so they couldn’t quit until all their bills were paid up. Remember the line in 16 tons, “I owe my soul to the company store”. You could add a small unloading dock for offloading smaller mining supplies to justify the siding. The Store could receive a dedicated car of miscellaneous goods and food stuffs from a warehouse or supplier once a day due to its small size and lack of storage space.
How about a plant that makes plastic pellets from the moonshiners’ stills’ leftovers. Boxcars in sometimes, covered hoppers out.
Or a packing shed for apples.
Or a pickle plant (gives you the chance to run that funny-looking Heinz 57 covered gondola).
A rubbing alcohol distillery - perfectly legal, honest ! - that uses the twigs and leaves that the lumberjacks don’t want.
A limestone quarry (looks like a coal mine but weather everything with very light grey instead of black) where the limestone is all underground.
Maybe too modern: some crackpot scientist (the knowledge runs in his family) has figured out how to take lawn clippings and turn them into an ethanol-like additive for gasoline, which does not eat up your car’s engine.
Humor: A hemp rope factory, some funny-smelling smoke coming out of the chimney.