Any one else here model a steel mill? I model the PB&NE in Bethlehem Steel’s plant. Not much of a layout yet though, a 13’ by 2’ shelf hopefully to soon become a coke works.
Hi Chad,
I’ve got one, but it’s a freelance. Mostly kitbashed Walthers stuff. Patrick C. (“dragonriversteel”) is also an avid steel modeler, specializing in Kress equipment.
Got any pix?
Hey Chad,
That is a great steel yard to model… It is SO massive! Have you ever been there in person? The darn empty building could probably fit an NFL stadium inside them, they seem so big (not really, but they are HUGE). Anyways, good luck. If I had any digital pictures I would share them, but I don’t [:(]
Ciao.
Brian
This is the layout today, far from finished. Still better than a month ago when it wasn’t there. This is O scale. That hugeness is why I picked steel mills and O Scale. Blast Furnaces over four feet tall. But I need more room for them. For now it’s just the hellertown coke works. I’ll update layout progress on this thread.
So you’re using a rotory dumper for your coke mill? Me too! Here’s a pic - not the greatest I admit, but you can get a glimpse of the dumper on the left. I modified the Walthers coke ovens’ conveyor setup to accommodate this:
I recognize the yellow&black PB&NE switchers in the background. The Patapsco & Back River units at Sparrows Point were the same colors.
Do you have any of the Walthers steel mill structure kits - or are you planning to scratchbuild?
Nice coke mill I hope mine turns out that good. This is my first layout so I have to test some new things. I’ll have to scratchbuild as the Walthers kits are too small for conversion to O scale. I’ve already started a scale house and want to start on a whitcomb 50 tonner A-B set next.
OOOPS…! I missed the part where you mentioned ‘O’ scale [:I]
There’s a Yahoo newsgroup for steel mill modelers, some of them do O scale - one of them even built his own coke works! Only thing is you need to join the group before you can view the photos. But that is the place to go if you want to meet hardcore steel modelers in all the different scales. Here is the link:
Thanks for the link. By the way have you read Dean Freytag’s book the history Making and Moddeling of steel. Bought it used at LHS for $10. I learned probably 75% of what I know about mills from it.
model a steel mill in N scale. It is 2 feet wide by 22 feet long and contains 28 buildings including a blast furnace, oxgen furnace and open hearth, 7 mills and supporting buildings I have a set o plans for the Bethlehem steel plant at Sparrows Point if you would like one email me at igoldberg1@earthlink.net.
If you want a lot of information on steel and steel making the Yahoo steel group at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Steel is a great resource.
You’ve got a treasure there my friend, guard it carefully - that book is highly coveted, sometimes fetches over $150 on eBay! Walthers [who owns the copyright] has no intention of reprinting it anytime soon, and they refuse to sell the printing rights to anybody else.
I have a copy, I got Dean to autograph it for me at the last Steel Mill Modelers meet in Ohio.
Another great book to have is The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel, a tri-annual compendium published by U.S. Steel Corp. I have the 9th Edition, which covers the early-to-mid 1970s. Lots of photos and diagrams, a must for modelers.
I just recently visited the Sloss blast furnaces in Birmingham, AL, and was so fascinated by it that I’m changing my n scale layout to include some iron mining / steelworking industry. What was especially interesting was the close proximity of all the components needed to make steel in this area of the country. Each blast furnace here in Birmingham (late 19th to early 20th century) owned its own coal mines, iron mines, and limestone quaries, most of which were less than 20 miles apart! They had some old maps at the furnaces that showed a neat “industrial loop railroad” with numerous trestles and cuts that connected the dozens of mines and iron mills together. And all of this was located withen the current greater city limits of Birmingham! In fact, you can still find traces of some of the iron mines and coke furnaces in the woods right beside the suburbs and highways. As for the Sloss furnaces, they are the only 20th century furnaces still in existence in North America and have been preserved as they operated in the early to mid 20th century as a historical landmark, as well as a concert venue under the the old iron casting shed with one of the massive blast furnaces behind the stage. It is an awesome sight , at least for those of us who enjoy such things. (My wife was less than thrilled to walk around the place with me for 3 hours and promptly headed for the air conditioned gift shop)
Another great book for steel mill modeling is The Cyclopedia of Industrial Modeling it too is by Dean Freytag. I think he intended for it to be a follow up to Making and Modelling of Steel.
What do you think is a good material for making the 50-tonners out of. I was thinking of using styrene or sheet metal. Here’s a prototype photo. Sorry it’s so small.
Hello Chad,
I see you’ve meant Ken…Got to say you should see Kens layout! This is great another steel mill modeler, we are few and far between, it seems that way. Now about this 50 ton locomotive…you model in O scale ,correct. What are you going to start our using as a base model ?
Are you going to scratch build the whole locomotive ? I have to throw in my two cents on as of what to build out of. I’d use styrene for this simple fact: " It’s alot more forgiving than metal ".
Good luck on your build, keep us posted…
Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}
I was going to use an athearn re-motoring kit and scratch build the rest. When finished the engines will pull ingot molds on the On3 narrow guage line.
I’m in the early planning stages of incorporating a steel mill into a portion of an n-scale layout with the free-lanced Conemaugh Road & Traction partly inspired by the 12 miles of Bethlehem Steel mills in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, which was served by Bethlehem’s prototype Conemaugh & Blacklick Railroad and its EMD switchers.
A couple weeks ago, I “eBay’d” the “Model Railroad Planning 1999” issue which had a 4-page article by Bernard Kempinski called, “Super-compact steel mill.” The author models a 3’x10’ Ntrack module with the article illustrating an n-scale plan in a 5’x9’ setting. It uses Walthers HO mill kits with an inch or so shaved off of the building height, and refitted with n-scale ladders, stairs, doors, etc. It includes an open hearth, mixer house, blast furnace, and four end-to-end rolling mills. The n-scale engines to building proportion pictures are just awesome and sure reminded me of a Bethlehem Steel operation in the 1950s - 1960s. The rolling mills are also placed in the middle of the layout as a “view block” while the layout belt-loops around the mill structures.
The article index link is http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=I&MAG=MRP&MO=1&YR=99
Haven’t started on the locomotives yet because I need to get more styrene. All I have now is .040 sheets. I need to get 1/8" quarter rounds and tubing. Pics coming once construction starts!
I model the local ALCOA (aluminum) plant here, and like the heavy industry modelling. Have some pics on my web site: http://mopac-benton-ar.batcave.net/
Got styrene and started construction. Not worth posting a pic yet though as it’s just the frame of the B unit hood. I need to get the Dremel out then it might be worth a couple pics.
After I finish the %50-tonner what should my newt project be? I was think ing of starting the battery or quench tower.