Need an idea........

[tangerine-jack]

Ok you creative thinkers out there, I'm having a dain bramage moment and need your input. I have a 5x5 section of concrete pad, once used for a BBQ, in the middle of where I'm going to be expanding and I'm not sure how I can incorportate that into the RR. It will be on the inside of a loop, about a foot away from the track. My initial thought was to use it for a city, but what other uses could it have? Removing it is not a viable option because it may damage the RR or the pool. If I could figure out how my new PC works, I will post a photo of it.

Thanks.


[oX)]

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Glue real fine texture indoor/outdoor carpet on it, inlay or paint appropriate lines, and make a high school atheletic field. Paint black, use pinstriping tool and turn into a mall parking lot, or even better a parking lot for the "Tangerine Jack Railroad Car Refurbishing Company"! How bout a Nascar Track?

If all else fails, dump some sand on it, put a siding to it, and have a landfill.

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Intermodal yard for NIT (Which could be imaginary off on the patio), Storage for Auto import-export operation(lots of auto carrier cars), not a bad base for a tank farm which could provide lots of tank car traffic for the railroad, Construction aggregates yard with sidings for bringing in lots of hopper carloads of stone, sand, & concrete, Recieving yard for shipyard (steel plate, shapes, engines, etc.), Yard and packing house for citrus firm that grows and packs tangerines! Coal fired electric generating station with mounds of coal and opportunity for unit trains.

Something out of those listings ought to get your blood in a flood!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like an industrial park to me!

Ron

[tangerine-jack]

Hey Russell, nice to see a fellow Virginian on this site, my arms were getting tired of carrying the load!!!!

You know, I really like the tank farm idea!!!!!!!! I can build the tanks and piping from different sizes of PVC, paint to suite and presto! A low cost industry! Love it!!! I have left over roofing shingles that I can use for the asphalt areas, throw up a simple office building and I'm in buisiness. Also gives me an excuse to buy some tank cars. Cool, I get to spend money!.[:D][:D][:D]

Only problem is I will be too busy over the next few days to even think about doing this[sigh] I hate being motivated on a new project and not be able to work it through right away. Ah well, that's what keeps it interesting.


[oX)]

[Anonymous]

TJ, If it didn't matter in terms of future use I would paint the roads with dryway sealer after masking them out and then go back and stripe them.

[tangerine-jack]

Good idea Matt. I was saying "roads", but thinking "blacktop" in the tank farm area (another example of what happens when I get an exciting idea), we are only talking 5x5 anyway, medium to small sized for G scale! I have no plans to move or sell, so the future is mine to do with as I please. Besides, I've got to do something with the shingles.....

You think the sealer and painted stripes would be durable? The shingles have a 35 year warranty.[swg]

[Anonymous]

I think it would wear more like a real road. If it greyed out a little over time it would look even more real. keep a jar in you car and when you see a stripping crew out on the road or in a parking lot ask for some paint [;)]

[Anonymous]

If you would rather haul cattle cars you could place a cattle farm or a dairy farm for tank cars.

Mikadousrp

[tangerine-jack]

So Solly, mikadousrp, worked on a dairy farm when I was younger, can't stand the thought of cows or milk anymore. Not a bad idea, however. My expansion is very industrial oriented, and if I could ever get the [censored] photos on this site, I could show you easier than telling.

Hey Matt, with all the road construction going on around here, all I have to do is scrape the road paint off my car when I get home!! I get free asphalt that way also.[|(]

Now that I'm all worked up over this new project, it's after 9pm and all the hardware stores are closed [censored][censored][censored][censored] I hate having to wait to spend money. I figure some 1/2", 3/4" PVC for piping and some 8" and maybe some 10" pipe ought to be enough to make some decent looking tanks. I could always add more piping later, the more clutter the better for such an industry. I will make the office a simple square job with a door and a few windows, it need not be fancy as the attraction should be the tanks and pipes. A simple swing boom made from aluminum tubing and PVC should do the trick for a loading dock.

Stay cool[8D]


[oX)]

[Anonymous]

Maybe you need to add a spur and add more rocks to create a quarry.

[Anonymous]

Hi T Jack,
Hows about an army camp? There's a good variety of cars available & a shed load of military hardware. Just a thought.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[Anonymous]

TJ, also look at electrical conduit and sink water supply lines( grey plastic) for more sizes and variations.

[TheJoat]

Build something large enough to store all of your rolling stock. Run a track into it, and you won't have to carry all of your boxcars back and forth to the house.

You could make this look like a big mill or something....

[tangerine-jack]

Hey Joat, not bad thinking. I will explore that idea, but maybe run the spur under the deck by the pool.

Kimbrit, on most Army posts they have a rail loading platform that is little more than a ramp at flatcar height. The train backs up to the ramp, and the poor privates have to drive the vehicles on the train from the back. You can load and unload 100 vehicles in under 30 minutes using this method. I have always wanted to model this. Next time I am near one of these ramps I will be sure to take a photo and post it.

Now, I'm off to the hardware store for some PVC and any thing else that looks cool!
[oX)]

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Hey Jack,
Thimk!, the old Mc Garbage Pit drinking straw would equate out to what?, a 6/8/10 inch pipe in scale??? FREEE the best price to pay!!!! Plastruct and Evergreen have some various sizes of plastic tubing to use for scale pipes. Check out the Plaststruct catalog, you can do a very realistic refinery from thier stuff, I think they show one!

If you have a source for bigger size plastic pipe, you could also do a really neat grain elevator, which would work well there in the tidewater area.

[tangerine-jack]

Good thinking, CPT. I went to Home Depot and got a bunch of tubing stuff, about $60 worth of different things. I'll go to McFatties today and grab some straws for detail work.
In this area, a coal transfer would be more fitting than a grain elevator. I will soon purchase a digicam and post some photos of Lambert Docks and the VaPower station which has a huge coal dump, lift bridge and other cool things to model. Across the river from that is a chemical tank-farm of some kind that I will selectively compress and use as a prototype for my model.

[oX)]

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Now you're flowing!

The power station is a better choice to model. Can you imagine a scale model of a 950 foot long X 150 foot wide X 75 foot deep coal ship tied up to your Lambert Point Coal Pier?
Ah, I remember Curtis Bay's (now Moran) old tug Lambert Point! Old fart ain't I?

[tangerine-jack]

Roger that age comment! I remember when they actualy made Volvos on Volvo Parkway, not 10,00 shopping malls and houses. I also remember when Greenbriar Mall was Greenbriar Farms.

But yes, you all helped me to break my brain lock. I will make the pad into a chemical transfer facility based on the one I drive past every freakin' day to work and never noticed[D)]

How's this for ambitious, duplicating the Va Power Chesapeake Electrical Generating Station on RT 13 and Elizabeth River, with rail service (compressed of course)! Good gravy, that facility must have 20 service tracks, 3 or 4 mountains of coal conveyors and associated support buildings and equipment, with a footprint of about 2 or 3 square miles! And yes, the lights are always on! Yup sir, the creativity is starting to flow.!!! I could connect the farm to the plant as the original, with a draw bridge. I could tie up the coal ship in my pool, not very realistic, but who cares?

[oX)]