The good folks at Halliburton have been kind enough to build this plant just outside of my train room window. This picture was taken fro my train room.
It is an ideal little layout for someone (not me--there are no subway trains here) to model, especially if they are short on space.
The BNFS mane lion rus east and west through town (the photo is taken looking west) and at the east and west ends of the plant there are CTC controlled switches. Heavy Road power brings the trains in and out of the plant. The plant crew must drive around setting the plant switches for inbound and outbound trains.
From the BNSF switches there is a wye at each end so that a train may move either way around the loops. There are two loops with a pair of crossovers located at the west end of the loops.
At the east end of the layout is the lift station can unload four cars, two on each loop. There are ten sand towers for loading trucks. There are also six spur tracks in the south east corner of the plant for a variety of additives that may be added to the Fracking Sand mix even as they are being loaded onto trucks.
There is a guard house, scales for weighn trucks in and out, a good sized apron for parking trucks and two little red goats for moving individual cars. I am told that the goat, seen on the left side of the photo, can move 30 cars. but I do not believe this.
East of tow is the Ethanol plant (manual switch to the mane lion) and they have two good size locomotives for moving far fewer cars. Nothing can move between the Ethanol Plant and the Halliburton plant but what it must go onto the mane lion, thur requiring full BNSF crews and a warrant from Ft. Worth.
For the builder of a small layout only modeling the plant and its loops, one could enjoy moving the cars, and additives. Would not impress a LION, but then my subway layout does not impress others.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Where does the heavy road switcher originate from?
I find these fascinating, also along the lines of the grain loadouts along the BNSF Hi-Line, balloon tracks and simplicity compared to the past.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Heavy road ENGINES, originates where ever the sand comes from. I have seen both BNSF and CSX engines on sand trains.
This is very interesting, thanks.
I'm looking to build and n-track module and this might do the trick.