Cryogenic Plant & Helium Plant
Finished the track plans, and the base plate onto which the coal mine will be built. Now I need to turn my attention to the left and down that long ramp that will take the trains down along that side of the layout to connect back to the mainline. At the bottom of that ramp there will be an intersection of turnouts that will allow the trains to access the refinery area. The refinery area is going to fill that opposite corner, and include both oil products and propane products,....so oil and propane tank cars will be loading and moving around on these tracks on either side of the refinery.
Early on I had wanted to possible find a location for at least a small cryogenic plant along with a spherical storage tank for those liquefied gases. It stems from my long time fascination with those cryogenic tank cars. I bought at least 8 of them when BLI finally bought out those plastic ones. Up to that time I figured the only way I would be able to afford those brass cars was to kit bash them like Bobby Pitts did such an excellent job on.
Lets see, can I fit something in that space between to two opposite ends of the layout, and outboard of that ramp of track? First off I needed a long track parallel to the ramp track that could allow for staging some of those tank cars that would be coming and going from the refinery. Perhaps I should have two such 'staging tracks' for the variety of tank cars involved, plus even some coal loaded cars might pay a visit.By happenstance I placed some turnouts and spur tracks at angles off of one of those staging tracks. Here is what that looked like.
I randomly placed those spurs in 'pairs' thinking each pair could service a small plant each. And the spurs are long enough to accommodate two of those cryogenic cars. The small plants would be located in between those spurs, and might consist of spherical stowage tanks (have two already), short squat condensing towers, taller towers, etc.
Nothing set in stone,..just brainstorming.
I'm open to ideas,..suggestions?
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
Saw this interesting kit in N-scale, imported from Japan
Larger Spherical Tanks
Just thinking out loud,...I need to kitbash a couple of larger spherical tanks like those shown in the TomyTec kit,...rather than those Kibri ones. One of those Kibri tanks would barely fill up one car,...maybe.
Lets see I need to keep a lookout for a larger spherical ball of some sort....?
Well, you may be able to get away with plain old large cylindrical tanks - here's a link to Google View of the Air Liquide Ghent, Kentucky plant. I wouldn't be surprized if there's serious amounts of underground storage as well. There does look to be a row of SMALL(relatively-ish) spherical tanks toward the SE, but they're small enough you don't need to use toilet floats to model them (maybe in O scale...).Interestingly enough, the loading sidings' layout somewhat resembles your track layout, if you consider the main storage facility "in the aisle". In any case, expect to use lots of piping...
But I like those toilet bowl floats....ha...ha
That plant is rather spread out !
I'm trying to figure out what might be done to 'disguise' that ramp of track running down that side behind the cryogenic plants. The ramp can be seen rather clearly in those previous photos, ie,
I did NOT want to make it some sort of man-made steel structure, but rather an 'earthly' structure. But it is pretty tightly sandwiched in between that mainline track running along the wall, and the siding/staging tracks for the refinery et al. That would make the sides of that ramp-roadbed/mound pretty steep?
perhaps rocky base?
Any ideas?
No ideas about that ramp huh??
railandsail No ideas about that ramp huh??
Regarding the ramp, I'd be interested in reading innovative solutions to disguising it other than building the traditional retaining wall. I've got an open mind.
Is David Copperfield looking for a job these days?
You've got lots of track in a small space, which says urban scenery to me. Eventhough I'm not a big fine of retaining walls, it should look like it belongs, IMO.
- Douglas
Is the goal to hide the track and ramp, or you just don't want to use good ol' stone/brick/concrete retaining walls?
I'm NOT looking to hide the track, just didn't want to use an urban style retaining wall.
I'm imaging that nether the refinery, nor those gas plants are located in a city area,...they are in the country. So I guess you might say I'm looking for a country style retaining wall,...what ever that is?
railandsail Is the goal to hide the track and ramp, or you just don't want to use good ol' stone/brick/concrete retaining walls? I'm NOT looking to hide the track, just didn't want to use an urban style retaining wall. I'm imaging that nether the refinery, nor those gas plants are located in a city area,...they are in the country. So I guess you might say I'm looking for a country style retaining wall,...what ever that is?
LOL. Ever drive through Gary/Whiting Indiana on the sky bridge to Chicago? Lots of dirty industry right on the port of Lake Michigan.
railandsailNo ideas about that ramp huh??
Some railroads just painted them to look like aged concrete.
St_Charles by Edmund, on Flickr
CRL - St. Charles Air Line by d.w.davidson, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
But you wouldn't see that sort of ramp heading up to a coal mine (mine in the corner)
railandsail But you wouldn't see that sort of ramp heading up to a coal mine (mine in the corner)
No, I wouldn't.
So I would say your coal mine is the oddball industry relative to the gas plant and refinery. Not the other way around.
Of course, I would see a ramp up to a power plant, which would use the same coal cars as your coal mine, only as a destination point and not the origination point. Power plants are in urban settings, and so are tunnels through mountains if you've ever been to downtown Pittsburgh.
railandsailI'm NOT looking to hide the track, just didn't want to use an urban style retaining wall.
One of the rail cams I check out is located in Waupaca, WI. The CN main line is about 14' (?) above street grade. There is an embankment on each side of the track that is steep, 45 degrees or more, and it's just earth, covered with shrubs, weeds and tall grass.
On one side, there is siding that leaves the main, and goes down to street grade. On that side, there is an old concrete retaining wall, about 6' high, and from the top of that wall, the ground angles up a steep grade to the main track, same as other side, covered in weeds, shrubs and tall grass.
Mike.
My You Tube
mbinsewiOne of the rail cams I check out is located in Waupaca, WI. The CN main line is about 14' (?) above street grade. There is an embankment on each side of the track that is steep, 45 degrees or more, and it's just earth, covered with shrubs, weeds and tall grass.
Not directly related, but I like the fact that if you follow the grade level siding West, it just peters out into someone's backyard.
Here in philly, the Reading, PRR, B&O, philadelphia Beltline rr. all have situations like that in spades. They used cutstone walls, arch viaducts, and steep earth embankments. Because of of how tight that is, i would use the earth embankment as far as possible to the soils angle of repose. Switch to cutstone wall then to arch viaduct. That would produce the most architectural appeal. Would also build in history to say an old industrial area got a new use
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Timber grid terrace wall. This was a grid of timber with open space in which the backfill rock was clearly visible. The modern version would use concrete beams. All in a terrace style. Vegetation over time would take hold.
There is one other wall type i have never seen modeled but it is realtiv new. Earth mse walls. Gabion Cages of soil in block form are stacked at a steep angle. Grass is grown in these blocks to stabilize it This allows for a very steep earth "wall" embankment
You could also just use gabions
wolfie
chutton01 Not directly related, but I like the fact that if you follow the grade level siding West, it just peters out into someone's backyard.
Thanks for the link. Actually, the siding connects back to the main, it's the track that is being used to store hoppers full of coke that ends up in a back yard.
Look at the satellite view, and follow the siding west.
Maybe something like these?
There was a very specific reason I did NOT want any type of arched structure up here,...because I already have a extensive stone arch bridge on the deck just below,....
I have seen one place trackside where as the track goes upgrade, they just pile on more ballast until it becomes a very high/tall hill of ballast. You could do that...
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
railandsailMaybe something like these?
Yes. The higher you go, just pile up more earth, rocks, shrubs, etc. That's what the embankment along the CN line in Waupaca, WI. looks like.
railandsailI'm trying to figure out what might be done to 'disguise' that ramp of track running down that side behind the cryogenic plants.
I have built a partially completed hidden staging yard beneath a scenic cover. On the room side of the cover, there will be a single track branch line, but the view of the staging is hidden by a rock wall.
There isn't much space between the staging and the single branch line, so I built a thin, light rock wall out of Bragdon Foam.
This is a longer view of the wall, straightened up a bit.
As the first picture shows, there isn't much space between the tracks here, but it wasn't hard to put in a thin piece of foamboard and the wall sections. The foam is light and easy to work with once set. You can cut it with a decent pair of scissors. If you reheat the pieces with a household hair dryer, the castings will soften and you can bend them easily.
Bragdon Foam castings come out white. They can be painted or washed with thinner paint. What I've done so far on this is apply a layer of powdered black tempera paint and wash it into the cracks, giving deeper looking texture. Next will be a multi-layer wash process to add color.
This isn't part of the same scene, but rather a finished part elsewhere on my layout. You can see how nice Bragdon Foam looks when finished. This last picture was my first effort using the foam.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
If you're not happy with the elevated track heading into a coal mine, here is an example of a coal fired power plant in Glen Lyn Virginia that is located in a mountainous area, yet busy with roads and track. Power plants are probably more likely to be located in crowded areas over coal mines, IMO, so maybe a power plant would be a better choice for an industry between the gas plant and the tunnel. There are more images of this plant on the net if you search.