This may have already been discussed, but what cars are appropriate for a cement plant? I know about cement and aggregate hoppers, but isn't lime also used? Is it carried in railcars?
Point of clarification. A cement plant takes rocks, grinds them up and cooks them to make cement, the output is cement. A concrete plant takes gravel and cement and the output is concrete.
So the inputs to a cement plant could be limestone, fly ash, clinkers, coal (unless its a gas fired plant) and gondolas of 3' to 6" steel balls. If its a plant with its own quarry (very common) then it wouldn't recieve limestone by rail. The outputs would be bulk cement in covered hoppers (since the 1930's), bagged cement and concrete mix in boxcars.
This would be the Walthers Valley Cement Co.
Concrete plants recieve cement in covered hoppers or boxcars, aggregates in hoppers or gondolas.
This would be virtually every other building kit listed as a "cement" plant.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Lime go into the Kiln to blast into the Clinker mix to assist in making Portland Cement. If the rotary kiln is fired by coal, the fly ash goes straight into it.
Calcium sulfate in small amounts or clay based stuff can also be fired with the clinker in very small amounts. Bauxite and Iron ore are added ONLY if the quarried rock going into the plant does not have these minerals. I think these are like flux to solder in the rotary kiln to make the reactions happen in the fire needed to make cement out of the material you mix into it. The gypsum or Calcium Sulfate goes to the mill that is grinding the resulting fired clinker to cement powder.
There are a number of other chemicals or minerals involved in very small quanitities as a percentage of the total cement output. Call it 5% or less.
Now, when it goes into a silo ready to ship, sometimes there are several months worth on hand should everyone within a few hundred miles want cement right now.
I have seen cement brought in by ship and air ported in pressure to the silo and then loaded onto a truck.
Once it reaches a ready mix plant, you add a bit of sand, stone, flyash and a dallop of liquid additive and a few bits of fiber maybe. Spin it a bit and presto! Concrete. I spent enough time in a CAT 936 wheel loader feeding a belt into the tower of the place. Sand. Stone. More sand. More stone. Usually one of stone and two sand.
Oh one other item. The ready mix gets huge amounts of water into that truck to mix the stuff. Once in, it starts to cure, you got about 1 to 2 hours in summer time to get it poured.
How strong do they want that "Slump?" it depends on the mix. Usually everything is mixed right and all is well. Once in a while if you are on the Plant Manager's bad side, you might get a certain mix that empties your 100 gallon cement truck's water tank just so to make it work leaving you with no water to clean up with.
Hope it helps.
So how would you model a load of 3'-6" steel balls?
I ship my bearings out in boxcars in large carboys or cages designed to hold a certain amount by weight. Similar to what Car Parts go to the Car factory. For example... A pallet holding a cage large enough to hold several dozen differentials going to Ford in Michigan would do it. Several of these pallets would make up a simple boxcar load.
Ive also hauled bearings out of Richmond Va in containers and I believe they were also loaded into carboys or heady duty cages. Due to density, they went into the little 20 footer and thence to seagirt to get put on a ship and out of the USA.
I have built a fictional Bearing works on my layout as a major industry and cement plants happen to be the occasional beneficiary of bearings from time to time.
I would not at all be surprised if a shot tower was used in a Cement plant to pour balls out of whatever suitable metal is on hand on site. They dont have to be perfect, just round enough to do the job.
A styrofoam or balsa wood filler in the gon covered with BB's or craft beads in the 1-2 mm range. there might be some seeds or pasta that are small balls in that same size. After the glue dries, paint it rusty brown.
The Lehigh & New England was fairly famous for hauling cement in its day. They used a lot of boxcars for the bagged cement and a large fleet of 2 bay covered hoppers for the bulk stuff.
Roger Huber
BIGLOUMAYbut what cars are appropriate for a cement plant
Coal train coming in to Hudson Cement Kingston NY. Empties waiting to leave. This line crossed a narrow gauge company owned line that carried limestone.
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
The cars that haul the finished product (powdered cement) are airslide hoppers. They use air pressure to help the flow of the powder since it likes to pack and bridge. Walthers used to make a model of the airslide, but since I left HO for S I am not sure if they still are. S-Helper is in S scale though
Randy Johnson
Heres a couple of shots of a cement plant in NC. Its a smaller plant. The plant only holds about 3 cars.
I am doing a cement plant myself. I wish I took more pictures of the plant.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
I am modeling a rock quary and cement plant based on a prototype here in Tulsa. Since the cement plant is colocated with the quary I won't have to worry about inbound loads of rock. Most of my cement fleet consists of model dicasting 2 bay covered hoppers and a few ConCor 3 bay covered hoppers (they are smaller 3 bay hoppers than the larger ones commonly associated with grain). Walthers makes 2 bay hoppers and Athearn also makes some of the newer ones.
Like anything the era you model will have a lot to do with they type of rolling stock you aquire for your layout. The Model Die Casting 2 bay hoppers are probably to "old" for my modern era layout, but until recently that was pretty much all that was available.
I have utilized my modelers license to issue a waiver for older cars that have exceeded 40 yrs of age to be in interchange service.
dehusman So the inputs to a cement plant could be limestone, fly ash, clinkers, coal (unless its a gas fired plant) and gondolas of 3' to 6" steel balls.
So the inputs to a cement plant could be limestone, fly ash, clinkers, coal (unless its a gas fired plant) and gondolas of 3' to 6" steel balls.
Are the steel balls used as material or are they for smashing the clinker?
Thanks, Greg
If anyone is interested, take a look at the Virtual Cement Plant Tour
Greg Amer
The Industrial Lead
Smashing clinker in ball mills. Not exactly efficient as there probably will be need more smashing after the ball mill.
randyajThe cars that haul the finished product (powdered cement) are airslide hoppers. They use air pressure to help the flow of the powder since it likes to pack and bridge. Walthers used to make a model of the airslide, but since I left HO for S I am not sure if they still are. S-Helper is in S scale though Randy Johnson
Some receivers prefer pnuematic cars such as Airslides, but most that I have worked with use regular gravity-discharge covered hoppers, and employ a car-shaker to get the cement out of the car. The pneumatic cars cost more to lease, and in many receivers' experience do not work consistently and reliably.
RWM
Last ChanceSmashing clinker in ball mills. Not exactly efficient as there probably will be need more smashing after the ball mill.
You sure about that? The usual problem with ball mills is they grind too fine. If you want a rougher grind, you use a rod mill.
I found this interesting
Virtual Cement Plant Tour
Greg
Robby P. Heres a couple of shots of a cement plant in NC. Its a smaller plant. The plant only holds about 3 cars.
Cars like the one pictured would be appropriate on more modern layouts, late 60s to present.
For earlier times these kits by Bowser will work; they also have a limited number of ready to run models. MEC purchased cars similar to these as early as 1917
http://www.bowser-trains.com/hocars/2baychop/2baychop_closed.htm
http://www.bowser-trains.com/hocars/2baychop/2baychop.htm
This kit made by Tichy is a prototype kitbash - acording to Tichy catalog, in 1934 D&H converted some old boxcars with hatches and discharge chutes. Tichy also has a decal set for the B&O version. The Tichy site does not have photos, so I am linking Micro Mark (they do not indicate if this is the kit with decals or not):
http://www.micromark.com/HO-SCALE-CEMENT-CAR-KIT,8763.html
Tichy offers the kit with D&H decals (#4030D) or undecorated (#4030), they also have a decal set (#9230) for the B&O version
http://www.tichytraingroup.com/index.php?page=view_product.php&id=53&category=Freight+Car+Kits
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch