Depends upon whether you'll model a quarry pit, or a side hill excavation. The water table might be exposed on a quarry pit, but not a hill excavation.
Most quarries I've seen with big pools of water were not active.
I just put some water in the bottom of mine. Makes for some interesting color opportunities. I also have a colorful hose running down the side to pump it out. That allows a pumping station and a settling pond yet to be built.
If what you are after is an area of visual interest, the quarry leds a lot. Everytime I look at a pic, I see more opportunity.
loathar wrote:tgindy-Are you talking about the Blue Hole in Ohio? That's a big tourist spot. I went there with my family when I was a kid.
tgindy-Are you talking about the Blue Hole in Ohio? That's a big tourist spot. I went there with my family when I was a kid.
This one's in Westcentral PA. Your response does make it two votes to include modeling some water.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
wrh117 wrote:I am looking for ideas on what to make the quarry out of? Any suggestions would be great.
I am looking for ideas on what to make the quarry out of? Any suggestions would be great.
Water!
I remember visiting two different abandoned rock quarries that were now filled with water from springs.
One rock quarry would be quite dangerous to traverse (probably 2 acres) with jagged rocks at the water's edge and poking up through the water. This one was in an opening in the woods. It was said that this actually came from a old mining operation that found the water table.
The other rock quarry was absolutely huge and even had swimmers: Blue Hole. The water was truly deep shades of beautiful. It was more out in the open and left over from some heavy-duty cutting.
There were ample foot paths around each rock quarry. The rocks at the quarry tops were not completely level as in a plateau.
Remember the classic 1979 movie, "Breaking Away," with the "Cutters" at Bloomington, Indiana? ...and the rock quarry with the diving and swimming challenges?
http://imdb.com/title/tt0078902/
A rock quarry with a "water base" would eliminate modeling all rocks at least at its bottom. You could even have a little rock-cut spillway for a very small meandering stream to come from that rock quarry which would fit in with the size of a 4'x8' layout.
How about some SCUBA divers taking one of their "deep water" final tests near a water level edge of the quarry? How about some fishing? How about some bikes parked at the top of one of the cliffs? How about some hikers around the edges?
Remember that the roads are the color of the stones, too, gravel-ized.
The color is essential for the quarry, depending upon the material mined. After all, it's a quarry since there's a large concentration of a certain type of rock material. So check with some geological resources to get the type and color of the rock right for the region you model. For instance, in some regions limestone is brownish, in my region it's grey with white highlight.
And limestone weathers (wears down via water) easily, so if it's limestone country, the adjacent scenery would be of specific type too...occasional sinkholes, generally eroded rock. Sandstone is tougher and weathers less easily, so outcroppings of that are ragged and more sharp. On mid-Appalachian mountains, it's usually sandstone at the highest elevations, with limestone or dolomite in subsequent geological layers, hillocks and such, towards the valley floor, the rivers or streams have worn over time through the limestone layer. The valley floors are heavily limestone.
Think through what kind of quarry it will be, too. Large rock, or aggregate. In some quarries the stone will be cut in large hunks, others it will be pulverized through a crusher to varying degrees of thickness. So the stone type and end-use really matters.
One thing that's cool about aggregate, it allows a wider range of freight cars, because there is a wider range of product. For instance, you can use your ballast hoppers with a quarry, quite nicely. Having a ballast-making facility is kinda cool.
Time to ask, what rock(stone) will you be quarrying? There is a difference between a quarry, a pit and a mine. Many prototypes are sort of in between. Be sure to google the stone type to get those pics.
My idea is what it would have looked like in Bisbee if they had quarried the malachite instead of mining the copper.
I also used the Parys mine in Wales to get an idea, though the 1800s turned that into a mine as well.
wrh117 wrote:shawnee those last pics are what I am looking for. How do you guys make up the littler stones? I understand the walls and what not but the details are the harder part.
Woodland Scenics has a product called Talos Stone. It basically looks like fancy gravel and it comes in several sizes for the appearance you're looking for. It makes pretty good rubble.
Or, you could take a hammer to some rocks and make your own.
I'm doing a limestone quarry. Here are some reference sites for ideas/images, and a couple of photos of a limestone mine outside of Lexington, VA:
http://www.monon.monon.org/bygone/monquarries.html
This site link also contains some photos of trains serving an old quarry, steam and diesel.
http://www.cagenweb.com/quarries/index.html
Some classic quarry reference photos...!
http://www.vulcanmaterials.com/vcm.asp
A large, modern quarrying corporation producing a wide range of rock and mineral materials, including railroad ballast. Lots of great reference photos throughout the site, and some great links. Has a list of rail-served facilities as well.
And lastly, some pics taken at the limestone quarry, in case they're of interest/use...
Mister B, you are right. Here are three pics of the rough shape in pink. This was the easy part.
I considered a tutorial, but the contruction was not the issue, the artistic stuff is what was difficult. I glued the styrofoam chunks together with caulk this time.
ARTHILL wrote: I am just putting the last details in my quarry. Pics next week.
I am just putting the last details in my quarry. Pics next week.
Ooooh, I can't wait! Didn't you post one with just some pink and blue foam blocks a while back?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I am just putting the last details in my quarry. Pics next week. I googled quarry and got lots of good pics about size and shape. I googled the stone type in my quarry (malachite) and got more good pics, especially for color. I had some malachite stones from a couple of mines to help with color and texture
I made the quarry out of chunks of 1 inch foam stacked together for the shape I wanted. I started with a template for the top opening and worked down. I scratch built the ladders because none of the comurcial ones looked right.
Lets talk some more. I and still trying to get a handle on the details that go in a quarry and around it. I have been working on this about three weeks and its been fun, but VERY time consuming.
The only model pic I found was in MRR 7/06 on p. 73, Sassi's pic of Ferguson's quarry on Peter Eaton's layout. Mine is similar in shape, but not granite.