Walthers Golden Flame Fuels as a sand & gravel dealer

[chutton01]

NittanyLion

It's adajcent to a wide spot next to the tracks where a construction company stores materials, but its not used by them.  Its actually on a different company's ground and definitely abandoned.  

https://goo.gl/maps/5LDGg

At least they keep them painted and not a total eyesore.

They are the former Rinaldi Coal Company silos.
The site has attracted the notice of the EPA, but for an underground fuel tank leak, not the silos.

[BRAKIE]

chutton01

They are the former Rinaldi Coal Company silos.The site has attracted the notice of the EPA, but for an underground fuel tank leak, not the silos

I wonder if Rinaldi Coal sold kerosene along with coal or in later years fuel oil? Think I'll try to research that outfit..

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

Just a few more thoughts...

After looking at the picture on the box of the Goldenflame Fuel Co. kit you have, I recalled a photo on pg. 78 of Tony Koesters, The Model Railroader’s Guide To Coal Railroading; Kalmbach Publishing, 2006.

This photo is of a coal facility at Norway, Michigan, in 1980. It shows five silos topped with a rectangular headhouse similar to the kit you have. From the angle of the photo the lift mechanism(s) are not visible and the loading chutes are barely visible. The surrounding overgrowth suggests this facility was abandoned by the time of the photo. That's not to say that this facility could not have been re-purposed as a cement, sand, gravel and aggrigate facility.

Some have suggested that this might not be "realistic." My thoughts are even the most "realistic" or "prototypical" models are just that models. It might not be completely realistic but it is still within the realm of possibility.

I say kitbash away and model the scene that best suits your layout.

Speaking of kitbashing...

I was at a train show yesterday and found an interesting kit. It was labeled: "Kit No. 24 HO Wyoming Coal Mine OR Bulk Loading Plant; Suydam & Co. in corrugated metal."

Upon further inspection I found out that this kit is made of substantial gage corrugated metal and is intended to be assembled by soldering. It even had an instructional primer on soldering metal with practice pieces included.

As I was reading the instructions the second paragraph of the introduction read as follows:

"While the original was obviously a coal mine, there is no earthly reason why it could not be used for any other material which is mined and needs relatively little processing other than perhaps washing and grading before being shipped out in hopper cars, ore cars or gondolas."

At $15.00 I bought it! Not necessarily to build but to use as templates for other projects. I'm now in the process of modifying and transferring this metal kit to styrene to kitbash the loading tipple for my pike. 

Hope this helps.

 

[NittanyLion]

But it does boil down to what your objective is with the model in the first place.  It seems to be uncommon enough that no one has been able to produce an actual example of someone storing material in that way, which implies that there's a reason it isn't done.  That makes it fairly implausible that someone would choose to store material in that manner, so if you're striving for "plausibility (let alone realistic)," you've missed that mark.

[BRAKIE]

NittanyLion

But it does boil down to what your objective is with the model in the first place.  It seems to be uncommon enough that no one has been able to produce an actual example of someone storing material in that way, which implies that there's a reason it isn't done.  That makes it fairly implausible that someone would choose to store material in that manner, so if you're striving for "plausibility (let alone realistic)," you've missed that mark.

 

After my railroad career ended I worked for a grave vault company..We stored our sand and gravel for the cement mixer in silos so,yes,the possibility of sand and gravel being stored in silos by small aggregate companies is possible.

[chutton01]

BRAKIE

After my railroad career ended I worked for a grave vault company..We stored our sand and gravel for the cement mixer in silos so,yes,the possibility of sand and gravel being stored in silos by small aggregate companies is possible.

But where they repurposed coal silos with a wooden head-house and all, as we already have posted links to images of purpose-build aggregate/sand/cement silos constructed in a fashion similar to coal silos (basically poured-concrete cylinders).
I still say if the OP lost the headhouse to Golden Flame, it wouldn't look too bad for aggregate use - the only problem being without proto-images the question of what type of conveyor/elevator was used remains.

[BRAKIE]

chutton01

But where they repurposed coal silos with a wooden head-house and all, as we already have posted links to images of purpose-build aggregate/sand/cement silos constructed in a fashion similar to coal silos (basically poured-concrete cylinders).

I have no idea..The building was built in 1896 according to the cornerstone..The silos was concrete and was there long before the vault company started in 1970..My limited research at the library showed it was a clay flower pot plant starting in 1950-51.

[Mike Kieran]

A lot of people were askin why would you put sand & gravel in silos instead of piles. The answer is simple, land is expensive, property air rights don't cost extra and if the property is on a small patch of land, front end loaders are useless.

Besides, if they had coal silos, why wouldn't they have gravel silos? Even if they were repurposed from coal silos, why couldn't they be power washed?

I'm not asking for argument, but for input.

If I use the Goldenflame Kit for gravel silos, what alterations are needed?

[BRAKIE]

If I use the Goldenflame Kit for gravel silos, what alterations are needed?

==================================

Besides the power wash you mention none that I can think of.

I would use the kit as is.