Small Industries with Many Cars

[MisterBeasley]

markpierce

Thus, a larger, multi-product industry is more like a bunch of individual industries as far as the switching requirements are concerned.

Also, it allows you to model a privately-owned switch engine for just that industry, if you'd like.

[pastorbob]

One of the industries on my Santa Fe in Oklahoma, era 1989, is the GM auto plant.  I did most of the structures along the walls, with tracks going inside for auto parts cars, etc., box and coil steel, outside the loading racks, plus fuel tracks.  Makes a nice industry to receive many cars, but a minimum of space.

Also I have several of the large grain elevator complexes modeled at Enid and smaller towns.  Enid has Union Equity (Farmland) A and Be, and Y and Z.  Each of these have three tracks to load out and receive inbound.  Plus the Pillsbury Mills, General Mills, Mid America elevator.  Granted they are large structures, but again located against walls, etc.

Bob

[markpierce]

BRAKIE

I perfer larger industries with several spots ...

Each spot can receive/load different products.  Besides the possibility of different car types, specific cars of the same general type can be carrying/receiving different loads with particular spots for the different products.  Thus, a larger, multi-product industry is more like a bunch of individual industries as far as the switching requirements are concerned.  This makes things much more interesting than industries with one product.

Mark

[BRAKIE]

I perfer larger industries with several spots although I have smaller industries as well.

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barrok wrote:Don't forget the team track!

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Team track?

That doesn't bode well for modern modelers.The word is :distribution or transload track.

[barrok]

Don't forget the team track! Just about any car could be switched into one. Add a ramp / dock and now you can unload flat, box, and reefer cars; add a conveyor and now you can unload hopper cars. Add a few hoses lying on the ground and now you can trans-load tank cars into trucks. A team track could be high volume requiring daily switching, especially if used for reefers. On my layout, one of the team tracks is used to unload refrigerator cars directly to trucks. Cars are dropped in the a.m. and then pulled in the evening. One of the best things about a team track is it does not need a lot of space ( track and access road) and it can be used for a variety of car types! Chuck

[MisterBeasley]

grizlump9

i think a lot of us tend to be influenced by our first awareness of railroad operation or perhaps work experinces that occured early in our lives.

I like your names for your industries.  Plausible, but still just that little bit edgy.

I've never worked in a rail-served industry.  But, I did have a couple of summer jobs at a brokerage firm in New York City, which meant riding commuter rail and subways every day.  So, the subways were a key element of my layout.

I like industries that allow me to use a variety of cars.  So, I've got a packing plant that needs stock cars and reefers, and a coal-and-oil dealership that takes hoppers and tanks.  A brewery also needs reefers, and these ice-bunker cars need an icing platform.  Pretty much any box car can stop at a freight house, too.

[grizlump9]

  i agree 100%.  i chose to have several large capacity industries rather than a bunch of small ones.  two of my favorites are Milo-Meal (breakfast of losers) a large grain and cereal mill  and Apocalypse Chemical (located next to the mutant animal petting zoo)

  even that does not satify my desire to switch out, deliver and receive long cuts of cars (25 or more) so being blessed with a lot of room, i have 3 foreign line interchange yards.  each of them holds about 60 cars.

  that gives me an excuse for some foreign locomotives and cabooses.

  inbound trains require a lot of classification if they are not pre-blocked.

  i play mind games with phantom industries represented by some remote staging tracks where transfer moves originate and terminate.

  what was your inspiration for the prototype, industries and operating plan you chose?   i think a lot of us tend to be influenced by our first awareness of railroad operation or perhaps work experinces that occured early in our lives.

grizlump

[ericsp]

If you are like me and like industries and trains, you like industries that you can fit on your layout without removing most of the industry yet has a large quantity of cars. Below are some industries with good potential to model. 

Carmeuse Lime & Stone (formerly Oglebay Norton) Industrial Sands - Shafter, CA 
Satellite View, Street View, Web Page

CTS Cement Transload Terminal - Santa Fe Springs, CA
Bird's Eye View, Satellite View, Street View 

Plains LPG Natural Gas Liquids Plant - Shafter, CA
Although this is a relatively large plant, you can model a smaller version and still have several cars at the plant. Some ways to save space would be to have less tanks (smaller plant), eliminate much of the empty land, and replace the bullet tanks with spherical storage tanks.
Satellite View 1, Satellite View 2, Satellite View 3, Satellite View 4 
Street View 1, Street View 2, Street View 3, Street View 4, Street View 5
Web Page 

Inergy Propane NGL Loading Racks - Bakersfield, CA
The plant is 7 miles from the loading racks.
Satellite View, Street View, Web Page

ConocoPhillps NGL Plant - Zuni, NM
Satellite View, Bird's Eye View, Web Page 

US Cold Storage - Tulare, CA
This would make a good shallow relief industry
Bird's Eye View, Web Page 

Former ADM Corn Syrup Transload Terminal (Closed) - Empire, CA
They moved the operations to the Port of Stockton. It looks like it is being used for dry, bulk commodities now. It was similar to the asphalt terminal in the February 1994 issue of Model Railroader and in HO Lineside Industries You Can Build (Kalmbach Publishing)
Bird's Eye View, Satellite View, Street View 

Diversified CPC Aerosol Propellant Plant - Anaheim, CA
Satellite View, Bird's Eye View, Street View, Web Page 

Links to older threads:
CTS
Oglebay Norton
ConocoPhillips