Any advice?
Awesome! Keep us posted. I used to work in a Quarry and would like to model a modern Rock & Sand operation. I am currently working on a mountain area to look like Calico Ghost town.
hi,
a pretty simple design, some questions related to how you want to operate the quarry sidings.
BTW your design is 9 ft long, not 8.
I have the feeling a lot more could be done in your space; but i do not know all the possibilities in a quarry. It is up to you to make it visible for a follower like me
smile
Paul
The curve is to connect to a staging yard. Maybe a future expansion. Now it is the entry to the quarry.
I don't use use a passing siding in the empties track because the engine goes backward.
you have facing and trailing spurs. It has nothing to do with running forwards or backwards, but with pushing or pulling a cut of cars. Either way or your loading tracks or your empties track are impossible to reach.
http://www.chipengelmann.com/trains/Beginner/Runaround.html
Unless you have a passing siding in the staging yard, or place some cars before the engine and others behind it by hand. Without knowing more a discusion is fruitless. Imagine your engine pushing a cut of empties from staging, replacing them for loaded cars. Extra empties are temporarely parked on the empties track, trapping your engine.
have fun
soller The curve is to connect to a staging yard. Maybe a future expansion. Now it is the entry to the quarry. I don't use use a passing siding in the empties track because the engine goes backward.
If your plan is to first come in from staging pulling empties, and backing the empties into the empties track, uncoupling the cars there, and then go up and pull loaded cars from the load track, and depart with the loads, then it would work.
But the way you have things set up now, an engine (either the road engine or an industry switcher) will not be able to move cars from the empties track to one of the loading tracks, or the other way around, without having to leave the engine trapped at the inner end of one of the tracks, since you have no way of getting the engine to the other end of the cut of cars.
Usually quarry tracks are fairly simple - a quarry would be more of a scenic feature than a switching puzzle.
It could be modeled as a single ended spur where an engine can back into the track, couple to loaded outbound cars and pull them out of the track, leaving them on the main or on a siding for a moment, and then having the engine shove empty cars into the spur and leave them there to be loaded, before going back to grab the outbound cars and depart with them.
Or having some small industry engine pull cars slowly up to a loading point, wait until they are loaded, and then pull forward to the next car, wait until that is loaded, pull forward to the third car and so on and so forth, leaving a cut of loaded cars for the bigger railroad to pick up and take elsewhere.
A loading track can also be along a double ended siding off the main track - in which case the train can pull through a loader, and when all cars are loaded, the engine can be uncoupled, run around the cars and coupled to the other end, a brake test, and off you go, heading back in the opposite direction.
Off hand, your track plan does not seem sensible. But tell us about how you plan to run your trains, and how cars are supposed to get from the empties track to the load tracks, and we can tell you if it makes sense.
Smile, Stein
My idea is pulling empty cars from staging yard and backing them into the empties track. Uncouple the empties and couple the loaded cars. An industry switcher picks the empties from the empties track and moves them to the crusher/loader zone.
I know it's a basic track plan but my space is only 2x9. I want to operate this layout for a long time, keeping the interest but it's difficult to design a layout with lack of space
Need inspiration!
soller My idea is pulling empty cars from staging yard and backing them into the empties track. Uncouple the empties and couple the loaded cars. An industry switcher picks the empties from the empties track and moves them to the crusher/loader zone.
Not unless your industry switcher stays on the loading track, trapped by the loads.
soller I know it's a basic track plan but my space is only 2x9. I want to operate this layout for a long time, keeping the interest but it's difficult to design a layout with lack of space
Not really. 2x9 feet is plenty of space for a switching layout. A handful of H0 scale examples smaller than 2x9 feet:
An 8 foot town with a removable 3 foot extension:
8 foot yard, add a 3-4 foot removable switching lead:
An 8 foot self contained switching plan:
A 7 foot self contained switching plan:
A nine foot switching plan, based on a plan by Byron Henderson:
An 8 foot track plan based on a plan by "Shortliner" Jack Trollope:
A nine foot plan:
A seven foot plan, needs a 3-4 foot removable switching lead to the right:
A 6 1/2 foot self contained switching layout
If you are looking at small track plans with aggregates handling, have a look at Chris Nevard's layouts over in the UK : http://www.nevard.com/
E.g. his 3 x 2 foot Arne Wharf: http://www.nevardmedia5.fotopic.net/c112122.html
Or his 5 foot "Cement Quay" (6 feet with staging): http://www.nevardmedia5.fotopic.net/show_group.php?id=4544
There are tons of ways to fit a H0 scale switching layout into 9 feet of length :-)
Smile,Stein
hi Soller,
The trick is to build a situation with more then one industry.
This plan was from Stein.
Sometimes a simple siding is all that is needed. There are plenty of quarries that are small businesses.
Springfield PA
Please keep us posted. i'd like to see the out come of your layout. I'm tight on space myself , 6x6 "L" shape but I'm hoping to expand. However I'm still in the planning and sketching phase. Good luck to ya.
Charles
Hamltnblue Sometimes a simple siding is all that is needed. There are plenty of quarries that are small businesses.
Beautiful and realistic looking scene.
No doubt one can make a good looking industry scene out of a quarry. Here are some real life pics of a Norwegian gravel pit (Svene pukkverk on the Numedal line in South Central Norway) - the track is essentially a double ended siding under a loader:
http://www.jernbane.net/db/dispenhet.asp?enhet=1717&kat=Stasjoner&katID=5
One of the engines used to pull cars through the loader is a Di3 - essentially a Swedish built variant of an EMD F7, with cabs at both ends of the locomotive
But I think the core problem here is that the OP apparently wants the quarry to be his entire layout, and that he wants interesting switching to keep his attention for a long time.Pushing a cut of cars into one track, and pulling a second cut of cars from another track, while looking like a realistic scene, is not likely to offer a lot in the way of operating interest.
So I guess the OP should define what his primary goal is - to create a great looking scene or to have quite a bit of switching.
If his goal is to mainly concentrate on modeling the scenery, I would suggest doing a tri-fork layout - stem and three tines. One tine is a hidden track along the wall - this is where the train comes from, pulling empty cars.
Then two visible tracks - one for loaded cars, one for empty cars. Removable switching lead off one end of the layout. Train arrives from hiding, stops on main (behind scene), uncouples cars.
Moves forward, backs in, couples to loads under loader, pulls forward, spots loads on a second track.
Back to main, couple onto inbound empties, pull forward, shoves empties in under loader, uncouples.
Gets loads, back to main, and then backs up into staging again.
Not an extreme amount of interest, but some.
Could be made more complex by having different loading tracks for different products (like sand loaded from a tower on one track, gravel loaded from front loaders on a second track), so inbound cuts had to be split among several tracks.
It certainly is possible to work something out here. But it takes a decision on what the main focus is - to get a realistic looking scene (i.e. KISS), or to get operating interest.
Mmm - it is also possible to model the other end of the cars journey - a place that receives cars of gravel and sand. Those types of places can also receive other stuff. Somewhere (prototype forum?) I know I posted a track schematic of such a place from somewhere in Wisconsin (I think), but I can't find that right now.
Anyways - lots of options. But if if the gravel pit is going to be the entire layout (instead of a smaller scene on a larger layout), it would take some thinking about what the OP really wants to model.
Hi!
Yes, the quarry is the entire layout and my goal is to get operating interest. These weeks I have been searching info about quarries in the internet and building a crusher/loader kit from Walthers. My idea is to model a quarry with 2 loading tracks, one for a front wheel loader and the other for the crusher/loader kit. This is my new track plan:
[View:http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/:550:0]
soller Hi! Yes, the quarry is the entire layout and my goal is to get operating interest. These weeks I have been searching info about quarries in the internet and building a crusher/loader kit from Walthers. My idea is to model a quarry with 2 loading tracks, one for a front wheel loader and the other for the crusher/loader kit. This is my new track plan: [View:http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/:550:0]
No, the wheel loader track is not the mainline. I have only 2X9 space so in the future the entry to the quarry might be connected to the mainline with a switch.
hi Soller
i would add a runaround track and a cassette to your plan. With facing and trailing spurs you will need one.
And i would try to find out if quarries produce different grades of gravel or sand, so you can have more dedicated loading points.
Smilepaul
Hi Paulus!
Yes, I have been thinking of adding a runaround but I don't know what is the best place to it. I think if I add a runaround I limit the storage of cars in a track. Remember I have only 2x9.
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i432/mallo1/quarryrunaround.jpg
hi
not so much different.
Smile
Well if it were mine, and the way I like to operate in this scerino, I would definately like to have the "crusher/loader" track connected to the" quarry entry" lead. That way you can do all your work from one end of your locomotive.
I know, I know, This is only my worth.
Looking forward to see how it goes for you........
Johnboy out.................................and looking for the Guy that knows everything.
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Best one so far. And yes all rock/sand quarries sell different grades of rock/sand.
Paulus Jas hi not so much different. Smile Paul
Johnnny_reb Once a word is spoken it can not be unspoken!
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