I'm interested in adding a plastic pellet transfer station to the layout. Purchasing a cornerstone kit would make it easy to do as I already have hopper cars labeled for plastic companies and a truck labeled for carrying plastic pellets.
Silly question, is there piping for loading the pellet truck? I don't see anything on the cover of the model kit (not yet purchased). I assume there is piping to simulate unloading from rail cars on the back side of the model? Thanks for anyone that can answer my questions.
I would try just Googling to find pictures. You may find exactly what you are looking for, or even something you hadn't considered.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Pellet hoppers are emtied by sucking the material from the car, and blowing it up to the top of the tanks, all via an enclosed system, so nothing is contaminated.
A dry bulk tank truck, will fill up via a pipe connection, not a chute or spout. Once the truck reaches it's destination at the injection molding plant, the truck uses a blower to unload into a storage silo, once again with enclosed piping and a hose from the truck.
If a dry bulk tank truck is equiped with a vac system, it can load up right from a rail car, so this whole process can take place at a transloading facility, and no tanks required.
Mike.
My You Tube
Great info Mike! So, I could simply model with a siding and a lane to position the truck by the hopper car? I will buy the kit in the future as I want to do a plastic plant in another part of the layout.
I will do some googling for images. Thanks, guys!
I have seen this done at the Pioneer Valley Railroad yard in Westfield, Ma about ten years ago. The truck pulls up to a railroad car and attaches a hose to the bottom of the car that connects to his trailer. He uses the air compressor in his truck, trailer. No idea on how he measures. I saw this being done from an overhead bridge so never got a close look.
A plastic coating company nearby takes about five to six cars at one time for unloading.
I do know there are many small plastic company companies in the Springfield, MA, metropolitan area the get plastic pellets in the same way via trailer truck. Plastic injection molding is quite popular.
Go to You Tube and search for, unloading plastic pellets. You will find videos. I just looked.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
You will need a dedicated silo for each color and type of plastic the plastic molding plant will use. The old Crowe Rope plant in Warren, ME had this setup, and received pellets by rail back in the 1990s. They have been out of business for about 20 years. If you want to check, Google Earth does have some overhead inages going back that far; look for a link at the bottom of the page. No street views that old
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch