I'm working in HO and would like to add a brewery to a layout plan. The idea is to hide a container for liquid contents, usually soda pop for the kids and other beverages at other times, and make it one of those unexpected props for layout purposes.
The idea is that guests to my layout will be told to put a cup on a stablized flatcar then escorted near the building where pop, coffee or some beverage will come from a cleverly disguised drain or spout and fill the cup -- timed to fill only the cups and coordinated with the train movement.
It would become another added touch, like flashing lights, sounds, smoke and tricks with mirrors.
The brewery model would operate the rest of the time as prototypically as possible based in part on some information from the rest of the forums and my own research.
Has anyone done something like this before? Can it work? Anyone had luck with coffee makers?
Oh and why, might you ask? Well, I know what I like on my layout, but I want other people to enjoy it also. I think it's more fun that way.
Best,
Ignatius
If i remember correctly Linn Wescott's 101 track Plans had a plan for a MR to feed caged pigeons using Hoppers (why anyone would want to do that is another story). Anyway it was very ingenious regardless. Now the thoughof making a working brewery that is another story. Beer and MR'ng is dangerous combo and can lead to multiple derailments, so I'm told...
My concern would be all that syrop and suds and coffee grinds on the rails leading to dirty pick up and shorting. Looking at the type of cars to be used maybe you answer. I would almost be tempted to use "G" scale for this type of operation as there is more stability in the cars as they are wider. As for the type of cars I would think the ones used at blast furnaces to transport the molten metal and slag would be a good design.
Just my thoughts
Fergie
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=5959
If one could roll back the hands of time... They would be waiting for the next train into the future. A. H. Francey 1921-2007
ignatius wrote: I'm working in HO and would like to add a brewery to a layout plan. The idea is to hide a container for liquid contents, usually soda pop for the kids and other beverages at other times, and make it one of those unexpected props for layout purposes.The idea is that guests to my layout will be told to put a cup on a stablized flatcar then escorted near the building where pop, coffee or some beverage will come from a cleverly disguised drain or spout and fill the cup -- timed to fill only the cups and coordinated with the train movement.
Expanding on what Fergie had to say re your question, I'll add that free flowing liquids and model railroads simply don't go together. Allowing loose (presemably paper) cups to be arbitrarily placed on a flatcar by visitors and then filled with a poured liquid, is setting you up for guaranteed repeated disasters...unless perhaps you have bare aluminum foil for the surrounding three feet of terrain!
Discharging dry, granulated materials (like Wescott and others have done), is reasonable, since spillage is easily picked up and harmless. Over time, however, the spilling of a liquid will simply ruin that part of the layout. Such "entertainment value" is hardly worth the trouble it creates.
CNJ999
I cut out the middle man, and keep a mini fridge under the layout...
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
wm3798 wrote: I cut out the middle man, and keep a mini fridge under the layout...Lee
I agree, with Lee, Mister Beasley and CNJ.
If you must have brew taps, mount them through the fascia below track level. Better yet, avoid them altogether.
Then there is the little matter, known during the Transition Era and earlier as Rule G...
The use of intoxicants or narcotics by employees subject to duty, or their possession or use while on duty, is prohibited.
Don't know about your railroad, but mine enforces it. Water and soft drinks only, and no smoking (the latter being Rule H.)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
tomikawaTT wrote: wm3798 wrote: I cut out the middle man, and keep a mini fridge under the layout...Lee I agree, with Lee, Mister Beasley and CNJ.If you must have brew taps, mount them through the fascia below track level. Better yet, avoid them altogether.Then there is the little matter, known during the Transition Era and earlier as Rule G...The use of intoxicants or narcotics by employees subject to duty, or their possession or use while on duty, is prohibited.Don't know about your railroad, but mine enforces it. Water and soft drinks only, and no smoking (the latter being Rule H.)Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
All very good points indeed. Although, Chuck, I've been to an older gentleman's layout (free-style free-lance, any period, any place HO) who allowed ice cream and cake for a modelling club member's birthday, just as long as no one made a cake tunnel, he was OK.
Perhaps that could be another thread.
I appreciate how difficult it would be to keep the layout and track clean. It seems I forgot to think about ants and critters who would be interested in taking over my MoW, but ... could it work if the liquid came out of a storm drain hanging off the edge of the layout?
I could extend the scenery so far and begin using more plumbing equipment the farther out I go.
In HO scale any reasonable sized container wouldn't be stable or would exceed clearances.
In O scale SOFC (soda on flat car) or BOFC (beer on flat car) would work as a 12 ounce can would be stable lying horizontally on an O scale flat car with the proper brackets.
In G scale you could run COFC (coffee on flat car) or TOFC (tea on flat car) with standard sized mugs. Have a condiment station for cream, milk, and sugar. A TOFC loading station would be an interesting project. You could use a coffee container.
Didn't Walthers offer a beer car a few years ago where the principal piece was a beer can?
You might try that.
I have a brewery on the layout, but one would get really thirsty if expecting to drink beer from it.
Perhaps, drinking and modeling don't mix.
Definately, the idea gets an "A" for creative thinking, however.
Cheers.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
If it;s meant as a fun piece, and can run it without clearence issues, then you could take the tops off plastic soda bottles, say where it reaches full width, whack em off, secure the lid, flip, and stabilize in a hig sided con. Or practice rolling plascit into cups to make them fit. Its a fun idea. If you apply a button, you eliminate a lot of the issue. And if you place a buffer and only use the same size cars, you can almost eliminate overspill. And save yourself the hassle of shorting by pusjing trains with an Idler car over a power break. The siding doesn't need power anyway, so if the switcher can stay on power, and the cars ride the dummy siding, guests don't do christmas tree looks. To further make cleanup easier,. install a grate below track, that is removeable. Put a tank underneath it for spill off. Use track that is rigid ebnough for grate to be removeable. And pull out wjhatever drink holder's in the building after use. No longer an ant problem
In a sense, the better idea is to build a soft drink dispenser, with a brewery for the outside of it.
Kinda offtrack, but Whewn Dad worked for the Great Train Store, a wife bbought a G scale train to haul beer to her lazy oaf of a husband.
The idiot made her take it back...
-Morgan
And then there is the G-gauge train on the bar for distributing sushi.
Mark
markpierce wrote: And then there is the G-gauge train on the bar for distributing sushi.Mark
Actually, standard-size nigiri-zushi will fit in a 1:80 scale ToRa45000 class drop-side gon.
Don't ask me how I know that...
Chuck (sushi addict modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
tomikawaTT wrote: Actually, standard-size nigiri-zushi will fit in a 1:80 scale ToRa45000 class drop-side gon.Don't ask me how I know that...Chuck (sushi addict modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I'm a sashimi fan. Who needs all that rice that comes with sushi? I much rather consume beer for my carbs.
chadw wrote:A less messy way to make this work could be to have the brewery load powdered drinks into operating hoppers. Then have an unloading trestle at the edge of the layout with a recessin the fascia below it. Put a glass of water on a shelf under the trestle and unload your powdered drinks into it. That way you can haul drinks without the risk of a soaked layout.
Powdered beer?
Here is an interesting article on the Boca Brewery that was located along the SP right-of-way in the Sierra Nevada until it burned down.
http://www.tahoe.com/article/SS/20070803/COMMUNITY/70803003/-1/COMMUNITY06