cv_acr
Well-Known Member
How big of an industry do you want to go for?
One possibility is an aluminum smelter/refinery.
I've seen aluminum billets shipped on centerbeams, plus larger ingots on bulkhead flatcars with floor risers. Billets and other products can/will also be loaded in boxcars, and other products like powdered alumina are shipped in covered hoppers, as well as raw bauxite ore "could" always come in by hopper. Also, waste products are shipped out in small specialized containers on flatcars. Probably tank cars of chemicals involved in some of the processes as well.
If you want to model something that is one really big industry with wild varieties of freight equipment, paper mills and metal smelting operations are prime candidates for a wild variety of interesting shipments.
Or you just break it down into an "industrial park" type area, with separate industries handling the centerbeams (these are 99% exclusively used for lumber, but as mentioned they also get used for gypsum board (drywall) and aluminum billets) and the hoppers.
Depending on the space you have to play with, a pair of smaller (unrelated) industries may work better than something on such a huge scale.
Selecting two random types of cars and looking for an industry that takes both is kinda tricky, especially when one or both of those cars is so highly specialized.
Transload/team track has also already been mentioned.
One possibility is an aluminum smelter/refinery.
I've seen aluminum billets shipped on centerbeams, plus larger ingots on bulkhead flatcars with floor risers. Billets and other products can/will also be loaded in boxcars, and other products like powdered alumina are shipped in covered hoppers, as well as raw bauxite ore "could" always come in by hopper. Also, waste products are shipped out in small specialized containers on flatcars. Probably tank cars of chemicals involved in some of the processes as well.
If you want to model something that is one really big industry with wild varieties of freight equipment, paper mills and metal smelting operations are prime candidates for a wild variety of interesting shipments.
Or you just break it down into an "industrial park" type area, with separate industries handling the centerbeams (these are 99% exclusively used for lumber, but as mentioned they also get used for gypsum board (drywall) and aluminum billets) and the hoppers.
Depending on the space you have to play with, a pair of smaller (unrelated) industries may work better than something on such a huge scale.
Selecting two random types of cars and looking for an industry that takes both is kinda tricky, especially when one or both of those cars is so highly specialized.
Transload/team track has also already been mentioned.
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