How many carloads is realistic for a small mine op?

[West Virginia Midland Man]

I just finished laying track to Island Creek Coal Co's Sugar Creek operation. There isn't much room between the hillside and Sugar Creek, so the facility is small. I can fit 4 cars, 2 on each track. Obviously, that's small, but the RR is on call to move loaded cars down to Sugar Creek Junction and replace them with a like number of MTYs.

If I had the room, I'd extend the tracks under the tipple, but there is none. So 4 carloads at a time, recover loads, replace MTYs, repeat. Is that a realistic enough compromise?

 

[NH Mike]

If it is to be a small operation that is only serving the needs of the users in the local area it sounds reasonable enough. Having limited space to load will add extra switching moves that otherwise aren't needed on a larger mining operation. An extra siding long enough to hold 4 cars while the others are moved in or out of the loading area should work. I think all those elements add up to some interesting operation for the local switcher crew.

 

[West Virginia Midland Man]

Sugar Creek Junction is at the bottom of the hill; the local switcher climbs about a 2% grade to the tipple. At the tipple, there's a LH turnout, the mine boss decides which track is pulled first. Loads are taken to Sugar Creek Junction, dropped and then MTY's are taken back to the mine. Between runs to the mine, the switcher works the industries at town (Pardee & Curtin Lumber and McGown Hardware) or shuffles cars brought up from the Pickens & Webster Springs holding facility.

 

[Larry Launstein Jr]

Sugar Creek Junction is at the bottom of the hill; the local switcher climbs about a 2% grade to the tipple. At the tipple, there's a LH turnout, the mine boss decides which track is pulled first. Loads are taken to Sugar Creek Junction, dropped and then MTY's are taken back to the mine. Between runs to the mine, the switcher works the industries at town (Pardee & Curtin Lumber and McGown Hardware) or shuffles cars brought up from the Pickens & Webster Springs holding facility.

I think NH Mike has it just about right. For the lumber company spur on my layout, one siding can handle 3 cars, the other 4, but I use that primarily to move my entire freight train from the spur to the mainline. I even have my water tower and coal tower there in case I want to pull my steam engines in for some much needed nourishment. For a very small HO layout, cool stuff indeed. I have a road/switch engine that I can use, too.

 

[West Virginia Midland Man]

A minor realignment of the track at the tipple now allows for six cars (3 per track) or five hoppers and a boxcar (or flat) of supplies. I've done a bit of work to the tipple itself as well, adding a conveyor into the hillside. All in all, with one exception, the site is ready for scenery.

 

[hamltnblue]

How about some pics

 

[West Virginia Midland Man]

GF's daughter is a photographer and will be taking some photos very soon. Rimer's Corner photos are in the Showin' Off section.

Here is Sugar Creek Junction, the town is called Aurtown, but on the track charts/timetable, the area is Sugar Creek Jct. In the right hand photo, the block of stores was bought and then moved by Pardee & Curtin Lumber. The gas station/store slated to be built on the corner was never built; instead McGown Hardware will occupy the area. The Western Auto building caught fire and was razed. Larry McGown decided to put his hardware store right across the street from Pardee & Curtin's yard for obvious reasons, if you need lumber, then you'll probably need fasteners, paint, etc, etc. Smart man, that McGown fella. He gets a 40' box of various hardware/building supplies about once every three days. P&C Lumber is on call with the RR; when a car spotted for loading is ready, the manager at P&C calls the dispatcher at the station and the car is pulled ASAP and taken to Skelt. When hoppers are brought down from Island Creek #3, they go on the passing siding with any hoppers from the P&WS holding facility. When the siding's full, the hoppers are moved on to Skelt, then eventually to Elkins (staging) for classification.

None of the area has any completed scenery yet. The Junction trackage is shared by M&WV, P&WS, Western Maryland and B&O. It's not impossible to see V&O, Allegheny Midland, West Virginia Northern, Maryland and Allegheny, Greenbrier Southern, Pittsburgh Southern, Grafton and Greenbrier, Virginia Midland and various other regional shortlines' traffic. The branch to Island Creek #3 is visible in the RH photo, just beyond the level. (The roadbed has since been raised.)