Small trackside industry inspiration needed


VTRailway

VTRailway

Active Member
Looking for a bit of help and inspirstion. I have a 10’ single track section im looking to add a couple small trackside industries to. My overall vision is a small rural town. Thinking of a scrap yard, small propane rail to truck transfer station, maybe a lumber store or just a small transfer station that contains a loading ramp and a pit to empty hoppers via coneyor belt. My overall vision is to not over crowd this section with stacked industries but yet offer different types of cars such as gondolas, tank cars and center beam cars. Should these industries be spur sidings or runnaround sidings? The scrap yard will most likely be a spur. Thinking same for lumner yard. Might do a double siding there. Another possibility would be a small brewery. Actually really like the idea of a brewery as i write this.

looking for suugestioms on how to model these areas and really add some detail to it.
 
VTRailway said:
Wow, was it something I said? Didn't expect to hear crickets for this long.
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Your post got lost in the flurry of other posts recently.

In a 10' section you could easily place three industries, but they might seem crowded. It would depend on what's bordering on either side. A scrap yard would definitely be a spur, as it would take time to load a gondola. The same with a team track, or a rail to truck transfer station as you call it. Railroads would not go through the expense of making those double-ended unless they generated a whole lot of traffic. A brewery even back in your time frame would have to be large to need rail service, no craft brewery here. Much of that could be two dimensional background structures along the wall or backdrop. A single track spur that accesses several doors would be appropriate, with dedicated doors for unloading supplies (bottles, cans, packaging materials), and another one for loading finished product, which could be either pallets of bottles/cans, or kegs. Depending on the size, you might also have a separate track (covered or open air) for grain unloading and a spot to load out spent grain (hulls and chaff).
Depending on the size and traffic, a lumberyard could be double-ended.
Other small industries appropriate for that time frame, could include a tannery, pallet manufacturer, cold storage warehouse, fuel distributor, fertilizer/feed store, or a small grain elevator. Every small rural town had a grain elevator up until the late 70's. Vermont might also have a small lumber mill.
 
Thanks for the suggestions sanatefewille.

Here in milton there is oliver seed. I don't think they are served by rail anymore but surely were in past decades. Oliver seed was something I had intention to add somewhere on the layout.

After reading the comment of “every town had a grain elevator” this sparked a memory. A.D Pease grain elevator was located at the burlington wayerfront. This was not far from Burlington yard; maybe 1/2 mile away. I remeber this being a spur. How would this been run? Covered hoppers or open air? This was abandoned before I was coherent enough to have memories.

Adding a brewery as a 2D building was something i hadnt consideted but like the idea.

Ill add my track plan tomorrow to better illustrate my useable space for these industries.
 

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How about a stone quarry? Not enough room for an actual quarry, but probably a cutting shed, loading dock, yard with unfinished and finished pieces, etc.
 
Rather than a brewery, a beverage distributor might be better. They are smaller and can get the same reefers and boxcars (reefers for kegs, RBL's for beer and boxcars for soda.) They are also very common.

Another somewhat tedious method of picking industries is to go on Google Maps and "fly" over a railroad in the area and look at what industries are in the area. Sometimes you can find a random industry that you wouldn't expect. For example, there might be a fiberglass boat manufacturer that got carloads of plastic resin, gons of steel rods and boxcars of fiberglass cloth.
 
Vince-RA said:
How about a stone quarry? Not enough room for an actual quarry, but probably a cutting shed, loading dock, yard with unfinished and finished pieces, etc.
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I actually had a thought of a stone quarry. Thought about making a portion of the fascia into a deep quarry scene. Figured it might give some depth (both visually and literally) on the narrowest section of the layout.
 
dave1905 said:
Rather than a brewery, a beverage distributor might be better. They are smaller and can get the same reefers and boxcars (reefers for kegs, RBL's for beer and boxcars for soda.) They are also very common.

Another somewhat tedious method of picking industries is to go on Google Maps and "fly" over a railroad in the area and look at what industries are in the area. Sometimes you can find a random industry that you wouldn't expect. For example, there might be a fiberglass boat manufacturer that got carloads of plastic resin, gons of steel rods and boxcars of fiberglass cloth.
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I think I like the beverage distributor even more. The section I'm looking to fill in is pretty narrow. I will look into the google earth suggestion, thanks for that!
 
The places I'm looking at putting industries and unique scenes are on the left coming out of the closet to the corner. The first 24" out of the closet will be about 7" deep. This may be a good place for a quarry. From there it curves out to about 12". I think I can actually make it 14" deep for the bulk of the run on that wall. Planning to continue building the benchwork for the Burlington yard on the right side. Once that's in I will build in the center peninsula. With those in I can see just how it feels walking around and through the layout. I've been mocking this up with cardboard placed on tables. So far I'm happy with the space I have and how it flows.

Also looking for ideas for the narrow section in front of the windows. My first thought is a long trestle over a lake but would love to hear any ideas others may have.
 

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If you decide to go with a quarry I can provide lots of recommendations for books and other resources :) I’m targeting turn of the 20th century Barre granite quarries for my rolling stock (and perhaps eventually a layout), some of my books have pictures from well into the later part of the 1900s.
 
All you really need is a single track imbedded in concrete or gravel.
Lay a few hoses around, maybe a conveyor and a forklift nearby and pretty much any car can be spotted.
Perfect for an open load car like lumber, machinery, or aggregates
 
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