ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
Ok I know the large Railroad yards had coal or sand brought in by Rail to service facilitys. the cars would be parked in the yard waiting to be used. I would like to know would there have been short lines or far away points on a rail line that would have had sand and coal trucked in. Im talking 1-2 track facility to servie small steam and 4 axel diesels. small storage coal bins that would hold the capasity to feed 3 or 4 small engines. time frame would be early/mid 50s
Reason I ask is Im putting in a small 2 track fuel island, one track steam the other fuel. holds one steam engine or 2 geeps I have no room to fit a track that a hopper car would use to drop the load, i do have room for a access road for trucks.
Yes, there were those small coaling and sanding station on branches and shortlines. They material was usually in wood bins, with the sand bin covered. The thing to add to the scene would be a mobile conveyor belt, which would be used to unload the coal and sand trucks and transfer coal and sand to the engines.
thanks for that info Jim. That was going to be my plan. I bought the walthers sanding towers and drying house. I have the room for the buildings and towers but no space for a track to drop the loads. I was going to use trucks to get loads in and out and a conveyor to load the tenders with coal. A small cat will be nearby to fill the conveyor hopper/belts..
Trent
Fred Weber photo, Dave Morrison collection, Dave Keller archive
Trent, you could also use a stiff leg derrick like the one in the picture but that's really a little too old for the 50's, although I imagine some were still around. The coaling stations I've seen had a conveyor on wheels the could tilt in either direction. When a truck came in, they'd tilt the conveyor into the truck bed and shovel coal into the conveyor, which would empty into the coaling bin. When an engine needed coal, the conveyor would be moved to the coaling bin, and the operation was reversed. There was a lot of manual labor involved but manpower was still cheap then. There was no such thing as a small Cat in the early 50's. A more accurate clean up vehicle would be a Ford tractor with a front end loader bucket.
Jim
Im thinking I will just have the trucks dump in the bin and a conveyor near to load the tender. I have a sand drying house that may end up across one of the tracks yet still shares the roadway to the coal bins. this is the style cat I was thinking of http://images.google.com/imgres?img...?q=caterpillar+cable+bucket+loader&hl=en&um=1
This is a part of my layout that was Bare and really needed somthing. The mainline track in near the wall. the next track is the junction track that goes to the edge of the layout to simulate a way out. 2 service tracks and one of lead from the switching section to the upper yard.
Trent, the Cat D2 was the "baby" Cat of its time but it was still a pretty big piece of equipment and the cable run front loader was cursed by all who had to run one. They were also pretty expensive for their day and it's not likely a railroad would have spent the money on one for a small loading facility. I'm thinking more of a Ford 8N tractor like this:
with a loader like this attached to the front:
Looks like a good way to fill in the odd corner of your layout though.
Jim were the old ford tractors being built in the late 40s? Im not up on the small tractors really.
Here is pics of the progress so far.
I need to make the conveyor smaller. I went a little overkill on the size.
I used old N scale track for the ash pit hopper thats a german N scale car I might cut in half and lower it.
I will add a water spout to the service track
add some coal to the bin corner
add a 1 or 2 lights to the service track and over
get rid of the 18 wheeler and add a 6 wheel dump weather the grounds so it blends in.. this has been a 2 night project so far...
you can see I did not have much room to work with here LOL. I dont think a real railroad would stuff it in such a tight spot but I think it will look the part if I add some trees and stuff in front of the scen to hide how close everthing is???
Trent, the tractor in the photo is a 1948 Ford model N8, so it would fit right in with your era. I think your concept for the area is fine, a little tight, but it is a model. The converyor belt needs work. It's too thick, too tall, and it needs to be mobile. The one at http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3520 would be perfect for what you need and it includes enough parts to make three conveyors. It's on sale for $12 so it's hard to beat the price.
Yea I went looking for that conveyor last weekend but my LHS was out of stock on it. I know they carry it tho... I was waiting for the paint to dry tonight so I started making my own just for fun. It will end up in the garbage but it gave me a better Idea how it will work out. I will have to see what small tractors they have at the LHS I know they had a few but I never looked close at it. I agree about the cable buckets. I watched a guy operate one at a antique tractor show it was pretty cool to see but I swear it was one of the worst idea ever invented LOL. it looks like it would be fine for soft meterial but any large rocks..... good luck! LOL
The converyor belt needs work. It's too thick, too tall, and it needs to be mobile. The one at 