Ore Docks and the Modern Day

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BNSF_Denali_Sub

BNSF_Denali_Sub

BNSF SD70MAC's
Are Ore Docks still in use today?

Are the small Iron Ore Cars still used today as well, or is Iron Ore transported in larger hoppers now adays?

Im trying to decide if I need to model a large ore dock or if I should just leave it out. I want to model a modern steel mill, so if Ore Docks arent used all that often in the modern day, I dont really have a need to model one and can leave it off the lower level of my plan....

I was thinking of transporting the Iron Ore from the Mine by rail to the Steel Mill and leaving the Ore Dock out to save space.... If Ore Docks are still often used today, is Iron Ore also transported by rail to the mills?
 
I guess what im trying to get at here is, can I get by without modeling an Ore Dock and just transport the Iron Ore by rail to the mills?
 
A couple are still in use today. This one is like 100 years old!

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/49.html?nav=6

http://www.marquettecountry.org/ore.php


Small ore cars are still in use at the mines.

Most ore I think comes by boat. Steel plants have been getting it this way for years and don't see a reason to change. It cheaper for them in the long run to get it by boat. They can unload in bulk faster and in giant piles unlike unloading it by car.

Now scrap steel pellets are transported in by rail.....
 
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Depends on where your steel mill is located. The mills in Cleveland and along the Great Lakes transported most of there ore by boat. In the winter time when the lakes are closed there would be transport by rail if the mills needed additional ore before the lakes reopened.

Here in Alabama ore was shipped into the port of Mobile and hauled in regular hopper cars to the mills in north alabama (the Republic Steel Mill in Gadsden in particular). There were a number of hoppers broken by overloading. Whether there were any of the small ore cars used in AL prior to 1976, I can't say. I have not seen any pictures of them if there were. By 1976 almost all ore mining in AL had stopped. Republic was still getting a small amount till 78 or 79, but I don't know were it was mined other than from AL.

I'm not sure what the western mills did or how they received pellets.

Glenn
 
If youre going to model modern, the way to go is a mini mill. That's mainly using scrap steel though and throws out your idea for any ore
 
It's been several years since I've been up there, but taconite pellets were shipped in ore jennies from the mines around Negaunee, Michigan to the ore docks in Escanaba. The ore boats would take the ore down to the mills in NW Indiana and I assume Cleveland, etc. A brother of a friend worked his way through college as a hand on the boats.

The big hauler was CNW; I think ELS used to haul ore also. You can Google Tilden Mine, Ishpeming, Escanaba, Empire Mine, Negaunee (all in Michigan).

If memeory serves, they used to run ore trains down the WC (now CN) from Minnesota to somewhere in Illinois or NW Indiana.

There was a mini-mill in Lemont, Il right by the Des Plaines River - there was a small yard there, huge piles of scrap, and I have some pix of their industrial switcher. That mill closed down several years ago but you can probably still see the BNSF (ex-ATSF) yard on Bing, etc.
 
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Superior Wis has a bunch of ore docks, not sure if they are still used or not. They are neat to see in person as they are absolutely mammoth structures.

Duluth, Superior and Proctor MN are all good spots for railfanning. The yard in Proctor is huge and usually has TONS of full ore cars waiting in the yard. I was up there in the middle of winter for a conference, I'd suggest going in the summer:D
 
Just remembered - I saw a unit train of BNSF ore cars running south through Aurora, IL on the CN (ex-EJE) not too long ago. No idea if they were loaded or empty - I was driving parallel to the tracks for a bit and didn't get a good look.
 


Thanks for all the info guys, i decided to not include an ore dock. The things are massive and eat up alot of space combined with a large harbor lol

What kinda of open hoppers carry Iron Ore besides the shorty Iron Ore Hoppers though?
 
jbaakko said:
Josh. Check out photos of the "SORE" trains:
WC, now CN, hauls ore south from the Marquette range, to Escanaba, a port on Lake Michigan. They do run trains of 2-3 bay hoppers, and single bay ore jennies.
Click to expand...

That must be the ex-CNW line through Lathrop, Rock, etc along M-35. My grandparents' farm was on the east side of M-35 in Rock and I used to watch Alco-powered CNW ore trains (all ore jennies then) run to / from Esky. Scavenged quite a few taconite pellets from those tracks. (Yeah, I know...)
 
Beachbum said:
That must be the ex-CNW line through Lathrop, Rock, etc along M-35. My grandparents' farm was on the east side of M-35 in Rock and I used to watch Alco-powered CNW ore trains (all ore jennies then) run to / from Esky. Scavenged quite a few taconite pellets from those tracks. (Yeah, I know...)
Click to expand...
Sure is. Very nice trains there...
 
ChevelleSSguy said:
I dont think those shorty iron ore cars like DMIR and CNW used to always use are even around anymore.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how up to date bing maps are, but check out the aerial/birds eye view of the massive yard in Proctor, MN.

Most ore cars are empty, but there is a few that are full, whenever the photo was taken! You can also check out the 2 roundhouses there as well!

When I was up there last winter there were more full than empty cars.

Jason
 
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