Way back when, master kitbasher Art Curren took two New River Mine kits and combined them into a chemical plant and wrote an article that I stumbled across. Having a couple kits sitting around, I thought this would be a good way to get back in the swing of things as I ramp up to refilling the basement with a N scale empire.

Here are some down and dirty shots of progress so far. More to come soon I hope. Labor Day weekend was pretty good for progress.[attach:fileid=/sites/model-railroad-hobbyist.com/files/users/Peter Pfotenhauer/2012-09-03_23-39-57_101.jpg]

The main and passing siding on far left will run behind the plant. Here two spurs run down the factory. The RH track will serve boxcars and an occassional flatcar of machinery for the loading dock (The cat bumped the buildings just as I took the photo.) The LH track will be plugged with covered hoppers to load at the overhead bin. The covered conveyer system from building to bin is being repaired after catzilla damage. The fusebox is closer than it looks, and will have room to open thanks to an 18 inch radius curve that starts at the end of this module to bring the tracks around 180 to come down the other side of this industrial concentration aisle.

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This is another along the rails shot. The loading dock at right is for truck traffic delivering and hauling out loads. The open doors will be detailed with interior scenes which I hope to develop from photos mounted inside the wall. The building on the right is a power house. The blue wall is a Micro Engineering kit added to the side of the mine kit building.

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Here you can see the spur off the passing siding. Track is a mix of ME code 55 with Peco turnouts. The tank farm will hold chemicals and fuel in various tanks. Cars will be unloaded at several odd spots on the spur lead before the buildings. All the tanks shown may not be in the final configuration here, as a couple of the gray ones (From a Green Max kit) may be used elsewhere in the complex to hide unwanted sightlines.

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This shot down the tracks in the other direction (Ignore the big pile of junk back there.) shows how the two mine buildings are connected by a conveyor. Note the piping running from the top to second floor. The tall reacting tower is scratchbuilt from various sized Evergreen rods and a rectangular tube all on top of a chopped up slag bin from the mine kit cut to fit the slope of the mine roof.

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Here is an aisleway side on view of the majority of the complex. There are two tracks between the buildings and  the ruler. The sheet styrene will simulate concrete paving. A long loading complex of pipes and platforms will sit between the tracks where the detail and those gorgeous Atlas N scale tank cars can show off their stuff.

The overall scene takes up 6 feet on two 4 foot oNeTrak modules that will be incorporated into the basement empire. This location should require lots of attention from the local switcher on it's run. Scenic treatments to hide that awful looking window in the background are still being considered.