Harrisburg Industrial Area - Construction begins...

Over the last week I have been planning and constructing two more Industrial Areas for the layout.  The two new areas are located at Harrisburg & Columbia.

           

Cannot wait for the

Cannot wait for the development of the new industrial area in Harrisburg. Peeking around corners to see what is there. Keep up the good work Jas

Looking Good

Looks good, Jas.  Just remember, lots of brick!

Nice!

Looks like an interesting switching area. Should provide "loads" of fun! (Pun intended)

Thanks guys...

@ Noel:  That's the plan Noel, to be able to peek around corners.  Should make the next ops sessions a little more interesting with structures in place too.

@ Nick:  Thanks Nick, with all the Walthers Kits I think I have the "lots" of brick covered....

@ Paul:  Thanks Paul, hopefully will be a signature scene as its one of the first you will see.  Hopefully a few hours of fun for operators.

Jas...

Looks great Jas. One other

Looks great Jas. One other thing you might want to add are more stories to some of your structures.

These are near turn of the century photos but many of the structures would still be around many decades later and producing products. These were built before the era of planned obsolescence and made to last. Your modeled era would likely have several of these still around the tracks producing loads of freight.

Thanks Rob...

I'll have a couple of structures with a few more floors in another section.  Unfortunately I just don't have the room to get the bigger ones in in this section, I have a rolling mill structure which is quite large and a power plant too.

Couldn't not have coal & steel on a RDG layout!

Looking good

Hi Jas,

  The layout is coming along nicely with all the different areas you have been able to fill in with industries along the way..  Any thoughts on modeling a section as Hershey PA?  You could then put a Hershey Chocolate factory in.  Just an idea, thought I would share this old post card view.  Its a rater large complex  but would make for a great background building perhaps.  You probably aren't going to run any passenger equipment but, many old stations are still along the old Reading and Conrail lines.  

Its always neat seeing your layout grow and new track put in. Great work! 

Greg 

 "You could then put a

and the layout would smell great! Operators could sneak little bits from the loaded cars :> ) ......DaveB 

Greg you have made my day...

What a revelation...  When you mentioned Hershey's I thought great idea, but does it fit?  So I went and had a look at the old RDG System map that I have and wouldn't you know it an unfinished section between Harrisburg, Rutherford Yard & Lebanon was a perfect fit for a large industry like this...

Not only unfinished but around 10' of unfinished layout that lends itself to a perfect backdrop structure of Hershey Chocolates.  So with this in mind, the existing area of Rutherford & Manheim will now become Hershey Pa, and will be home to the new Hershey Chocolate Plant.  Thank you Greg!

The best part about this area is that the Hershey Plant has its own siding off the main and has three spurs that can be used, along with additions if needed if I cut them back into the wall cavity which is easily done too.  Here are some photos of the area...

I have even ordered the Walthers twin brick smoke stack kit, and will scratch build the steel water tower to model this iconic scene from the factory...

Stay tuned for more...

Jas.

Sweet!!

HE HE!

Nice Graeme...

I see what you did there...  Maybe an oil burner with a few Hershey kisses in the top instead of oil and we can have the smell of chocolate eminatiing from the factory too...

Dave's e-cig thread...

With the rise in e-cig explosions

that's not something I need near the layout.

More Structures around Harrisburg...

The last week has seen some major structure building going on, in particular the area around Harrisburg.

As this is to be a heavy industrial area the structures needed to fit the feel & what would normally be seen in the area.

Along with the Walthers - Modular kits several other kits have now been constructed.

The area is now at a point that has a good mix of structures and can easily be switched.  There is some minor track work alterations to be made for the rolling mill loading building.

Next stage is to continue to move around adding the structures and tuning the areas.

Harrisburg Industrial Area - Steel Mill...

So this week another shipment of railroad goodies arrived from my good friend in the USA (he ships over all my eBay purchases) filled with the last lot of structures needed for the Harrisburg - Steel Mill area.

Eagerly watching

Eagerly watching developments.

More soon Rob...

Just working on installing the track work today then the placement of the structures.

I've already hit a small issue as the base plate for the Rolling Mill structure has the track molded into the base plate.  Not sure if I want to cut the three tracks out of the base plate, or just get operators to use an idler car?

Might be a good idea to use

Might be a good idea to use idler cars, many times locomotives were not allowed inside buildings. A reach in with a flat or the empties to replace the loads does not seem to hard to do. One could glue metal rails to the existing rails and just shim the connecting track to match the new height.

Another use for idlers

Hi JLT,

In the early 1980's I had job that rated the exalted title of "Ingot Controller" at a local Australian steelworks. At that time the local steelworks was still running all 3 types of steelmaking plants - electric steel, open heath and basic oxygen furnaces. Ingots were made at all 3 plants My job involved driving all over the plant to keep tabs on what ingot moulds were set up and liaising with the Traffic Department, who ran the locomotives, to ensure that the ingots, once made, got to where they needed to be in time to be re-heated to meet the rolling mill schedules.

The ingot buggies on this plant had smaller wheels and lower height couplings. This then meant that at the ends of each rake of ingot buggies there was a spacer car or idler that enabled the couplers to match up to the higher height couplings on the locomotives. These ingot buggies were not air-brake fitted and were wheel chocked at the spacer cars when parked.

After dark the ingots on these ingot buggies were still glowing a solid orange to red hot after the ingot moulds were stripped at the Stripper House. The time between teeming at the steel making shop and stripping at the Striper House varied depending on the grade of steel and the type of mould and the size of the ingots that had been teemed into the moulds. So some ingots were very much hotter than others as they rolled past. Hot enough almost to blister duco on a car if you got too close at a crossing and one of the hotter rakes of ingots rolled past. In wet weather these rakes of ingots turned into mobile steam clouds.

These spacer cars were fitted with heavy steel heat shields to protect the locomotive from the radiant heat thrown off by these ingots. These heat shields were about 1'-2' thick and extended from the spacer car deck to about 1/2 cab window height on the locomotive. This protected most of the cab, still left the driver some visibility. and allowed the headlight in the cab roof to light the ingot rake after dark when it was being shoved.  

So perhaps some "dedicated"  flat cars fitted with heat shields might be the go? 

Harrisburg Steel Mill & Industrial Area - Track Work...

So yesterday was a day of installing the track work associated with the new Steel Mill and the remaining Harrisburg Industrial area.

First was the siding for the Electric Furnace, this will hold two 52' gondolas or a larger single 65' one.  I wanted a second siding but couldn't get the room to add it, it will make the operations side of switching more interesting having to shuttle two in, and two out spotted on another siding.

The remaining track work was associated with the siding that feeds the Mill area and the remaining industrial area of Harrisburg.  This included another siding for a larger industry, and two separate storage/spotting tracks to allow switching to continue in the area.

There is also a crossover from the main to the siding to allow run-around moves to be performed.

As can be seen in the above photos the plastic base for the rolling mill has the rail pre-formed into the base itself.  To allow the movement of the coil cars & gondola's there will be an idler car (50' flat car) that will be used so that the switcher does not have to enter the unpowered base area of the rolling mill.

This is overall shot of the Harrisburg Industrial Area...

More soon...

Jas you have really captured

Jas you have really captured the feel of Eastern railroads through an industrial area. The numerous tracks and turnouts needed to reach into industries that were in place before the railroad tracks or that modernized and expanded in the early 1900s. I have seen countless right of ways that had the look you are modeling. Many of them are gone now or much reduced in scope an effect of business relocation or major change in an industry. Many have gone to trails after the industry left.

looks good

Thats going to look real good when its all done. I kinda thought that the track  was too close to the building though, but other than that it looks great.

looking good, again...

You might want to do a rolling test of the rail to the plastic rails. Can the base take rail joiners?