Steel Mill town?


OBS

OBS

Structure Fan
I thought I'd finally decided on an industry for my layout, but having gone through my 2008 Walthers catalog, and searching the internet, I've found NO Steel Mill sets!

I must have overlooked something. Does anyone here know who's currently producing some steel mill structures?

Thanks!
 
Yes, Wathers, N scale, is the most recent release, not sure if its still in production however.
 
I found that one after posting, but only in N scale. I can barely handle painting HO, I can't move down another scale.
 
We've got a couple of guys here who are steel mill model specialists and I'm sure they's chime in. As Josh said, modeling steel mills is probably about the most expensive industry you can pick for a model railroad. There's currently a listing e-bay for the retired Walthers blast furnace kit at http://cgi.ebay.com/WALTHERS-CORNER...39:1|66:2|65:10|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14. It's already up to $102 with six days to go and I expect it will go for somewhere around $300. Unless you want to pay that kind of money or scratchbuild, the Plastistruct steel mill fronts (which are still expensive) is your only other choice right now.
 
The info at this link might help - I got there by searching on Dean Freytag, who is probably the dean of model railroad steel manufacturing.

http://www.peachcreekshops.com/page.php?id=freytag - they've got links to many different kits that might be useful in modeling a steel mill (including figures) and books - there is even one on superdetailing the Walthers Blast Furnace.
 
Since Walthers has pretty much abandoned HO scale steel modelers by refusing to re-run their blast furnace, here's a link to a site that somewhat describes how to scratchbuild components for a blast furnace of your own (note: the dimensions are 1 1/2 times those of the Walthers kit).

http://trainweb.org/ironbelt/bf2/index.html
 
Wow...bummer.. Thanks for the great info tho guys.

My biggest problem has been finding a solid direction. I think, after seeing steel mill availability, that I'm going to focus on a coal mining layout. I'm most focused on making interesting terrain and very industrial, mechanical stuff all around. I think a Coal mine would be a good foundation.

I'm also still planning for a 1940's era layout, and will use Art Deco type buildings when I finally get around to commercial/residential areas.

My skills aren't good enough to scratch build a steel mill, but I'm very interested in developing those skills, in small bits.

I've been doing lots of googling, and haven't found what i"m looking for. Could anyone give me a simple rundown on the parts of a mining operation, what the different buildings in a mining operation do, and what type of equipment you'd find there?

On the Mining models I see, I see several buildings, but I'm unclear on their purpose. I assume you break up coal chunks in the mine, use a cart to get it out, up a conveyor, then dumped into train cars. Am I missing anything?
 
The World Coal Institute (http://www.worldcoal.org/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=92) is a good place to start. Coal mining that is done from underground mines is generally removed from modern mines by conveyor belts and old mines with ore cars on narrow gauge rails, pulled either by electric engines or, back in the really old days, mules. The coal seam is worked by hydraulic drills that generally break up the coal in chunks small enough to transport out of the mine.

What happens next is related to the size of the mine. A small "gopher hole" mine will have the coal loaded by men with shovels or small front end loaders into trucks to be transported to a larger colliery. Large mines will have facilities sort the waste rock from the coal, break down the coal to uniform size, wash the coal to remove the dust, and then either uses gravity dumps or conveyors to load trucks or railroad hopper cars.

You've picked a better prototype in terms of available structures but coal mines can be just as complex and large as some steel mills.
 
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In doing some research I came across this great site... lots of beautiful industrial photos. http://www.hfinster.de/StahlArt2/archive-en.html


Also, UP2CSX, I came across a Coal mine flow chart. It had dryer and cooler units, does coal need to be cooled, or dried out? Most of the pictures I'm coming across look like the coal comes up, gets sorted/crushed, separated from dirt, then loaded on cars.
 
Most large coal operations wash the coal to remove small pieces of dirt and debris so a dryer is pretty common. If the coal is wet when it's loaded into a hopper in cold weather, it will be a frozen mass when it gets to its destination, which doesn't help unloading. Thus, the dryer is normally used during cold weather only, either when it's cold at the mine or the destination.

I'm not sure what the cooler was but it may have been referring to a cooling tower for a coal fired power plant. Many coal mines produce their own power with coal from the mines and the smokestack needs a cooling unit to comply with current EPA regulations.
 
I wish I had found this site when I wanted to do a coal mining operation. Now I can see what happens if you ACTUALLY look for things YOURSELF.
 
Check out Some of Bread and Steel's posts. He has some great pics of his awsome steel mill posted here. He may also know where to get some of the things you are looking for.
 
I think one of the LHS's still has some of the Walthers steel mill kits, I could check for you.
There is a steel mill close to here that recycles metal at another plant across the tracks for its supply. I was always going to do a website dedicated to this called "the one way track" as it receives railcars, locos, etc. from all roads for scrap, some very interesting stuff comes thru!
Just never had the time to do so.
 
Rico said:
I think one of the LHS's still has some of the Walthers steel mill kits, I could check for you.
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Click to expand...

Rico, that would be Peach Creek Shops in Laurel, MD. The owner had his 4x8 steel mill module shown in Model Railroad Planning 2008.

Walthers will be re-releasing upgraded versions of their steel mill kits in 2009.
 
Ken, I was looking at the prices of those new releases. I think Walthers hasn't heard about the recession yet. :) The good thing is that most will sit in stock until Walthers decides to have a big sale.
 
I model Northern Ohio, pretty much just a grain hauler, even though its PRR, only boxcars, gondolas and covered hoppers on my layout... But I have always wanted to when I got the space to have a layout with steep grades, long trains, and the need for helpers. Mike
 
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