Hey fellers.

I'll be building a small airbrush station as part of the expansion for my new layout. I plan on using a good exhaust fan and filter to keep the fumes and paint dust down.

The question I have is about the exhaust set up. I currently have a clothes dryer duct which runs along the length of one section of my layout. Would it be advisable to tie into this duct or should I have a dedicated duct for the paint station with its own exhaust? A possible fire hazard jumps straight to mind due to the paint fumes and dust particles mixed in with the heat from the dryer, however I was thinking about tying it in at the very point where the exhaust from both "appliances" goes out side. The distance of the dryer from the exterior wall is about fifteen feet. The paint station would be about half that and would have its own duct work right up until the point at which the exhaust goes outside. We are talking maybe a foot at the most. If its a dumb idea just say so and I'll do it the hard way...which is probably the right way and be done with it.

Thanks.

Like Val (Spitfire) i plan on doing a steel mill somewhere in the future. Val has a space of 2'x12' for her steel mill from Walthers. She even pre-ordered all the buildings, your one lucky girl Val

My plans would strictly be a Steel Mill Layout, much like a switching layout, only kind-off compressed all together but just enough to tell the story of how steel is made.

My plans are as follows (this is the layout i have been thinking about for the past 3 nights as i lay in bed trying to fall asleep lol)

Large mine with open mine pit on one side of the room with lots of conveyors and a coal flood loader or 2 to help load up coal trains. Trains would travel down the line a bit to the ore dock, which would consist of 3-4 ore dock kits kitbashed into one double sided ore dock. I would need kits to make it double sided, 2 kits to make it double sided and 1-2 more kits to extend the double sided ore dock. Barges would be loaded by the ore dock and then travel down the layout to the steel mill where they would be unloaded by the Hulett Ore Unloader and Empire Gas Works Bridge Cranes. To separate the ore dock scene scene where the barges would be unloaded, there would be a scenic divider to help with the "further down the line" process of how steel is made.

The coal and iron ore would then be loaded into more coal hoppers, some would go to the Coke Oven & Quencher, some to the Tr-State Power Plant, and some directly to the Blast Furnace. Cars arriving at the Power Plant would be used to power the whole Steel Mill Complex. High Tension Towers would be used to feed the power to the various Steel Mill Buildings (Blast Furnaces/Blower Engine House, Rolling Mill, Coke Ovens, Coke Retorts, Gas Works.....). Coal arriving at the Coke Oven and Quencher would be turned into Coke and then hauled in Coke Cars to the Blast Furnace. The Gas that is produced from the Coke Process would be modeled with the Empire Gas Works Coke Retort, Gas Plant, and Gas Storage Tanks, which would all be located near and around the Coke Oven & Quencher. The Gas would be stored and shipped out via Tank Cars

Once the Coke arrived at the Blast Furnace/Blowe Engine House, it would go through its process, mixing several other materials with the coke, turning into molten steel and being transported via Hot Metal Bottle Cars to the Rolling Mill where it would be poured, rolled, pounded..... into steel products and shipped out on Flatcars, Coil Cars, Boxcars..... The Slag from the Blast Furnace would be taken to an area just outside the Blast Furnace to a large pit where the slag would be dumped to cool.

I do not have any space for a Steel Mill of this size at the time, but i am keeping my fingers crossed for space in the future, of coarse alongside my Modesto & Empire Traction Modules Im assuming it would take a space of about 10x20' to have a good model of around the room layout for the Steel Mill using the Structures from Walthers that they are coming out with and re-releasing. Even though i know that i will not be able to model this industry for quite some time, i still will want and need to buy all the Walthers re-runs and new kits for the future lol

This is what i would like to get:

• 1. (2) Blast Furnaces ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2973
  2. Blower Engine House w/2 Piping Kit to connect to Blast Furnaces ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2957 and http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2958
  3. Rolling Mill ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2971
  4. (2) Coke Oven & Quencher w/Larry and Quencher Cars ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2972
  5. Empire Gas Works Coke Retort ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2910
  6. Empire Gas Works Gas Plant w/Washing Tanks ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2905
  7. (2) Empire Gas Works Gas Storage Tanks ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2907
  8. (2) Empire Gas Works Brige Cranes ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2906
  9. (2) Hulett Ore Unloaders ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2966
  10. (2) Tri-State Power Authorities ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3055
  11. (2) New River Mining Companies ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3017
  12. (2) Coal Flood Loaders ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3051
  13. (4) Ore Docks ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3065
  14. (3) Large Coal/Iron Barges (one for the Ore Docks and two for the Bridge Cranes and Hulett Ore Unloaders)
  15. (4-6) Packs of 3 of Coke Cars ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-3091
  16. (2-3) Packs of 3 of Hot Metal Bottle Cars ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-3133
  17. (2-3) Packs of 3 of Slag Cars ~~ http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-3143
  18. Many coal cars and many ore cars lol
  

After more then 1 year, my 23" X 11" switching layout is almost finished lol.
My bridge intersects both left and back backdrop and I wanted to hide both ends where the bridge intersects the backdrops.
I built a brick structure to hide the left side intersection, but I don't know what to use for hiding the back end of the bridge.
Any suggestion is welcome.

Jacques

The last two pics that I posted seem to be big. You have to scroll up and down to see the whole thing.
Is it because the two pics I posted were reposts?

I'm helping a grandson with his HO layout. We have a question. When laying Atlas flex track on curves is there a preferred way to bend it? Should the movable rail be on the inside or outside of the curve? The last time I laid HO flex track it was made with fiber tie strip, so it's been a while.

I did a search and didn't find anything on this subject.

Thanks,

Hello Everyone---I was going through my desk recently and came across a file filled with old negatives.My good friend Doctor Wayne suggested I bring them to his house so he could scan them and put them on a disc---what a surprise,some of these shots are almost 20 years old---here's a few from a vacation to British Columbia---hope you enjoy---thanks Doc

I wanted to post on my Miami thread on the layout forum, but all the "edit", "quote", and "post reply" buttons are gone. I checked the other threads on the layout forum and the problem occurs on all the other threads as well. Outside the layout forum everything is working perfectly. Is it just me, or is it the forum?????

Hi All,

After making a photobox in N scale i made one up for my HO locos to keep a photographic record , made from offcuts of wood and WS rockmolds with a curved track it takes up little space 2ftX 1FT X 1FT high stored under the bench ....... here is the first lot of pictures an SD40 N&S working hard to clear a path through.

The wife and I picked up the Walthers Machine shop, both in HO and N scale, hers being N and mine in HO. We had a blast since this was her first building and it was the same I was making.
Hers:







His:







She is done, however I am still working on mine

Val (Spitfire) is about to embark on constructing a steel mill from the Walther's collection and I know its going to be great! Some discussion of modeled mills prompts me to post these so I can link them to her thread without taking too much away from its original theme.

I built this mill a few years ago using cheap materials such as shampoo bottles, cardboard boxes, and corrugated craft paper. Had I known a little (or a lot!) more about steel mill operations I'd have constructed it differently with more realistic operations in mind. As it is I have a small yard in the complex that I call the "holding yard" where anything steel related such as coal hoppers, gondolas loaded with scrap metal, and coil cars can be set out or picked up. I pretend that the real switching of bottle cars, slag cars, hoppers and ore cars for the furnace, etc is done "off layout".

Here's what I've come to call my impression of a steel mill, an ersatz collection of structures that some day I'll probably re-do.

This area is just a backdrop scene..


Closer now to the holding yard...


The furnace is visible in the background...


The holding yard that can also include boxcars for Kings Port Steel Supply...a vague facility that accepts deliveries for any materials that may support the industry via boxcar. I added this building because I had more boxcars than destinations for them. The brick building to the right is Canton Box Company.


Ralph