12-14-2011, 01:43 PM
Justin;
I fully agree with Stein; both of Mike's plans are very good and would provide interesting operation. Since you already have two HCD's butted together, you could stretch the plan out quite a bit if you like or just do the plan on a single door if that's what you really want to do.
I'm with Mike - what sort of metal company? There used to be a facility near me that received box cars of aluminum ingots that they stamped in to something (never did know what), but they didn't ship the finished product out by rail. As I recall they used to get 2 or 3 car loads a week. There was also a metal fabricator here, that would receive steel I and H beams on flat cars, cut and drill them to specs then ship them back out. Neither would provide much car variety, but without knowing what sort of metal company you're talking about, it's hard to look for examples. About the only other thing that immediately comes to mind is a facility that produces aluminum cans, but those are often huge operations. Guess they could receive aluminum ingots inbound and ship out the finished cans.
And.... Mike's mention of the Meeker Southern is a dandy operation too. You can follow the entire line on Google maps/aerial views and the MSN is a nice short line operation. Their locomotive is really nice. You can find plenty of videos on the Net for inspiration too.
Hate to see you changing your mind yet again, but no harm in trying to find what you think will really suit you.
I fully agree with Stein; both of Mike's plans are very good and would provide interesting operation. Since you already have two HCD's butted together, you could stretch the plan out quite a bit if you like or just do the plan on a single door if that's what you really want to do.
I'm with Mike - what sort of metal company? There used to be a facility near me that received box cars of aluminum ingots that they stamped in to something (never did know what), but they didn't ship the finished product out by rail. As I recall they used to get 2 or 3 car loads a week. There was also a metal fabricator here, that would receive steel I and H beams on flat cars, cut and drill them to specs then ship them back out. Neither would provide much car variety, but without knowing what sort of metal company you're talking about, it's hard to look for examples. About the only other thing that immediately comes to mind is a facility that produces aluminum cans, but those are often huge operations. Guess they could receive aluminum ingots inbound and ship out the finished cans.
And.... Mike's mention of the Meeker Southern is a dandy operation too. You can follow the entire line on Google maps/aerial views and the MSN is a nice short line operation. Their locomotive is really nice. You can find plenty of videos on the Net for inspiration too.
Hate to see you changing your mind yet again, but no harm in trying to find what you think will really suit you.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"