Trap Rock Quarry

[Eastern Roads]

Okay, here we go with a new thread showing the largest industry on the Penn-Haven Central RR, otherwise known as Trap Rock Quarry. Thanks to TD for the inspiration to put this out with this month's picture contest...
Anyway, what I'm about to show you is a work in progress, and is by no means complete. What I was trying to do was the following:
1. Fill in that hole in the middle of a loop with something useful.
2. Make a flat layout have some mountainous terrain so...
3. I could make a helix with enough of a grade to REALLY use helpers. (by the way, the branch line the helix is on is four axle locomotive territory.)
4. Add variety to the scenery. (BTW there is an actual quarry in Central New Jersey where they run trains into it, and have dug out the hills with rock walls over a hundred feet high.)
So with those ideas intact and almost accomplished, as I'm working on this as I go along, I submit myself to the comments, jeers, or any other words of advice (or derision) that my fellow modellers have to offer! (Dang, this is getting bad!) I have a plan of doing scenery in three stages, and this is one area that I could consider to be at level two, with detailing, weathering, and some stone work in the future. So, sit back, laugh, cry, or get ill, as we look at a part of the PHCRR!

Here's another overview of the site, with attending structures, piles of aggregates, along with equipment all over the place, all doing something.

Here we have a brand new "Red Baron" CNJ Hopper delivering it's first load of sand. The car is an Atlas, and the conveyor is made from scratch.

The Scale House, a scratchbuilt building that has a wood roof, and the scale is made of wood strips. A few more details should help this scene along, but I wanted to get the general idea across!

Here's a ground view of the cars serving the industry, The CNJ was a BIG sand hauler in it's day, running 100+ cars of sand in its trains daily on the Southern Division (of which I live very close to, and saw as a kid. It was better than black and white TV!). The boxcar is probably loaded with dynamite, which means the crews will have to go up the mountain to store the explsives in the shed away from anything valuable!

Here we have a loader clearing rock from a spill along the right of way coming into the quarry. (You now have the preview to the next segment of Train Wreck- The story!)

And yes, here it is in all it's gory, er, glory! Something you will never see in MRR, my MASTERPIECE! (well, at least not yet... either way!)
Some comments about the room, we put an addition on the house and had this spare room....So I did what I had to!(and have slept on the couch since! Not really) The work desk is in the back, (I could have submitted it to the messiest work bench thread) along with the old china cabinet, which stores my kids collections of trains. I turn the layout on and off through the circuit breaker box, and I have some storage in the old kitchen cabinet, where I have a stereo on top to keep me company. The little shelf is my "Unlimited Class" Pinewood Derby Car, but that's another story...
Welcome to a piece of my little world!

[TallDude]

I love it!! The last picture really puts it in perspective. The only thing I would suggest at the moment is putting a load in the dump truck. Make that guy work for his money!! hehe

[Eastern Roads]

Thanks TD for the idea. I think its a good one! Many people may or may not know that vehicles get weighed BEFORE they go in so that when they get loaded and weighed AFTER, the vendor knows how much material the customer is purchasing.
I was a little hesitant on showing the overall picture, but I think that we never get to see many of those to get a feel for the area. I took the picture back when I did the train wreck thread, and I did nothing to "prep" the picture for this.

[Allegany2666]

Mike Great use of other wise wasted space. If your referring to the Old Riverdale Quarry up North I worked there briefly as a kid. I think we need to get you some more gondola's and hopper cars in there and maybe a portable cement plant for the urban renewal projects going on through out the rest of the layout. Are you going to have the kids out in the yard with hammers breaking all the big rocks into little one's for the bottom of the pit.....

Well anyway it looks great and I see you have the same problem I'm having where the trains are out growing the basement. I don't care if you have a 4000 sq. foot basement you still don't have enough room.

[lyates]

Ok Mike I like it, darn it. I love that scratchbuilt conveyor that cave mne some ideas to use on mine as it is finally started again very slowly but at least it is moving again. Keep up the good work.

[stevechurch2222]

Mike,I love the quarry,very realistic.Well done.I too like the idea of a load in the dump truck.

[Nazgul]

Mike, I think that it is an inspired way to "hide" a helix without actually hiding it! ......I love it!

more.....more.....more!!!...........I want to see more!

GREAT JOB!

[Eastern Roads]

Allegany-I'm actually referring to a certain quarry off Rt 1 that has a name VERY SIMILAR to the name on the layout....(add Industries to the name and you're getting CLOSE). As far as the busted up rock, well, there happens to be a certain reservoir nearby they use something VERY SIMILAR on their trails, and it just by coincidence looks a lot like the stuff on the table...

Lee- Thanks! The conveyor was made from parts of an old signal tower, and the rollers were scrap pieces, and the axles for the rollers came off some of the old wheels I had from putting metal wheels in the rolling stock. I rooted around the house, and happened to come up with a rubber band that was just the right width, I didn't paint it black, or gray, mostly for the contrast, and most people wouldn't even think of the color! I used some wood to brace it underneath, and painted them. I dug out under the tracks- I'll have to add that to the thread sometimme- and the conveyor goes below track level.

Steve- Glad you like it, I tried to put up most of the essentials on the site, I still have a few hours to put into the thing, (like weather the machines so they're the same color as the area), but I put it up for others to get ideas, and so I could get a few more ideas myself to make it a little better! Being a "lone wolf" modeller, I appreciate the input here on TWC, and even if the site isn't "prototypical" it works for what I was trying to do in the space I have available....Till The Kids Move Out!!! Oh, Honey, we really aren't using the rest of the basement, so I was wondering...!

Nazgul-Wow Steve, Thanks! Yeah, I always try to do things a little "different", and I live in fear of the rivet counters, but when I came up with this idea, I was trying to have my cake and eat it too, by having the helix, getting my helper district, and creating an industry in one shot. I still have a ways to go, (as we spoke about) in trying to make it a little more realistic, but I think it's heading in the general direction. I'll take some other pics and put them on here for everyone to see so I can appease my fan club's appetite for MORE! LOLOL!

[Allegany2666]

Mike, you've given me some food for thought here. When I think helix I think this big spiral upwards that you have to enter into form underneath if you have a derailment and it takes your trains up a couple of feet rather then the small subtle one your using. I like the fact that if you have a problem you can just reach in and clear it. What are the over all dimensions of it? Just have to figure on how much floor space I would loose by building one. Might be the key to a hidden staging yard underneath the bench work?

[Eastern Roads]

Okay, Brian, here's the lowdown on the measurements for the helix branchline:
The helix takes the line up 15" to the second level.
It makes two complete turns.
The helix measures four feet across.
I figured it out once, and I think it comes out to like a five percent grade. I assign a helper to "come down the mountain" and hook up to a train I know won't make it up. I only use four axle diesels on the territory, as this is the tightest loop on the RR. Generally if I have an engine with good traction, it can pull (with a lot of difficulty) up to about six cars max (usually less, all my rolling stock is NMRA weighted). Most trains coming up I already double head, although a couple are pulling dummies. So I have over half the assigned trains running through needing help to get to the top. The helix was cut out of plywood, and set in place using threaded rod, so I could fine tune it to make the grade constant.

The layout is double decked, in an offset U- shape (one leg is longer than the other) around the walls, so it's a walk in the middle. I did it to be "surrounded" by trains! It's ten feet across, with one leg 21 feet in length, and the other 17 feet in length.
The widest bench area is up to 34" across, and the end loops are five feet across. It's all laid with flex track to get a wider radius for passenger equipment.
The upper level bench is 22" wide overall, and the upper level is about four feet shorter on each side.
This way anyone can reach in and get to anything on the layout without the use of tools or gadgets. All switches are ground throws to allow anyone to "be more involved" with the process of switching and running trains.
What I can do is show you my answer for a hidden staging yard that I have access to if I have a big problem derailment. Thanks for the idea, and yours should work well enough too!