The Mill Loop

[Tad_T]

I got my desk/workbench set up in my alcove.

[Tad_T]

I should have been doing something else today, but that is not what I did.

I said some days ago that my benchwork was here.



I ordered it from Sievers Benchwork.



It was well packed in the box.




Everything in the box.




Here are some “putting together” photos.



36”x48” section.



36”x36” section.



Both sections.



Legs.










Sections connected and in place.

[NorthWestGN]

Looks Good! This will save you a lot of time drilling holes for wiring too...

Brent

[Tad_T]

Picked up some stuff.






And I found the box with my Sprog and all.

[Tad_T]

This past Saturday I cut some foam and laid out the track plan that Lee @wm3798 and others helped with.



I've spent time since then looking at it and thinking.

I made a few tweaks. More are in order. I had to order a few more track pieces.

[Tad_T]

Since I set up the Mill Loop track plan, I have been thinking about it a lot.

First and foremost, this layout is about modeling operations. I’m an operations kind of guy.

I have built three previous layouts. I’ve done Car Cards before, I’ve operated on various layouts with various operating schemes.

Due to health, life, and circumstances, I have not been able to do any modeling for the last few years.  Even though I have been unable to do any actual modeling for quite some time, I have been doing a lot of “virtual modeling.”  I have developed a few different versions of the “All Day & Night” within XTrack CAD and JMRI Operations. I have spent a lot of time working out how to make all of that function.

Now, I have the physical space and have actually put something down. With this 3’x7’ layout in a bedroom, I do not have the aisle space to pull it out and realistically access it from all sides for operations, as I had hoped. I can access it from 360 degrees but the space along the back side is limited. It’s sufficient for construction, but not operations.  I can access it from the other three sides without pulling the layout away from the wall.

In my fever dreams of one day having a large space and building a large layout, I had envisioned the Mill Loop as being at the end of a peninsula so that there would be more access. I had also wanted the arrangement to more closely resemble the prototype Mill Loops at Crossett.

None of that is happening right now.

While I was working through using JMRI Ops I came to the realization that what I really wanted to model was the transportation system that the AD&N was. The switching operations on the Mill Loop was the heart of that system.  I don’t have the room to model the whole system. In JMRI OPs, as long as I could make the switching of the mills work, I could make a much more complex system work.

So, working within the realm of the possible, I have been thinking of what can actually be done here.

The purpose of the Mill Loop is to model the switching operations conducted by the AD&N switch crews at the Georgia-Pacific Mills in Crossett, Arkansas during the period from 1979 through 1986. The operations will definitely be subjected to severe selective compression.

JMRI Operations will be used for Car Forwarding.

I think that I can model a limited representation of the operations at Crossett.

That’s what I am going to attempt.

[eja]

I know this comment is "late to the table" , but have you considered trying to get away from main line parallel with the table edge?

That bench work looks great !

[Tad_T]

I know this comment is "ate to the table" , but have you considered trying to get away from main line parallel with the table edge?

That bench work looks great !

Thanks.

There is no main line. This is an industrial switching layout.

I understand what you are saying, but I am trying to compress this:



Into 3’x7’ and I really don’t see how I can without losing even more of what I am trying to model.

I appreciate you looking and your suggestion.

[Scottl]

Going with the layout you set up with Unitrack, how about putting the paper and ply mills back to back in the center and then adjust spurs to each accordingly.  The chemical plant seems to me to be an interesting industry to add with a few tracks and chem handling structures on the paper side.

You could use a center divider but I would consider just making the building(s) look different on each side to creatively make it seem separate from the opposite sides of the layout (assuming you have access to the other side, I see you might have it against the wall). 

If it is against the wall, I would consider focusing on the most interesting mill and the chem plant and have the other mill virtual where you move cars as if it were there.  I'm not sure that makes sense, but trying to float some ideas that might help.

[Tad_T]

If it is against the wall, I would consider focusing on the most interesting mill and the chem plant and have the other mill virtual where you move cars as if it were there.

What that I have come to so far is that I am thinking of having the tissue mill to the left. Then have the plywood mill and the chemical plant on the right. 

Paper mill #1 and the kraft mill will be in the center and not be rail served. They will serve as a view block for the two staging tracks in the rear. That would also help with setting the stage and making a closer approximation of how the mills at Crossett looked.

The two tracks at the lower left will be the leads to the Pile Yard for pulpwood and chips.

Based on a suggestion, I reworked the yard ladder.




In this configuration, the yard will hold eleven 50’ cars. It’s still small, but it helped.

It also gave me another idea that I am working on.

I do have to place another order for some fiddly bits to get everything better. I’m working on a list.

I would like to get the plan bashed out before I start poking holes in my foam.

And I am not the one that painted that track.

[Cory Rothlisberger]

If only Kato made a curved turnout...

[Scottl]

Maybe mock up the industry structures with cardboard footprints to see how it will look.  Easy way to see how it will all come together.

Any chance you could consider a detachable storage/staging yard to one side.  You could have it connect to the layout in one of the corners.  I've seen that used to great advantage a few times and it offers a lot of optionality where space is limited.