Coal River Branch trackplan

[conrail98]

Yeah, you're right Ed, but you could actually use the siding in from the coal branch as A/D, shuttle the engines to the enginer facility and then break down accordingly. I also though about angling the classification tracks to the opposite side and have the A/D and engine facilities between the main and the classification tracks.

Phil

[asciibaron]

for giggles i came up with this...




the main line is just a loop with hidden staging under the branch.  the lower left corner has the branch leaving the railroad to extend it beyond the basement.  an elevated 3 track staging track could be connected a la Vollmer's previous staging solution.  this gives the railroad a bigger feel and increases operational interest.  working the mine gets hard if another train needs access to the branch.

the 2 track yard is for overflow storage of MTY's since the mines can fill them as fast as the railroad can bring them.  the operation is simple, coal comes down the branch, locos are swapped, and the train continues west as a unit.  MTY's go to the mine as a unit or are dropped by a through train into the yard.

the focal point of the railroad now becomes the branch, sidelining the main to a needed distraction.

staging is well below the layout, accessed via several turns on a helix at either end.

[asciibaron]

got an email from the designer, Scott Perry, that the layout will be in a magazine in the near future.  i invited him to join in the conversation here on TRW.  he's interested in our development of the original plan.

[wcfn100]

As it is now, you can spot 2-3 cars per track at the mine depending where the actual chute is on the structure.  Since no-one addressed this in their plans, I have to ask how prototypical that is.

I always assumed that coal loading was like grain loading where you need a track that is twice as long as what you expect to load which is divided equally on either side of the loader.  You have to be able to push all the cars beyond the loader.

I would make the third track right away after the river crossing and extend those tracks to the front corner making a tunnel beneath for the main.  Then move the tipple to where ever the middle is.   You shouldn't need to have a run around for a dedicated branch especially when there's one at the junction.

If it is the case that there just isn't enough room I would still redo the tracks, leave the tipple where it is but let the tracks run off the edge to simulate that they go further.  You have to still foobie the loading operation a bit, but it will look more prototypical.   I believe Koester used this technique on his prior layout.

Jason

[conrail98]

Jason, you do bring up a good point. I purposely didn't put any buildings on mine because I actually thought I might change the mine to a quarry operation, but you are right, you'd still need a loader. My thinking would be the track closest the back would be the loader with the other two for storage. I was thinking, in an ops session, you'd have the two side tracks full of loads. One train up the branch gets the loads, brings back to yard. A mainline train then comes in, drops off empties and picks up the loads (or a second main train comes in to pick up loads). At this point another branch train takes the empties back to the tipple/quarry and that would end the ops session for that portion of the branch. Doing any kind of empties in, loads out operation almost has to be staged unless there is a way to do live filling and/or dumping or the classic power plant backs up to the mine, separated by a hill or whatever.

Steve, I do like how you have the industry at the top left coming off the branch instead of the main,

Phil

[asciibaron]

As it is now, you can spot 2-3 cars per track at the mine depending where the actual chute is on the structure.  Since no-one addressed this in their plans, I have to ask how prototypical that is.

I always assumed that coal loading was like grain loading where you need a track that is twice as long as what you expect to load which is divided equally on either side of the loader.  You have to be able to push all the cars beyond the loader.

depends on the volume the mine is producing.  a small vein running 8-10 carloads a day could still have been profitable if it was part of a larger operation to get bulk pricing from the railroad.

small tipple with sorting
http://www.congobytes.com/SundayCreekCoalTipple.jpg

2 track, 2 car tipple, no sorting
http://www.dickensoncounty.net/clinchco9.JPG

a larger complex with a breaker would have very long tail tracks.  i would imagine a mine of this size would forward the coal to a larger operation to be run through the breaker (and little kids hands).

[asciibaron]

Steve, I do like how you have the industry at the top left coming off the branch instead of the main,

that was on David's idea, and i thought it made sense and left it.  adds more operations to the branch and causes some excitement for the local.

[Mark5]

would imagine a mine of this size would forward the coal to a larger operation to be run through the breaker (and little kids hands).

What year do you have in mind for this thing? ;D

[Ed Kapuscinski]

a larger complex with a breaker would have very long tail tracks.  i would imagine a mine of this size would forward the coal to a larger operation to be run through the breaker (and little kids hands).

CR used to do this up in the Reading Cluster with the St. Nick breaker.
http://thecrhs.org/OnLocationWithConrail/HardCoalCountry

It'd be a good home for some Atlas MP15s... hmm...

[asciibaron]

CR used to do this up in the Reading Cluster with the St. Nick breaker.
http://thecrhs.org/OnLocationWithConrail/HardCoalCountry

It'd be a good home for some Atlas MP15s... hmm...

while not MP-15's, this has Montour written all over it. 

[wcfn100]

Well I guess it seemed that the tipple drawing is of the Walthers New River structure which would have a breaker and be able to produce different size pieces. 

Jason

depends on the volume the mine is producing.  a small vein running 8-10 carloads a day could still have been profitable if it was part of a larger operation to get bulk pricing from the railroad.

small tipple with sorting
http://www.congobytes.com/SundayCreekCoalTipple.jpg

2 track, 2 car tipple, no sorting
http://www.dickensoncounty.net/clinchco9.JPG

a larger complex with a breaker would have very long tail tracks.  i would imagine a mine of this size would forward the coal to a larger operation to be run through the breaker (and little kids hands).

[asciibaron]

Well I guess it seemed that the tipple drawing is of the Walthers New River structure which would have a breaker and be able to produce different size pieces. 

even mines with breakers forwarded the coal to be sorted or stored for later shipment.  how much coal they gonna get when they are mining in an active railroad tunnel

[Mark5]

hmmm, see tipples here:

http://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/abcsofcoalloaders.html

http://therailwire.net/forum/index.php/topic,13452.0.html

[Chris333]

The real Walther's mine:

[chessie system fan]

I've always been partial to this operation. 

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo010389goa.jpg

From what I can see, all it is is a ramp for a dump truck to unload the coal from the mine, a conveyor to load the coal in the hoppers, and a huge mound of coal.  It's small enough to model the whole thing.