Power Plants

[nscalemike]

I tried searching here for information on power plants but couldn't really find anything.  I am considering switching the last industry in my junction town area to a power plant.  I can extend a stub track through the backdrop and I think I could fit 10-12 cars on it.  Any information anyone can provide would be appreciated.  I have 24 Kato BNSF cars and a few BNSF engines and was trying to find a way to run them still.  Couple of questions though.  1, how many cars would a modern power plant take at a time, could I be somewhat realistic with the 10-12 cars?  2, Would it be normal for CN to bring a unit train of coal from BNSF, or would I be better to try and swap my BNSF stuff for CN?  I think I could model an unloading shed and then main plant building as a flat.  I have about 25" of visible space I can use, but it is only about 5-6" deep and only can be accessed from one end.  My two operation thoughts would be BNSF would drop off 12 cars to the main yard and pick up 12 empties and head back, or, BNSF can use CN trackage all the way to the junction town and drop off/pick up the same.  If I did this, I may end up picking up one more set sometime, then I can have one loaded and one empty, 16 cars each rather then the 12.  If CN were to receive more cars then could be spotted, my only storage option would be in my main yard.  I could put a few cars on the daily local from the yard to the junction town if needed. 

It will be set in the modern era in rural IL.  Any pictures of either prototype options or what you have in model form would be appreciated as well.

Thanks,
Mike

[Chris333]

No help really, but here is the plant where my power comes from:
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qvtzt1883xn7&lvl=17&dir=0&sty=b&where1=Niles%2C%20OH&form=LMLTCC

[wm3798]

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qkzbpj8hdzbt&lvl=18.327941145243347&dir=5.93277149213105&sty=b&where1=Williamsport%2C%20MD&form=LMLTCC

Here's a smallish plant in Williamsport, Maryland.  If you scroll up a bit you can see the old WM bridge across the C&O canal.  It hasn't been served by rail in a couple of decades, but the tracks came in from the bridge, followed more or less along the driveway, then stubbed off in front of the plant about where the settlement pond is now.

Lee

[conrail98]

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qqht8m8p6xty&lvl=17&dir=0&sty=b&where1=Reading%2C%20PA&form=LMLTCC

Here's one just outside of Reading that's pretty compact already. At one time I had thought of putting a plant on my layout and this was going to be the one I based the model off of,

Phil

[Blazeman]

CN, being the former IC, serves numerous mines in southern Ill. That coal is dirty coal and usually can't be burned "alone." It is usually blended with cleaner coal from other sources to make the chemistry work to EPA standards. There are blending facilities all over to mix the coals to product the acceptable chemistries.

Since BNSF would be hauling cleaner Wyoming coal (Powder River) east, you can establish there is a blending location that would bring in the southern Ill coal to blend with the Powder River coal. It is possible your power plant could blend on site.

As for car counts, remember there are always holding tracks at these places.

[Bendtracker1]

CN, being the former IC, serves numerous mines in southern Ill. That coal is dirty coal and usually can't be burned "alone." It is usually blended with cleaner coal from other sources to make the chemistry work to EPA standards. There are blending facilities all over to mix the coals to product the acceptable chemistries.

Since BNSF would be hauling cleaner Wyoming coal (Powder River) east, you can establish there is a blending location that would bring in the southern Ill coal to blend with the Powder River coal. It is possible your power plant could blend on site.

As for car counts, remember there are always holding tracks at these places.

Mike,
As Blazeman stated, BN and the later BNSF use to haul a coal train out of the Powder River Basin with the reporting marks of AEPX [American Electric Power Service Corp.] that would wind up in Centrailia. IL. for interchange to ICG/IC.

Once in awhile it would show up here in town with IC units in consist from time to time.

There's no reason why you couldn't use your BNSF cars.  You could always that they needed more trains that month so they had BNSF bring more with their cars, or AEPX lost the contract.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Honestly, in most cases, most modern plants take entire trains, as in, 100 cars in, 100 cars dumped, 100 cars out.

[Ian MacMillan]

The PSNH power plant in Bow, NH takes in 100-150 car trains at a time. Pan Am drops off the trains in the plant tracks and then PSNH's SW switcher pulls the cars into their dumper. If their switcher is out of service because they accidentally put it in the dumper and crushed the cab (its happened a few times) they use a cable winch to pull the cars in. The train is pulled all the way through, dumped, then pulled back through the dumper and placed into the storage tracks.

We (New England Southern) used to ship Anhydrous Ammonia in tank cars to the plant that is used in the smokestack "scrubbers". We hauled fly ash out of the plant in covered hoppers.

[wcfn100]

A small-ish plant in Cedar Falls Ia.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=r2mzwb78x2sz&lvl=18.464250211989214&dir=163.92559787827594&sty=b&where1=Cedar%20Falls%2C%20IA&form=LMLTCC


Jason

[John]

A small-ish plant in Cedar Falls Ia.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=r2mzwb78x2sz&lvl=18.464250211989214&dir=163.92559787827594&sty=b&where1=Cedar%20Falls%2C%20IA&form=LMLTCC


Jason

This could be bashed nicely from a Walthers Papermill kit ...

[sirenwerks]

This plant in Alexandria VA only takes 20-30 cars at a time. It also has a plant switcher (a light blue EMD SW) and unloads cars one at a time. That could keep an operator busy.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qg30zb8kcwts&lvl=17&dir=0&sty=b&form=LMLTCC

Because the EPA cracked down on it a number of years ago, its outward bound ash shipments are considerable as well.

[nscalemike]

Thanks for all the photos, lots of good ideas here!  I like the one in Reading and Cedar Falls.  Jason, any idea how many cars they get at a time, looks like a fairly compact track arrangement.  Also, one thing I've noticed in all these pictures is the large piles of what I am assuming is the coal.  Are the trains off loaded into the pile and then moved by end loader or belt from there?  Of is this the fly ash waste?  My only experiences seeing coal plants is in my hometown, which was served only be semi.  I don't recall seeing a coal pile like this but there was some smaller piles of the fly ash.

The Alexandria one I just looked at may have some potential as well.  20-30 car prototype could nicely be scaled down to my 10-12. . . .

[cv_acr]

Yes the large black piles are the coal stockpiles.

[wcfn100]

Thanks for all the photos, lots of good ideas here!  I like the one in Reading and Cedar Falls.  Jason, any idea how many cars they get at a time, looks like a fairly compact track arrangement.  Also, one thing I've noticed in all these pictures is the large piles of what I am assuming is the coal.  Are the trains off loaded into the pile and then moved by end loader or belt from there?  Of is this the fly ash waste?  My only experiences seeing coal plants is in my hometown, which was served only be semi.  I don't recall seeing a coal pile like this but there was some smaller piles of the fly ash.

I can probably find out how many cars and how often they switch there if you need.

As for the track, what you are looking at is a conglomeration of track work over the years.  The line that goes from the SE to the NW and through town is the old Rock Island.  The track that comes from the SW and curves to the NW is the Chicago Great Western track.  It used to extend across the RI and that's where the CGW depot was and the end of the branchline.  The leg of the wye next to the plant was added I believe sometime after the CGW/CNW track was abandoned.



Jason

[John]

This plant in Alexandria VA only takes 20-30 cars at a time. It also has a plant switcher (a light blue EMD SW) and unloads cars one at a time. That could keep an operator busy.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qg30zb8kcwts&lvl=17&dir=0&sty=b&form=LMLTCC

Because the EPA cracked down on it a number of years ago, its outward bound ash shipments are considerable as well.

I wonder what the neighbors think of having this big plant right next door ..