Power Plants

[Ken G Price]

nscalemike: I just don't get it. If you want a coal fired power plant and want to use the cars and engines you have, just go and do it. The proto-layout police will not be coming to get you. At least I don't think they will.

[sirenwerks]

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

You're kidding, right? That was one of the biggest local NIMBY clusterf&*%s in recent history. Nobody cared as long as Old Town remained a ghetto through the 70s, but when it started to become upscale they tried to have the plant shut down.

[pnolan48]

Not every power plant is humongous--many of the older coal-fired plants in more rural areas would be fine with 10 cars a day. That may be a decade or more ago, but not every power company has been modernized.

[sirenwerks]

nscalemike: I just don't get it. If you want a coal fired power plant and want to use the cars and engines you have, just go and do it. The proto-layout police will not be coming to get you. At least I don't think they will.

Some of us like to understand the whys and what-fors of what we contemplate, rather than jumping in without thinking it through. Perhaps Mike's self-fulfillment extends beyond just having shiny objects on tracks. I, for one, respect his desire for knowledge.

[conrail98]

I have the ZTS for the Reading one. If I have time before I most likely lose power tomorrow, I'll scan it and put it up somewhere for viewing,

Phil

[nscalemike]

nscalemike: I just don't get it. If you want a coal fired power plant and want to use the cars and engines you have, just go and do it. The proto-layout police will not be coming to get you. At least I don't think they will.

I can do this if I want to and I don't think anyone is going come get me if I do.  But, like others said,  I have shifted not only my modeling focus but also my general interests to prototypical operation.  I model a freelanced area, but I want it to be prototypically feasible.  If I ever happen to have someone who works for a power company visit, I want them to say "Where is this plant located at?"  It obviously isn't an exact model, but I want it to give the representation that it could be fully functional.  Some people are ok with dropping a power plant on the table and using whatever equipment, and I certainly do not have a problem if thats what they choose to do.  It's just not for me anymore.  I want to have a general understanding of how an industry operates if I intend to model it.  If I feel it is too big, too small, too boring, or whatever else, then I may not include it, but I want to base that decision on how the prototype handles the situation.  I spend a lot of time just doing research and trying to learn about the different industries.  If I can picture the prototype in my head, it makes my model operation much more fun.  That has become part of the hobby for me. 

As always, I am very appreciative that so many very knowledgeable and skilled modelers participate here and are always willing to share with others!

Mike

[MichaelWinicki]

I can do this if I want to and I don't think anyone is going come get me if I do.  But, like others said,  I have shifted not only my modeling focus but also my general interests to prototypical operation.  I model a freelanced area, but I want it to be prototypically feasible.
Mike

Nothing wrong with that perspective.

[jmlaboda]

There is a small power plant south of Clarksville, Va., that receives blocks of 30 hoppers a couple times a week.  The plant isn't all that big but does have a switcher.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=36.60041479159833~-78.53159624430494&lvl=18&dir=0&sty=a&trfc=1&where1=Mecklenburg&form=LMLTCC

[Ken G Price]

nscale mike. Thank you for the clarification. 

[Bsklarski]

This one is in West Springfield Mass, its pretty small and compact. You can see the small switcher in the lower left they use, and they only get a few cars at a time


http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=r0g86s8yh8ms&lvl=18.497765960940242&dir=354.40206111370526&sty=b&where1=West%20Springfield%2C%20MA&form=LMLTCC

Brian

[NS-CRE]

As others have said, power plants even in the modern era vary in size and load requirements.

I decided awhile back to apply a ratio of 1:4 when scaling down my coal trains lengths and shipments between loadouts and power plants.   That's one prototype car to four N scale cars.  Therefore, my standard unit trains are 24 cars (96 cars) long.   This was fairly typical in the late-80s/early 90s for unit trains to Duke Power in the Carolinas, for example. 

I have a smaller power plant that takes 10 cars (40 cars) at a time.  I use this also to determine shipments from large and small loadouts on the railroad.  It has worked rather well and seems to keep things in proportion.

Marcus

[Brakie]

The city of Columbia owns a short line (Columbia Terminal Railroad) that serves Columbia's small municipal own power plant.

[conrail98]

Here's the ZTS to the one in Reading that I posted the Bing Maps link to earlier:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0By7_xS9AtmtoOWZiY2YyZjUtODhiOS00ZmVlLThiODItN2Y5ZTI1YjU0ZDQx&hl=en

If you can't view it, let me know,

Phil

[Smike]

Excellent, thanks for sharing Phil.
I love this thread as this is a project I can do as separate project while waiting to move so I have the room for a real layout.  Anything I should watch out for if building a 15" x 50" power plant section that will be intended to be installed on a real layout at a later date? I'm thinking of building it on a HCD (one of those that's part of a folding door)

[Wlal13again]

didnt MR have an article on building a coal fired plant in HO last year? They built it as a flat..