I was the Chair of last weekends CARM Convention and Train Show, and through seeing Mike's work here on Railwire, I invited him to attend and showcase his scratchbuilt/kitbashed CPR Dominion. He graciously agreed to do so and it was a big hit in both the display room and at the Train Show. I also run the Copetown Show in February which is co-sponsored by Mike's new employer Rapido. This show focuses on craftsmen level model railroading of Canadian prototypes. So far there has been a dearth of N Scale, which will also change this year as Mike has accepted my invitation to showcase the Dominion at that show. My thanks to him on behalf of both events.
On a personal level, I am building a large Paper Mill on my Grand Trunk Southern, (I hope to post some photos in a week or so of the track in place). In photos of the Procter and Gamble Mill at Mehoopany, Pa. on which my mill is based I had seen a large number of hoppers but didn't really understand their role in the process. Similarly the pulp unloading tracks seemed very small in terms of capacity vis-a-vis the finished product tracks. Knowing of Mike's background in the paper industry I took the opportunity to pepper him with a number of questions. He took the time to share his knowledge and explain the whole process so that now it makes complete sense to me. All of my research didn't match up to 15 minutes of Mike's insight. For the record the hoppers are for the delivery of starch. The plant makes diapers, paper towels, and toilet tissue, as the primary product lines. As for the pulp vs finished product ration, Mike suggested it could be in the 8:1 or 10:1 range as pulp is a dense, heavy material, while the finished products are airy and light and packaged so that a good portion of what goes in the boxcar is just air. That now makes sense. The way we were building the mill based on a prototype plan was correct, I just didn't comprehend the details, Mike nicely fleshed them out.
Thanks
John Johnston
