Watching the movie Flashdance. And besides Jennifer Beals having the most beautiful eyes of any woman ever. . .
I noticed these unusual rail cars. A qood guess and a quick google search reveals that they are torpeado cars/pig iron cars/molten metal cars.
Has anyone produced them in gscale? Has anyone even modeled them. Id love to see one.
I am thinking i want to make a couple On30 versions for my Christmas layout to haul molten chocolate.
Those cars, and others that look like them, only shorter, have been produced over the years in other, smaller scales.
There is very little demand for cars of that type, because they are only used “In house” at Steel, and Iron plants, and generally would not be seen in service on any prototype railroad, other than if they were just coming from where they were built, or going/coming to, for repairs.
Walthers, when they were producing kits for large industries, may have produced an HO version, to go with their steel mill…
Fred Mills
There’s a guy 3D printing the various cars for steel mills in HO or N, lemme see if I can find him.
Here we go. https://www.thingiverse.com/steelbear/designs
Fred,
I expected as much. A little to specialized for g scale.
Bob,
I have to check into that and see what it would take to enlarge it or just redesign.
Fred,
I expected as much. A little to specialized for g scale.
Bob,
I have to check into that and see what it would take to enlarge it or just redesign.
Devon Sinsley said:
Fred,
I expected as much. A little to specialized for g scale.
Bob,
I have to check into that and see what it would take to enlarge it or just redesign.
Perhaps, but maybe NOT? I wonder what sort of operations might be involved? I suspect if I had ever worked at a mill it might be fun to build one for outdoors - It would sure be unique. Oh well, easy enough to say; harder to do.
Being just northwest of Steelton,Pa …Devon …google “Bottle” cars.
Would love to see a G scale reproduction. (Allentown like the Billy Joel Song will show them as well)
Seriously??? you saw them on “Flashdance” …BTW they are buckeye trucks that GAL makes.
Rooster said:
Being just northwest of Steelton,Pa …Devon …google “Bottle” cars.
Would love to see a G scale reproduction. (Allentown like the Billy Joel Song will show them as well)
Seriously??? you saw them on “Flashdance” …BTW they are buckeye trucks that GAL makes.
Yeah he takes her on a date to an old steel mill and there were some parked on the tracks and caught my attention.
Interesting how many names they have for this style of car. Add bottle car to the list. I really don’t know how much gumption I have for this project in G scale. Would be deep in my bucket. But I might consider and on30 version.
That was a first for me. I’ve seen them around a steel mill a few times but never out on the mainline.
William O’Neal Stringer has written “Railroad Stories From The EJ&E Railroad and a few others” available on Amazon.com
He details his experiences working as an engineer on the EJ&E (Elgin, Joliet & Eastern). Several of the stories relate to the
handling of the various cars used by the steel mills on the southern end of Lake Michigan.
As I recall, the bottle cars were not equipped with brakes, so they relied on the brakes in the motive power…
-Keith.
X
Sure seems like it would make for an interesting layout in large scale…
Interesting discussion here.
Edit: Add link to discussion.
Well Devon now you are gonna need a Baldwin/EMD DRS-6-6-1500/M !!
(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
The more I am seeing these the more they interest me. I can see the value of them. Here in my neck of the woods we have Kaiser aluminum. Back in the day they had two plants across town from each other. One was the melting facility and the other the casting facility. Now I only ever remember trucks hauling molten aluminum. But they very well could have had rail also. So since it is not a given that those two process happen at the same sites I can see the need to transport the molten metal by rail.
Bruce,
that is a pretty cool operations layout. I have some reserved “regrets” (probably the wrong word) about how I did my layout. Since it is in such a small area and I love the building and layout design more than running, I sometimes think I should have made it a large industrial area and did more of what that layout you showed does. Keeping with my 1880’s narrow gauge mining feel I could have easily done something more like the single town of Burke, ID were two railroads, one narrow gauge and one standard served a little tiny area and the whole valley was covered in track. i very well could have had a very interesting 100% operations/switching layout. Oh well I love what I have but seeing videos like that sure gives me a pang of regret.
Since the wife is onboard and I pretty much have the green light to expand with a set of 32mm track for an dual purpose O/Fn2 loop out to another part of our yard I might make a more intensive Fn2 operations at the one end. Ahh the bucket list gets deeper and time shorter.
Devon Sinsley said:
Bruce,
that is a pretty cool operations layout. I have some reserved “regrets” (probably the wrong word) about how I did my layout. Since it is in such a small area and I love the building and layout design more than running, I sometimes think I should have made it a large industrial area and did more of what that layout you showed does. Keeping with my 1880’s narrow gauge mining feel I could have easily done something more like the single town of Burke, ID were two railroads, one narrow gauge and one standard served a little tiny area and the whole valley was covered in track. i very well could have had a very interesting 100% operations/switching layout. Oh well I love what I have but seeing videos like that sure gives me a pang of regret.
Since the wife is onboard and I pretty much have the green light to expand with a set of 32mm track for an dual purpose O/Fn2 loop out to another part of our yard I might make a more intensive Fn2 operations at the one end. Ahh the bucket list gets deeper and time shorter.
Now THAT’S an interesting idea - even brilliant! BUT, it’s very hard to start over, especially if you’re happy with what you have.
Bruce Chandler said:
Now THAT’S an interesting idea - even brilliant! BUT, it’s very hard to start over, especially if you’re happy with what you have.
No way I will start over. But I have had a couple moments where a large U shaped industrial switching layout could have worked. i could have even made it more or less an oval. Having only a 10 foot wide area 55 feet long limited me to what I could do. But a big industrial switching layout could have been a real possibility. Ah well. I do like what I have.
Devon Sinsley said:
Bruce Chandler said:
Now THAT’S an interesting idea - even brilliant! BUT, it’s very hard to start over, especially if you’re happy with what you have.
No way I will start over. But I have had a couple moments where a large U shaped industrial switching layout could have worked. i could have even made it more or less an oval. Having only a 10 foot wide area 55 feet long limited me to what I could do. But a big industrial switching layout could have been a real possibility. Ah well. I do like what I have.
Well, SOMETIMES, starting over can be a VAST improvement. My own layout got completely redone and I ended up liking it a lot more. Same with Ken’s layout. Consider it a chance to correct earlier mistakes (HA! NOT ME!) or just fit better to your current interests. Heck, some folks do this MANY times and never ever even finish one; I would NOT recommend THAT approach. BUT, I THINK you need to be somewhat dissatisfied with the current situation to really think about it - it doesn’t sound like you’re there.
Bruce Chandler said:
Well, SOMETIMES, starting over can be a VAST improvement. My own layout got completely redone and I ended up liking it a lot more. Same with Ken’s layout. Consider it a chance to correct earlier mistakes (HA! NOT ME!) or just fit better to your current interests. Heck, some folks do this MANY times and never ever even finish one; I would NOT recommend THAT approach. BUT, I THINK you need to be somewhat dissatisfied with the current situation to really think about it - it doesn’t sound like you’re there.
Maybe if I had not hauled in 15+ yards of dirt that was unloaded, wheel barrowed, and dumped by hand, and untold numbers of pick up loads of rock hand loaded, hauled unloaded, wheel barrowed to the site and stacked to make raised beds not to mention digging the posts for ladder down minimum of two feet and cementing them in place I might consider a rebuild. But that was way to much work to rip up and start over.
IF, and that is a huge IF, IF I were to revisit it as an industrial switching layout, I would keep the track plan and just redo the theme and make the industry fit what I have. I could add spurs and stuff easy enough but no way I would even think of changing the existing track plan. I built this so I hopefully won’t have to mess with it as I get older. Considering I built this in 2017, the same year I was diagnosed with my brain cloud, and worked through some severe pain before having my surgery, this is a labor of love and a testament to how bad I wanted an outdoor layout. Its kind a badge of honor, so to speak.
But the idea of abandoning the theme I currently have and using the existing layout to build a switching empire on is intriguing. It is already a large U shape configuration with a reversing loop on one end a we on the other with a small intermediate loop in the middle for a small continuous run. I had operations in mind when I built it, only having a token continuous run so I wouldn’t loose my Roundy Round Runner membership. Add to it that I have very few buildings at this moment and have decided I need to ramp up construction. So I really am in a good spot to switch themes and keep the track plan. I would likely serve two industries and not just one separated by a down town area. Instead of a single industry switching layout make it more like an industrial area.
I don’t know whether to thank you or punch you, lol (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif). With what I want to do with the extension of the 32mm this really could work and even make me like it more. I am thinking allowed now but the whole theme of my current railroad is a run from Mission Landing to Wallace, ID. and then onto Burke ID. mimicking the real CR&N. By the time of my story line the area was served by the CR&N narrow gauge and the OR&N (UP) standard gauge. A slight modification to history could easily make it a 2 foot gauge and 3 foot gauge scenario. And If I, instead of making it a long run from Mission to Burke and instead just make it Burke and do switching and interchanges in the greater Burke area which is a real world scenario, then I could really pack the layout with industry and buildings and add maybe a couple spurs and have a down right nice industrial switching layout without having to actually redo much of anything other than my vision. Wouldn’t even cost much beyond a few turnouts. Then when I decide to pull the trigger on the Fn2 it can just be a tram line from a mine up the canyon.
I actually like this idea.
