A customer wanted a rock loader for a quarry he is placing on his layout. He liked the looks of the Menards Morton Salt structure but needed it modified to suit his needs. Below is the result.
Joe
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Below are some construction photos.
The structure is next to a mock up. We changed a lot based on the mockup.
The start of the elevated office
Platforms and stairways
Elevated platforms
The one side looked kind of bare so we added a two tier shed and a dust collector
Mock up for the loading shed
The loader it self was painted to look like concrete. The shed / office etc were painted dull nickel. I then lightly sprayed a textured paint call Caribbean Sand to give the effect of accumulated rock dust.
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Beautiful work!
Neal Jeter
Joe,
That came out great. Nice job
Fine artwork, as always! 
jpv in France
Thanks to all
I will have photos in a week of so for a large grain elevator - biggest I have built to date plus hopefully the end of the Korber Lionel Factory. I have learned a few lessons from Alan Graz about placing tanks on roofs!
Joe
With very minor additions, this would make a great concrete batch plant, like you often see in the northeast or upper midwest. It is very similar to the "fully enclosed" type of ready mix batch plant.
Nice work there.
Jeff
I am excited to see the finished rock loader. I have been waiting patiently since I worked out the basics with Joe some time ago. When he started with the mock ups, I knew that he had my vision down pretty pat. He asked several questions and I tried to be very specific...and I am absolutely pleased with the results.
I have been changing the concept of my layout and I have reverted to my true love, rural, small town Oklahoma, not the busy OKC stockyards district on the Santa Fe. I am keeping the Santa Fe zebra stripe era but moving out to the more rural areas of the state...closer to where I grew up.
I had been wondering what to do with the peninsula if I went "rural" but when the Menards Morton Salt structure was released I realized what I was looking for...an overhead railcar loader for a rock crusher. There are a lot of small rock quarries around Oklahoma with all the limestone we have.
I am very pleased with the loader and will patiently wait for it to arrive...just about the time the really hot weather starts to change...a good thing.
This was my third custom structure from Joe and I am very pleased with his work. This project actually went much simpler than the first two because he sent a rough sketch, then he sent photo of the mock ups and then he would show me places on the design where it could go left or right, up or down, innie or outie. I would read his comments, consider my approach and what would be appropriate for my era and made a decision, which he followed up with a mock up and we would repeat when necessary. For all practical matters, Joe got my concept from the very start and we simply exchanged emails at appropriate times...
