What industries use smaller buildings and cars

maybe a welding shop or auto parts warehouse?

How about a pulpwood track, you don't even need a building.  A number of loading areas were just that, a team track where a truck or wagon could pull up and load pulpwood directly onto waiting cars.

 

 

Here's one I want to get, a trackside coal conveyor:

 

http://modeltechstudios.com/ho...ndustrialunit-1.aspx

 

Not only could this be used in a small town, it could be used in a yard servicing your steam engines.

For buildings, etc: Lumberyards, oil storage facilities, etc., and warehouses/storage yards are good: they come in all sizes, have lots of activity and interesting things in them to model, and can be configured so the they fit into any odd space.  

 

For rolling stock, I actually have gone very extreme with short cars and locos.  Although I run scale on my two larger loops, I have a never tight (all 36" curves) loop I call BEEPworld because I run nothing longer than a BEEP on it.  I've cut down a bunch of traditional size cars, etc., until they are very short, so all fit within that rule, and built industries as I describe above for it.  It is a fun, fun area on my layout.

Or,...... ore!..or,...an orchard...or, just about any business can be crammed in a small building.

Liquor control, heavy equipment rental, mattresses, nuts/bolts/screws, printing, ice house, tires, popcorn/cotton candy machine/jukebox/supply, landscaping supply, fuel oil depot, and a bakery, are all smaller businesses I remember seeing directly connected by sidings. Ore cars, tankers, and gondolas are the only "common" short cars Ive seen run in prototype form. But On30 or even European cars may give you more shorties.         

To create an expance, I like a raised track on the "back side" with "country" backdrop, and as much undeveloped greenery/terrain as possible(an orchard?) between the destinations.

 

 

 

I was going to suggest the fuel oil depot mentioned above, as it can use a very small

unloading bldg./office and a number of vertical tanks, or just a couple, placed in any

irregular space you can get a siding and truck drive into. Earlier tank cars are shorter.

A specialty chemical plant that uses or produces a heavy chemical can use those

super short tank cars.

Another good trackside industry would be a shed for watermelons and a few ventilated boxcars.

Tim,

 

As you realize, illusion is an important skill in model railroading!   You have 12x15 (180 sq feet) to work with.  I have a little less than that (8.5'x18.5'x10'x18.5').  I have managed to work 3 buildings (3-D backdrops) of a steel mill into a very small 18"x10' space by doing a couple of things:

1. Turn the buildings 30 degrees into the wall
2. Dramatically shorten the buildings

Check out the two photos (prototype and model) below:

 

 

 

Point is, there are ways to get a larger industry into a smaller space.

 

Best,

 

George

A coal yard with an unloading trestle.

Yeah I'm abit strapped on space myself.  I could easily go nuts with an industry the size of my layout lol.  But we plan to use a lot of building/industrial fronts, lots of half buildings against walls and such.

 

I don't see it much in O scale, but we plan on using a scenic divide which will allow for quite a few half buildings along the route.

My setup is toy train, but I have added and am adding small industries.  I'm doing a small steel works that makes tubular rail and track pins.  This is part of my Lionel Steel area that has a culvert pipe division(Lionel culvert loader/unloader accessories relettered).

 

Another industry is my coaling operation.  When finished, an elevated line will lead to my rotary coal tipple then to my home-made coal trestle operating accessory.  The tipple takes up space, but the trestle can be stand alone and doesn't require to much space.

 

 

 

A test of how the trestle, tipple, and Lionel Steel structure will sit in relation to each other...

 

Another company I have that is only about a 12"x12" footprint is a tank car loading facility. Home-made using PVC and Plastruct pieces. Mine is for specifically lettered for smoke fluid.  The larger storage tanks are located elsewhere on the layout.

 

Construction photos...

 

 

 

Mike,

The scenic divide is a good idea, one I plan to use as well.  I'm curious to see how that will work out.  

 

George 

A limestone quarry, but you will have to build a crushing plant (which I expect would be pretty easy) and find a suitably-sized hydraulic shovel, wheel loader and off-highway dump truck.  Small buildings would be a maintenance shop, a scale house and perhaps an office.  You could add a lime kiln or concrete batching plant if desired.  You would use ore cars, open hoppers and gondolas as well as any yard switcher or general purpose locomotive (plus covered hoppers to ship the lime or supply cement if you go with the lime kiln or concrete batching plant).  Best of all, the more dust on your layout, the more realistic it will appear.

Depending on your layout design, the use of low relief building flats can make a layout look much bigger. By placing a portion of the layout around the room up against the walls you can build impressive looking industries that only take a few inches.

Gee, I almost forgot.  I did manage to fit a slag dump into the layout.  Standard Slag features a slag dumping area, a slag pit, and a power shovel.  The area is not yet fully detailed (I haven't added the top layer of slag or finished the walls yet).

 

 

 

 

 

George

Thanks for the may great ideas and responses. Here is the layout design without sidings. I've considered a scenic divide in the center peninsula. But even without it I have a narrow places to model. The main goal is operational within my limits and to have a place to practice scenery and scratchbuilding. I'm thinking more suburb/rural than big city.

 

Rich can you clarify "low relief"?

 

Tim

Sure TIm,

 

In many cases a "Flat" might be one wall from a kit, like Korber or Ameritown or the like.  it is very thin, maybe 1/4"  Low relief is a bit deeper, maybe 1" to say 3".  It may also project out over the track in the case of a factory. 

 

By varying the depth of the structure in a small pace you get a bit more variation than simply 5 or 6 1/4 thick wall sections up against the wall.  You can also please roof top details to add more realism in that case.

 

Here are some links to some that we produce.

 

http://shop.korbermodels.com/Fronts-Flats-Kits_c6.htm

 

I hope this helps.

let me know if you have any other questions.

 

 

 

 

How about a mine of some sort. Just a tunnel portal, some HO rail for carts and a siding for ore cars to load. Don

Rich thanks for the clarity. I do believe I will use flats in some areas. I like how they look best in low relief as you say and right next to each so as to hide the obviously missing side walls of each building. I've seen many examples of that here on the forum. And having taller buildings painted on the backdrop really helps hide their lack of "z" dimension. Landscape or natural scenery doesn't seem to have as good an effect from the photos I've seen.

A Cement Loading plant with a loading silo and funnel over the tracks.

 

The Lionel Coaling Tower over the tracks is needed for late steam.

 

A warehouse with doors for a backdrop.

 

 

Andrew