Here we grow again !!!

 2020 has been the year of the pandemic, which has seen model railroad show after show cancelled, as well as friends operating sessions put on hold.  However, for those in this hobby it has also allowed more time to work on the layout or build some models, as there just wasn't much out-of-doors socializing going on and working from home became the safest way to avoid the virus.  I took the opportunity to paint and decal various pieces of rolling stock, work on some general scenery and more.

I kept looking at the layout and wondering how I could build a bigger yard as well as add a few more industries.  While I had built a small yard next to my work bench, the optimal word was that it was small and had become a bottleneck for moving traffic.  In my mind it came down to two solutions: 1) build a second level above the island which houses the paper mill and lumber mill (via the addition of a helix) or 2) tear out some areas and build some new modules that would allow a larger yard and possibly some industries. Thus began a review and evaluation of what I really wanted the layout to finally look like, as this is realistically the final time I will be able to expand into basement space used for other purposes. During some recent plumbing problems, I heard the message that my hobby has taken up too much of the basement.  I will say that the plumber seemed to like my railroad, as on his second trip to the house in 6 months he was heard to remark "oh the house with the model trains. I'd like to see them running".

Adding a second level was problematic for two reasons. The first being that I would have to move my island area outward from its position, so that I could add lateral supports to the 2x4 framing that was used to construct them. While I could move the modules and install another set of vertical supports followed by horizontal supports to lay the upper level on, there was a pesky metal column support for the steel beam which supports the house in the way.  The other issue with this modification would be the need to construct of a real estate eating helix.  Using a 30-inch radius, I would easily end up with a helix that was close to 6 ft in diameter. Lots of wasted space there and I have already torn out a helix about 5+ years ago due to its wasted space.  Definitely not high on my priorities to go through the exercise again, although I had saved all of the hardware from the previous helix.. 

Building new modules also came with a few problems. First and foremost would be that the space for the Nephton mine complex would have to be changed.  Actually it turns out that it would be lost. While hated to lose this industry, especially since I have built a fair number of rolling stock to support it, it simply wouldn't fit. So all buildings have been boxed up for its construction in the next version of the layout.

On the plus side, several months after starting my review process, fellow Freemo modeler Tim Moran got in touch and said he had a couple of 45 deg modules that he would be parting with. A quick email and Tim and I were arranging to meet at the local Walmart parking lot complete with our Covid19 masks in and put them into the back of my car. So parts of a previous 2x4ft module were re-built, becoming a new small rural Ontario town complete with grain elevator business, and this new modules spliced between the two 45's. Although still unnamed and in need of some details, a number of wooden buildings have found a new home of the layout.  

Trackage and wiring completed...on to scenery

One step closer, I still needed to build some modules for a new yard.  But wait, nice weather days in November allowed me to do that. Therefore, yard construction will be included in a new blog entry.

 

Industrial Infrastructure

One of the aspects that I have tried to cover everywhere on my layout is whether the scene is realistic and will it work.  For the latter point, what I mean is will supporting aspects be in place and actually fit correctly into a space.  Take for example, industries that use trucking as a means to deliver materials and take away finished goods. Assuming that the truck and trailer are somewhat correct for the modeled era (example not having a 53' trailer in a 1960's scene), is there actually enough space for the truck to pull in and back up to the loading dock.  I'm always amazed when I see the parking filled with trailers but no visible way to actually move the trailer.  Is there an access road for the trucks to leave the facility or are they apparently stranded since the only exit is over the rails and no crossing has been installed?

Another aspect that I think modelers tend to overlook is what utilities support the industry.  You can follow the same logic and ask do your commercial buildings and residential structures have sufficient utility support.  You may only need a transformer on a pole at a street corner, or you may need several small ground mounted transformers to power each building.  

For an industry, most require a large amount of power, often coming onto the property at multiple locations.  This may mean that they need one or more substations, as well as  multiple transformers as the power is stepped down sufficiently for a building or process to use.  For example, my paper mill has it's own power house, where electrical power is generated from a nearby river which runs along side the mill but is actually just at the edge of the paper plant module.  Since the power house also supplies power to the electrical grid and near by town Spruce River, an electrical substation is located adjacent and in a corner of the property before the electrical lines cross the rail and head away into the distance.  I also have several large transformer situated outside of several of the buildings, as well as electrical infrastructure on the top of several roofs.  In my mind, these little details make the scene "pop" with realism. 

Can you ever have enough (or too much) rolling stock / locos?

A recent purchase of several pieces of rolling stock from an estate sale got me thinking about how much rolling stock and/or engines do we really need for a layout, especially if you have a limited basement or layout space and have come to the realization that you're never going to build the mega-layout that you commonly see in publications.  I freely admit that I have a lot of "stuff."  Boxes worth neatly stacked and identified under the layout.  Some of it will ultimately be placed on the layout, while others seem to stay in their storage boxes, only to be brought out every few years and then placed back into storage. I open the box for some reason or another, but the "stuff" never stays on the layout.  That got me to thinking that maybe I need to sell off some of these pieces. 

If you have followed this blog, you'll remember that the KLR is a modular layout, point to point, which spans about a 12 ft by 23 ft area within my basement.  While that seems like a large size, it really isn’t when you try to model several large industries such as a paper mill or lumber mill. The other consideration is that I was really focused on operations and switching when I designed the layout, so long trains and runs are just not within scope of my layout.  That’s important to remember, since I don’t need a large number of engines, as there only a few daily trains which run on the layout and even fewer run throughs.

I don't consider myself a "collector" (whatever that is). My idea of a collector is someone who has a lot stuff that he/she never "uses". OK maybe from the above I have inadvertently collected stuff. But I really mean to use it, honestly. I have never been one to have to have, for example, a convention car just because I attended the convention. I sort of equate that as a collection.  Rather I like to think that my purchases have been more towards what the local industries need to move their products or receive raw materials.  I tend to think that Collectors accumulate stuff they don't use (which may or may not have any significant monetary value) while avid hobbyists purchase the best items in their area of interest, especially since manufacturers have gone to limited runs, hoping or thinking that in the long run the item will spend time on the layout. 

With all of this as background, I decided this winter to make a serious evaluation of my rolling stock to see if my core industries on the layout really supported all of this traffic.  My criteria was simple, look at the number of car spots on my layout and take 2.5 times the number of spots in order to establish what I need for rolling stock.  I’m not sure where I first heard about using this sort of formula to determine the amount of cars needed for a layout, but it’s a good starting point, especially for operations on a home layout.  Undoubtedly, modelers who run on a club layout or others layout may want to have a different criteria or even an entire set of cars and engines dedicated for that purpose and separate from home operations.  

The KLR currently has a total of 62 locations for spotting rolling stock.  So using the equation of 2.5 x total number of spots, I should only need 155 pieces of rolling stock.  I use the Easy Model Railroad Inventory software to track my layout, and a quick report showed that I had a total of 176 pieces of rolling stock.  Oh oh, it already looks like my fleet is too large. But maybe not as bad as I had originally thought.  No matter how good a deal I may have gotten on a past purchase or whether I wanted to have a certain road name, my thoughts were that if I exceeded my criteria, the piece needed to go into the For Sale box. 

Let's try another approach by looking at the number of spots needed for each of the industries versus the number of individual classes of cars.  After all, I might have 66 boxcars, however, with 20+ spots at the paper mill, maybe my fleet isn't isn't so bloated as I imagine.  The first rolling stock I looked at were boxcars.  Now for my own layout, I need a fairly sizable number of boxcars to service the paper mill, with nine active loading spots and two dedicated storage tracks.  I don't make any distinction whether they are single doors, double doors, wide doors, hi-cube, etc., although at some point in the future I'm sure that I will.  My inventory list shows that I have 66 available boxcars, however, that number is really 56, as I already put 10 cars up for sale.  OK so this method suggests that I have a nice distribution of cars, although maybe a little heavy on the boxcars.  But then again, there are several industries which may utilize boxcars on a random basis, so let's do some more analysis by breaking down individual spots by the typical type of car to be spotted there.

Now remember I'm looking at typical requirements, knowing that some businesses will get the odd load which requires a car that they don't typically handle in a day to day operation.  For example, on the KLR we typically see the following:

Boxcars - Husky Plywood; Spruce Creek Mill; Algonquin Timber

Centerbeam Flatcars - Niagara Distribution; Muskoka Timber

Covered Hoppers - Quaker; Canada Bread; Cantal; UCM; Unimin

Tank cars - Spruce Creek Mill; Sherwin Williams

The maximum number of centerbeam flatcars I may need on the layout is five, since only the Niagara Distribution and Muskoka Timber businesses use this type of car.  When I look at my inventory, I only have 8 of this type of car, which is actually less than what my car accounting model would suggest that I have.

Let's try this again for bulkhead flatcars.  Businesses that use this type of car include Bailey Timber, Muskoka Timber, and Niagara Distribution, with a total number of 6 spots available.  My current inventory shows that there are 17 bulkhead flatcars on the roster, which just about supports the car accounting model.

I used the car accounting model for the remainder of my rolling stock and came up with the following summary:

                                                                 Available      Loading Spots

Boxcars                                                        56                  20
Boxcars, all door                                          21                    7               

Bulkhead Flatcars                                        15                    8

Centerbeam Flatcars                                     8                    6

Flatcars                                                        12                    8                 

Pulpwood Flatcars                                         3                    6

Gondolas                                                     16 *                  0   

Hoppers / Cylindrical Covered Hoppers      29                   22              

Tank cars                                                     32                   14

Notes: * interestingly enough, I never designed the layout with any industries which would require gondolas. The closest thing I can think of is that at one time I wanted to include a wood treating site on the layout, but never seriously designed for it. So how did I get so many gondolas?

So after all of my analysis, I think I have just about the correct number of rolling stock so that I can have operating sessions that the same is not showing up.  I think I'll keep a few gondolas for use in a through freight but the rest can be sold.  Any buyers ???

Modeling a Paper Mill - Part 4.3 New Warehouse Addition

In the last post, I talked about how I added another building within the cellulose portion of the mill.  I had another project on my to-do list, which was to expand the Walthers stock kit warehouse building so that I could load more boxcars with finished product.  When I initially designed the paper mill, the warehouse was to be two Walthers kits joined together, which would allow at least five (5) 50-foot boxcars to be stored for general rail loading and leaving the truck bays intact.  However, two buildings took up a large amount of space, and the paper mill modules were going to be restricted to a 12 linear foot area.  So after running with a warehouse which could only accommodate 3 boxcars, something had to be done.  After all, the paper mill can only survive by increasing it's outflow whenever demand is present.  Remember, it's 1985 on the layout, so consumers are still reading their daily newspaper and the paper mill is constantly busy meeting the demand for paper rolls.  While business has started to see a slight decline in big city newspaper demand, small local and regional papers continue to flourish and demand has increased.

Accordingly, two new tracks were laid into a portion of the grounds which was being used for storage of miscellaneous items and equipment, including a small transformer yard.  The plant manager, after presenting a capital investment plan to the bean counters, was able to procure the funds to add track and place it under roof to avoid those harsh northern Ontario winters.  This meant that the electrical substation had to be moved onto the roof of the warehouse, which while a little bit of a stretch, is not too obvious or out of place.

I had purchased several pieces of laser-scribed basswood several years ago from  Monster Modelworks, but never got around to using them for a project that I had intended to scratch build in N scale.  While maybe the sheets and brickwork are the wrong scale for the purist, I opted to use the three sheets that had been purchased rather than buying sheets in HO scale. After all, the main purpose was to house boxcars, and I wasn't looking to model something exactly like a building that doesn't actually exist on the prototype.

Several weekends ago, I started to take measurements and started to draft what my addition would look like.  As I was doing so, I realized that the addition would likely have to cover the existing windows on the Walthers papermill kit, so I decided to remove the windows and make the addition high enough to accommodate the tallest of boxcars while at the same time covering the windows.  Removing the windows without breaking them took some finessing the plastic from its glue, but everything came out without any significant damage. So after joining the three sections of wood, a little cutting was in order to re-install the plastic windows into the new addition.  

Structure is complete and it's time to think about finishing the roof as well as the area by the doors. I'll add a circular tube at the top of each door to simulate an overhead door.

While I originally was going to install a platform at door height of the boxcars, I opted to install a concrete walkway at ground level and only finish a small portion of the doorways.  Some drums and workers were added, but since you can't see very far into the building, I decided to forego and real detail. Again, the building was built to house boxcars and really meant to be a storage space for loading and unloading purposes.

View from the other side. Tracks in foreground are yard storage of empty boxcars waiting to be loaded and excess tank cars ready for other parts of the Mill. 

Modeling a Paper Mill - Part 4.2 Construction Progress

Between travels for work and time spent this fall preparing the yard and house for the winter months, I have not had as much time to spend on the layout.  However, I have been able to do a little painting and install some scenery materials so that the paper mill doesn't look as bleak and empty as before.  And of course I've had some re-do's, as I wasn't satisfied with the way some of the roadways turned out.  Apparently trying to model a very fine, crushed stone roadway with fine ballast was harder than I previously remembered it to be when just trying to do small roadways.  Large areas that could be a roadway or just an open area just seem to show even the finest of gravels rather than a well worn gravel and dirt roadway that I was trying to achieve.  So between roadways and some ground scenery, some color is appearing and the modules are beginning to take the form that I wanted.

When I had some free evenings and paint was drying in various portions of the two modules, I also dug out some tank kits that I had accumulated for the mill and began to build them.  And of course, all tanks should be set inside some sort of spill containment structure, so I have also been rummaging through the scrap styrene box to fine appropriately sized pieces to build containment structures.  My recent work has been to start adding some pumps and piping; I found some great HO sized pumps on the Shapeways website and will be adding pumps and piping shortly.

Initial construction; still need to add piping to each of the three tanks as well as the 3 tanks in the background

The biggest project undertaken was scratch building a new building within the cellulose portion of the mill.  Based on a general visitor guide I obtained in 2001, I believe that this building is actually part of the bark boiler complex on the Temiscaming mill  I liked it due to some unique angles that are present, as well as the ability to accommodate the placement of several stacks I built using the Walthers refinery kit.  So it has now become part of a background building for the specialty cellulose mill.  For my building, I added a rail unloading shed at ground level, which I'm fairly sure is not present in the prototype, but allows some more spots for tank car off-loading.  It also allowed me to spot some storage tanks in between some of the tracks which will be used as part of the chemical products group alcohol plant.

Start of the specialty cellulose mill. Still need to cut the angled middle and bottom panels. Hardest part was cutting the windows to the correct size. Several catwalks and stairwells will be added to the left side of the Bldg (not shown in picture)

Bldg is now partially done; major components are in place, however, work still needed for the piping and exits along the left side of the Bldg

Windows still need to be worked on and some sort of backing put into place so that the windows and styrene don't deflect and bow; many of the pieces used are leftovers from other projects

Working through some of the details

Additionally, I have been able to ballast most of the track in the paper mill, as well as setting the switches permanently.

Modeling a Paper MIll - Part 3 Rail Services

The Spruce Creek facility receives most of its bulk raw materials via rail.  I have purposely chosen not to include truck operations in my modeling, as I lacked the space to include a large enough loading area for trucks and opted to set my warehouse building at the end of the module, so that I might have more storage track space. 

Rail traffic for the four mills consists primarily of boxcars, chemical slurry tank cars, and chemical tank cars.  When I began to design my mill, one of the first items I noted that the prototype had was a number of storage tracks that were present, either within or outside the mill itself.  The second item was that, with the exception of the Temiscaming mill, each mill had its own or several switcher engines.

Switching Power

One the most interesting aspects of the mill I find is the power used to move the various boxcars and tankcars and the number of movements needed to keep the operations running smoothly.  I chose to replicate my mills power based on the various types of equipment that have been used at my four prototype mills.  The following is a rough list of engines that have been known to operate at the different mills in the area and is simply used to illustrate the variety of power over the years.  

The next decision was how the mill would be switched. Paper mills receive a large number of cars on a daily basis when in operation, which can tie up the local switching crew for the better part of a day or more.   For a start-up operation, this would have strained the resources of the crew, so the decision was reached early on that KLR crews would go to the mill, drop any empties and pick-up the cars ready for transport from the yard, while a two-person yard crew would work at least one shift to move cars within the mill.

I decided to go with similar engines and power requirements as were typically seen at my four example mills.

	Engine #	Type	Notes
Iroquois Falls	1203	S4	Ret. from ONR 1973; sold to Abitibi Pulp & Paper
	1310	RS3	Sold from ONR in 1985 to Abitibi Pulp & Paper
Smooth Rock Falls	104	S4	Mattagami Rail; formerly Quebec Iron & Titanium
Kapuskasing	108	RS23
	109	RS23	Former Devco #201
	168	GP7	Mattagami Rail, ex ACR 168
Temiscaming			No known dedicated engines; services provided by CP and RaiLink via the branch line (Temiscaming Sub.) from Mattawa to Temiscaming, Quebec (approximately 41 miles).

Currently, the Spruce Creek mill is serviced by an S4 (former Boston & Maine ) and a Mattagami GP7 unit.  With the introduction of the SW1200RS by Rapido in 2017, a unit in CN's black and orange paint scheme may become the newest switcher.  Ideally, when funds allow and a model is available, power will be replaced by an Alco RS23.

Inside the Mill

Let me first start off by saying that I firm believer that modeling an industry should be realistic to the prototype but also fun to operate.  After all, who wants to operate on a layout or switch an industry if they’re not having fun.  So I subscribe to the thought following what the prototype has done is the simplest and most realistic way of achieving your goal. This may include modeling only some of the basic buildings one might find in a paper mill, as well as following the general track arrangements, or modeling each and every building if it is needed to support a variety of rolling stock which is received. 

The idea of keeping the track plan simple and close to the prototype became very apparent during a review of my first mill track plan.  My first design was based where I had cited various buildings and where they fit best, rather than based on any logical flow from a manufacturing standpoint.  That was a mistake, as the initial design created the situation where I would need to build a crossing within the facility just so that I could access both my chemical delivery track, as well as the warehouse tracks using different movements.  So it was back to the drawing board and a little more review of the aerial photos I had from several of the northern Ontario mills before planning the track work.    What really jumped out at me was that each of the mills had sufficient yards within or immediately outside of the mill, such that empties and filled cars were shuttled to and from the yard from the active loading or unloading areas.  When switching was completed, the plant switcher was generally returned to its engine house or bay.

Location	# Yard Tracks	Notes
Iroquois Falls	6+	Exterior to Plant; between Cambridge Ave and Ambridge Drive; use of a Wye
Smooth Rock Falls		Unknown within mill; Access via rail along 4th Street
Kapuskasing	5+	Yard tracks adjacent to ONR main; parallel to ONT-11
Temiscaming	6	Yard tracks well south of the mill; Small wye towards south end and near river

Car Loads

Let’s take a look at what the Spruce Creek plant produces, what the various raw materials that are needed, and how often rail cars enter the plant.  Similar to the Temiscaming mill, I modeled operations to include three main mills that manufacture different forest products, including specialty cellulose, high-yield-pulp and coated bleached board (containerboard) as well as a chemical products facility.   The chemical products division produces a variety of products made from spent sulphite liquor (primarily alcohol, resin or lignin based).  

It goes without saying that modeling four operating plants takes up a large amount of space, which typically is not available with a model railroad regardless of which scale you're modeling.  However, I have used photos from the Kapuskasing and Temiscaming mills as backdrop, which is how I incorporate each of the mills.    

The Spruce Creek Pulp and Paper Mill is located on two 2’ by 6’ modules in the center of the room.  Starting from the left side, my buildings include a power plant, the pulp mill, alcohol plant, acid building, kaolin building, specialty cellulose mill, board mill and the warehouse.

High Yield Pulp - the pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fibre source into a thick fibre board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical or fully chemical methods (kraft and sulfite processes). The finished product may be either bleached or non-bleached, depending on the customer requirements.  In our mill, kraft pulp is produced using softwood pulp, while the "B" mill can produce either softwood or hardwood pulp.  Similar to the Boardmill, final products are shipped via both rail and truck.  The Kraft mill also produces large amounts of lignin liquor, a byproduct of the digestion process. This material can be shipped out in tankers, dried, or fed to other bacterias to make yeast.  The Kraft mill also uses other chemicals such as sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and sulfuric acid. Kaolin (slurry form) is brought in to make glossy paper. Kaolin is often supplemented by calcium carbonate (lime) slurry and titanium dioxide.

The Chemical plant consists of products which are made from the spent sulphite liquor generated within the facility.  The plant can be divided into an alcohol division, resin division and lignin division.  Most of this operation takes place within numerous tanks situated within three central buildings.  Due to their relative size, I chose to model only the fronts of the buildings and blended the building into the photo backdrop.

Refined from wood pulp, specialty cellulose is used in a range of applications across many industries – cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, personal care, food, coatings, electronics and energy.  Specialty cellulose is manufactured in both rolls and bales.  Similar to the chemical plant, this area was modeled using only the front of the building set against the photo backdrop.

The Boardmill Division produces high quality paper and manufactures newsprint for publishers of daily newspapers and commercial printers, as well as controlled bulk paper for mass-market paperback book publishers and commercial printers.  Coated bleach board is a product used for a broad range of commercial printing, publishing and packaging applications.  Newsprint production uses wood fibre obtained from four separate sources, including thermomechanical pulp (TMP), recycled pulp, groundwood pulp and kraft pulp. Kaolin is used to make glossy paper. While chlorine was used to bleach the paper, in recent years it has been replaced by sodium chlorate.

Rail Traffic

One of the other key aspects I looked at when designing my mill was how much traffic did a typical northern Ontario paper receive and could I support anything close to that. For example, both the Kapuskasing and Temiscaming mills generally receive rail traffic at least 5 days per week.  Aerial photographs are readily available for the Kapuskasing mill, and show that it has at least 5 storage tracks which appear to be able to easily hold forty (40) fifty-foot boxcars easily.  There are several additional tracks within the property which can also accommodate 15-20 cars easily per track.  If a typical train load is 20-30 tank cars and boxcars, I knew that there was no way to accommodate that much storage for my modelling. 

Another aspect that goes hand in hand with this was how much yard trackage would I be able to accommodate within two modules, given that this would become the easiest way to move traffic around with the yard switcher.  With the exception of the Temiscaming mill, each of the other mills discussed previously have been supported by a fairly large amount of trackage either on or just off the mill property.  It was very common to see numerous strings of boxcars just waiting to be pushed into the warehouse tracks, however, stored just along the property boundary.  Warehouse tracks were typically designed to support multiple boxcars, with the area under roof supporting at least 3 tracks and it was quite common to see 4-5 boxcars on each track.

The next step was to determine which types of rolling stock would be needed at the mill.  Paper mills take in and also ship out of lot of things, which may typically include: 

Rail Car	Inbound	Outbound
Boxcars	Scrap paper	Paper Rolls, Kraft or bleached paper	Various sized boxcars paper rolls and bundles bleached kraft bundles, scrap paper
Gondolas/Hi-cube Hoppers	Wood Chips
Bulk Head/Pulp Wood Flats	Pulp Wood Logs (cut to lengths of 4 to 6 feet long)
Tank Cars	Kaolin Chlorine  Limestone Slurry Caustic Soda Sodium Hydroxide Sodium Hydrosulfide Sulfuric Acid Lignin liquor	Tall Oil by-product Lignin Liquor Turpentine by -product	Chlorine (pulp bleaching); Clay slurries (note: Kaolin would be used for glossy papers)
Gondola		Scrap Iron
Bulkhead flat cars	10-foot pulpwood		Single-stacked cross-ways
Hopper	Coal, although most facilities burn some sort of wood waste
Covered Hoppers	Salt Cake, Calcium Carbonate, Lime, Sodium Chlorate, Corn Starch		Calcium carbonate – off loaded near the fourdrinier building for coatings; replaces kaolins

 Rail Spurs

 For my operations, I opted to go with the following arrangement:

• Warehouse (1 interior track within the Building; 2 interior tracks in adjacent Bldg.); each track to hold 2-3 boxcars
• Rotary chip dumper (1 track); able to store one hopper
• Chemical Plant (1 track – min. 5 loading/unloading spots)
• Engine House – (single track off of the outbound storage track)
• Yard Tracks (2 tracks, one for outbound cars and one for inbound; able to store 8 cars min.)

Engine house - Iroquois Falls, ONT