What's New on the PRR Panhandle 2.0?

[healey36]

Just got back from the 2017 Steel Mill Modelers Meet and boy is my head spinning with new ideas!

Yeah, this could be bad.

First of all, I picked up a set of plans for an Open Hearth. It's huge. That got me thinking about reducing the size of the Staging Area and giving the steel mill about 22 square feet of additional space. Right now, I'm toying with the idea of eliminating the Blast Furnace altogether and replacing it with a more scale sized Open Hearth. I would model the inside as well; it wouldn't just be a 3-D backdrop building.

Nothing's been decided yet. Lots of ideas rattling around in my head.

George

Sounds like you're moving toward building a model of a steel mill with a model railroad attached. Would be very interesting but make sure you're conceptually happy with that. Personally I prefer seeing trains running through heavily industrialized areas (over steaming through the countryside).

[G3750]

Just got back from the 2017 Steel Mill Modelers Meet and boy is my head spinning with new ideas!

Yeah, this could be bad.

First of all, I picked up a set of plans for an Open Hearth. It's huge. That got me thinking about reducing the size of the Staging Area and giving the steel mill about 22 square feet of additional space. Right now, I'm toying with the idea of eliminating the Blast Furnace altogether and replacing it with a more scale sized Open Hearth. I would model the inside as well; it wouldn't just be a 3-D backdrop building.

Nothing's been decided yet. Lots of ideas rattling around in my head.

George

Sounds like you're moving toward building a model of a steel mill with a model railroad attached. Would be very interesting but make sure you're conceptually happy with that. Personally I prefer seeing trains running through heavily industrialized areas (over steaming through the countryside).

Like I said, nothing has been decided yet. I'm still working out what would be necessary to accurately represent the Open Hearth and the dimensions are staggering. The steel mill should dominate a portion of the layout, but...

I'm going to explore as much of this as possible before making a final decision.

George

[rogruth]

Let the bridge dominate. Run Panhandle trains not a mill.
Do the mill for the museum.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Personally I prefer seeing trains running through heavily industrialized areas (over steaming through the countryside).

Or, do both!

[G3750]

Let the bridge dominate. Run Panhandle trains not a mill.
Do the mill for the museum.

Thanks Roger. You make a great point and I'm seriously considering it.

George

[chuck]

Open hearth style furnace is extraordinarily long. You could do an arc furnace or BOF. These would be significantly smaller but may not match your site/mill (but they would still be impressive!)

[G3750]

Open hearth style furnace is extraordinarily long. You could do an arc furnace or BOF. These would be significantly smaller but may not match your site/mill (but they would still be impressive!)

You are correct, Chuck. And Weirton Steel's Open Hearth was the largest in the world when it began operations in 1951. However, since I am continuing the practice of slanting the mill buildings into the backdrop at 30 or 45 degrees, total length isn't going to be a huge factor. For the era I am modeling, the Open Hearth is the correct intermediate process. I'll talk to my current state of mind in the next post.

Thanks,

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I'll talk to my current state of mind........

Before or after meds?

[G3750]

I'll talk to my current state of mind........

Before or after meds?

What difference does it make? Your meds or mine? To me or to you?

George

[G3750]

Updated 8/19/2017:

I've been doing a lot of thinking (always dangerous ) about the Weirton Steel and the Staging areas of the layout. Here's the new look.

PRR Panhandle 2.0 v027-Right Side.jpg (1.02 MiB) Viewed 4731 times

The major changes are:

• Shrunk the Staging Area. In the process I lost 1 holding track, but gained 22 square feet in the Weirton Steel Area.
• Enlarged the size of the Open Hearth and modified its shape to better reflect the prototype.
  

  

  Open Hearth.jpg (34.45 KiB) Viewed 4733 times

  
  

  

  Scan10002.JPG (202.25 KiB) Viewed 4733 times

• Modified the track arrangement in the Weirton Steel area to add a wye. This helps in moving hot metal cars between the Open Hearth and the Blast Furnace, and also prevents fouling of the main line (in order to access the switching lead).
• Added spurs in the yard that serve the building. For example, the Blast Furnace now has a Highline, a spur for slag cars, and a spur for hot metal cars. The Blooming Mill has a spur for ingot cars and for slab cars; an old photo tells me where the doors should be in the building.
  

  

  card00173_fr.jpg (45.07 KiB) Viewed 4733 times

  
  

  

  1950_snowstormtrainstation.jpg (116.95 KiB) Viewed 4731 times

• I haven't fully fleshed out the size of the blast furnace, but if I specify it as No. 1 (the smallest), I have some flexibility there (modeler's license).

Your thoughts?

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I'll talk to my current state of mind........

Before or after meds?

What difference does it make? Your meds or mine? To me or to you?

A week later you might wonder why you'd made such a decision - it was the meds!!!!!! A plausible excuse can be useful!!!!

Mine are just Advil -- yardwork and chainsaw to clear out all of the downed branches to either trash or to the firewood pile. Just got done "adjusting" a kitchen cabinet door......and one of the spots to my shop burnt out.......and I need new wheels under the trash can that was filled with the lanscaping logs that I cut up today.

The way my knees hurt now, maybe your meds would be better for me!

[healey36]

Holy-bejeebers, that looks massive in scale. You may need 2x10's for table-legs to support the weight! It would be impressive, much like the bridge. I think I would be tempted to lop a third of the back side off and build it as a bump out from the partition...scarfs up an awful lot of real estate.

Have any more pics of that station in the last two photo's? Would like to see more of that.

Healey

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I haven't fully fleshed out the size of the blast furnace, but if I specify it as No. 1 (the smallest), I have some flexibility there (modeler's license).

Your thoughts?

Rent the back hoe and call Larry and his brothers,

[G3750]

Holy-bejeebers, that looks massive in scale. You may need 2x10's for table-legs to support the weight! It would be impressive, much like the bridge. I think I would be tempted to lop a third of the back side off and build it as a bump out from the partition...scarfs up an awful lot of real estate.

Have any more pics of that station in the last two photo's? Would like to see more of that.

Healey

I will cut off a bit and push it back against the backdrop at an angle. I'm not familiar with the tricks needed to make RR-Track like non-square buildings. Doing that will leave more space for the Blast Furnace (another large structure). I'm just trying to get enough of these buildings to convey their presence. I will probably cut the Strip Steel (building at the top of the row of mills) in half so that it doesn't visually "leak" into the bridge scene.

Like I said, right now it's play time. We'll see what really gets built as time goes by.

Not sure if I have any other photos of the station. I'll poke around. When I worked in the mill in the early 70's, it was serving as the shoe store (steel-toed boots).

George

[chuck]

I like it. Staging areas are a necessary evil in model railroading unless you have pole barn or abandoned movie theater to put in real yards.

Make sure you have enough clearance on that back track (backside of the double crossover). It looks pretty tight and you don't want to derail or scrape equipment/walls when making the turns into/out of that crossover.