Kitbash ideas for Standard Steel

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yup. I dig it too. Don't know how it'll fit into the room, but it's hot.

[MichaelWinicki]

Luv the "Enola to steel mill" transition.

That section could keep at least one train completely busy per ops session.

[Scottl]

Wow, that is pretty fantastic.  Brilliant.

[Dave V]

Ya know...  I could make this Bethlehem's Steelton plant, use my HARRIS tower kit and put up some cat poles...

Hmm...

This also saves Enola.

So now I have a second waffling thread, LOL!  If anyone cares as to why I've been stymied this far, the 3-door version of the JD (which is smoking hot beyond all reason, BTW) commits me to a footprint which I can sustain now, but there is as yet no guarantee that I will remain in Colorado Springs no matter how much I might want to.  My wife has job prospects in the South--notorious for being devoid of basements--and I have potential prospects here in CO, down in FL, and in the Northeast, and I just don't know where the JD will fit in the future.  The expanded JD will certainly fit the room it's in now...  By 2016 I expect to know whether I'm here to stay or moving on.  That's why I keep getting "buyer's remorse" every time I get super excited about a new way-ahead.  Frankly I'm sick to death of moving.  My kids are in very good schools now, involved in Scouting and baseball, are making friends again, and Colorado is a great, healthy place to live (there's so much more to it than the press about the pot law).

So, long story short, I'm nervous about committing to a layout I may to have to move to an unknown space.  The plan above might just scratch all of my combined itches!!!

[OldEastRR]

To be honest, I've always had a preference for JC Blair right where it is--it fits comfortably, both physically and thematically. It's your layout, naturally, but shoehorning a steel mill in there--as others have said--will radically alter the layout's overall tone, and the space available really doesn't let you do the industry justice. I'd sooner look at ways of working the steel mill into the extension.

Agree. You originally stated you wanted something that looked like Standard Steel, and gave pictures of that. Any steel facility is huge; to reduce it down to couple of buildings ...? Look, you had to compromise on a 2-track instead the 4-track main you wanted -- so I advise against compromising again instead of getting what you want.
Love the comment about another 34 pages. But this is a different thread; page count here will not count against the other JD thread. I think that's in the RW by-laws...

[DKS]

If anyone cares as to why I've been stymied this far, the 3-door version of the JD (which is smoking hot beyond all reason, BTW) commits me to a footprint which I can sustain now...

Really, I don't think the 3-door JD--and/or the Enola-Bethlehem morph--commits you to anything other than modeling time. Everything is malleable. You move to a new space, and nothing fits quite right. So, you start planning how to make things work. Or, you bite the bullet, salvage what you can, and start a whole new venture. Allow yourself the freedom to turn limitations into opportunities, and enjoy the ride. So what if you can't fit the 3-door JD and the Bethlehem mod into your current room--building them scratches all kinds of itches. Keep the Bethlehem mod as a stand-alone diorama, and who knows--you may one day wind up in a space that lets you combine them with space left over for still more.

[Dave V]

Point taken.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yeah, look at how many times Chris has started over.

I think you should do the Enola => Steel Mill thing. It'll be a fun modeling challenge that could well occupy your modeling time well into 2016 if you really go all in on it.

[Dave V]

Yeah, look at how many times Chris has started over.

I think you should do the Enola => Steel Mill thing. It'll be a fun modeling challenge that could well occupy your modeling time well into 2016 if you really go all in on it.

Now I need to get edumucated on how steel mills are laid out!

So, Milroy Secondary or Steelton?

[Scottl]

Bernie Kempinski's book on steel mills is excellent.

[conrail98]

Yeah, look at how many times Chris has started over.

I think you should do the Enola => Steel Mill thing. It'll be a fun modeling challenge that could well occupy your modeling time well into 2016 if you really go all in on it.

And, Steel Mill's can be self contained operating facilities. A few cassettes of cars perhaps or pre-staged inbounds. A few Friday nights ago I operated on a layout and ran the guys steel mill which had a blast furnace, rolling mill, electric furnace and a coke works one town over (I think it was based on the Walthers' Works diorama from the late 90s). He had about 25 moves or so in all that had to be done between the facilities including iron ore empyt/load exchange as well as general mill freight exchange (I handled the coke exchange with a run to the coke works). All told, it took me about 2 hours of actual operating time to complete all the moves with a switcher who's top speed was regulated and following proper operating practices like not throwing switches until the switcher was approaching the turnout, having a spacer car next to the cab, etc. I think doing Enola => Steel Mill would give you the operational fix and it could be a stand alone plan that doesn't necessarily need to be in the same room or a configuration with the 3-door JD,

Phil

[Dave V]

Yeah, me likey.  If I do Burnham on the Milroy Secondary, I also get Kovalchick's salvage yard. 

I could keep 3 staging tracks too.

Now I would have additional work for the Lewistown Local.  I like!

[eric220]

Plus, a steel mill gives you a paired industry for the coal mine!

Oh, wait....

[packers#1]

If I recall correctly, your modeling time was being limited by the workload of being a professor; the steel mill build would leave the JD alone for now so that you can run trains while still having a modeling project going on; you can always build the three-door JD later on in the space if this house is your retirement house, or you can redesign the extension or just build a new layout wherever you move to.

PS, remember that the South can make up for basements with Bonus Rooms 

[Chris333]

Looks like they still make RR wheels there:
http://standardsteel.com/index.php

They must have some sort of melt furnace to forge wheels.

/>Looks like scrap metal piles around the cranes.

This was filmed there as well: