New UP PS-4427

Good job.

JEOFF,

Nice job on the car,nice car too.

It looks like you have a fertilizer shed in the background near an elevator possibly. (?)

I want to model such industries as I live in Indiana where the main industries are grain & fertilizer.

Can you send a few pic's of these facilities if you have these industries,please? Am looking for good ideas on construction materials for these as well as modern,'85-2016 factory buildings.

Thank you in advance.

Al Hummel

I have so many of those Atlas PS4427 cars I had retro-active sticker-shock this weekend. They're great cars. Now all I need to do is build a 32-silo grain elevator to park them in front of.

  Matt, I agree these are great cars. If you ever have a chance to video a unit train                                          of your cars I'd love to see it.                                                                                                                                    Al, here are a couple of pics of one my grain elevators, plus a photo of the one I                                          modeled it after. This one was on a UP branch in eastern Oregon.  I use past tense                                      as both the branch and the elevator are gone.  This one was built with just a quarter                                    inch piece of hardboard as a base reinforced with a couple of 1x4's that are screwed                                    to the floor.  This one was done the hard way one stick at a time with 3/16" basswood.                                It's a little smaller in scale than the real one was just to save room.  One of the reasons                              I decided to leave off the the siding is that as I was building this a kind of natural sag                                    formed in the walls that made it look like an old building. A good finish I've found (that                                  I wish I'd used on this) is Minwax Weathered Oak. It really works good for basswood                                    especially. Just make sure you stain it before gluing or you get a glossy finish where                                    the stain contacts the glue.  I'm guessing you have a wider variety of elevators to                                        choose from in Indiana. I would find one you like and get some measurements or                                        make a good guess if you have to. One thing I did that I think helped give me an idea                                  of what I was in for was to build a cardboard mockup first. These don't usually take                                      too long and can usually be made out of things around the house such as old cereal                                    boxes. Hope this helps and wasn't too long winded.                                                                                                                                   Jeff                                                                                                                                              

Jeoff:

Will definitely shoot video of a unit grain train. Might run one down at the club this weekend since I couldn't do a presentable one last weekend at the open house (rules limit trains to eight cars so we can run more trains).

JEOFF,

Thank you for the pic's & info.

The grain elevators now,are mostly LARGE metal bins in place of concrete & wood. But I can't think of suitable materials to make these out of.(?) I can make concrete bins out of PVC pipe or out of Metamucil cans that are round. I guess size wise my Metamucil cans would be closer in circumference to the size of metal bins,though. Oh well,in time,maybe I'll find something more suitable.

Thanks again.

Al Hummel

Alan Hummel posted:

The grain elevators now,are mostly LARGE metal bins in place of concrete & wood. But I can't think of suitable materials to make these out of.(?) I can make concrete bins out of PVC pipe or out of Metamucil cans that are round. I guess size wise my Metamucil cans would be closer in circumference to the size of metal bins,though. Oh well,in time,maybe I'll find something more suitable.

Hit the plumbing aisles at your local Home Depot or Lowes. 

JEOFF,

That grain elevator is AMAZING!!! to put it mildly. That is MUSEUM QUALITY. I started thinking more about that as the morning went on. After I wake up at 1st it takes a few hrs for the old brain to really process what it has taken in earlier. Truly remarkable.

Al Hummel

MWB:

That's where I got the idea of using PVC pipe. I'll find at least close to what I'm looking for,sometimes it's so close you got to trip over it to realize it.

Al Hummel

Jeoff posted:

  Matt, I agree these are great cars. If you ever have a chance to video a unit train                                          of your cars I'd love to see it.                                                                                                                                    Al, here are a couple of pics of one my grain elevators, plus a photo of the one I                                          modeled it after. This one was on a UP branch in eastern Oregon.  I use past tense                                      as both the branch and the elevator are gone.  This one was built with just a quarter                                    inch piece of hardboard as a base reinforced with a couple of 1x4's that are screwed                                    to the floor.  This one was done the hard way one stick at a time with 3/16" basswood.                                It's a little smaller in scale than the real one was just to save room.          Jeff                                                                                                                                              

Nice model. It looks like a lot of corrugated panels on the prototype!

Alan Hummel posted:

MWB:

That's where I got the idea of using PVC pipe. I'll find at least close to what I'm looking for,sometimes it's so close you got to trip over it to realize it.

Al Hummel

I've used a fair amount of items from the plumbing and electrical aisles for O scale models; making tank cars was something for a number of years,  

The PVC that's just about right is the 3 1/2" ID gray (I think it's schedule 80) PVC. It comes in 10-foot lengths -- enough for five 80-foot silos. Takes primer and paint well. Home Depot didn't show it on-line any more, but I found it in stock at the San Pedro store a few years ago. They also have 4" PVC drain pipe with thinner walls pretty cheap, but I like the thicker stuff because the walls are thick enough to better support screws for mounting things, plus the ends have more gluing surface.

    Al, I think I've seen the modern grain bins you're talking about. Most of the ones                                           I've seen are pretty big, maybe 40 feet across and just as tall.  If I was going to build                                     one of them I might start with something like a 5 gallon bucket for a body. The siding                                     would be the hardest part. Cutting up pieces of styrene and gluing it to the side might                                    work. Just a thought.  Speaking of 3 1/2 inch pipe here is the neighbor to my wooden                                     grain elevator. This one didn't take as long to build. The cylinders are held together                                       with bolts and nuts. The thing to keep in mind with these is that this type of drain pipe                                   is not light. This elevator probably weights 10 or 12 pounds. If you built one of those                                     big grain complexes in O scale you'd definitely get a workout.                                                                                                      Jeff                                                                                                                                                               

Go big!!!

Grain Elevator thread

Jeoff:

Per your request, I brought down all of my Atlas PS4427 Santa Fe grain hoppers and a trio of scale-wheeled MTH C40-8W diesels. Of the 20 hoppers, 12 are hi-rail (transition cars used) and the newest eight (at the rear) are 2-rail. At some point I'm going to convert all of them to 2-rail, but for now since I run at a 3-rail club there's no rush. Here are the photos and a video.

Thanks, Matt.

Very enjoyable. 

Fantastic Matt!! Thank you so much,was such a blast to see & hear!!

Do you use the DCS system for control? That sound was fantastic! It sounded like I was sitting at a prototype grade crossing!

Were the wheel sounds real or recorded?

What are the dimensions of your layout? It looks like about 75'-100'-VERY REALISTIC! I keep thinking my 25'x 50' is going to look like the train is chasing itself,toyish in other words & that scares me.

Thanks again.

Al Hummel

       Matt,  Thanks for taking the time to do this. That is one great looking train.                                                      Very much appreciated.

                Jeff