# Gravel industry vs. Coal



## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

The main theme of my layout is going to be a quarry supplying gravel, and then delivering that gravel to a pit or a concrete facility (still unsure yet). The issue is, the only real gravel facility I can find is the Walthers kit and I'm worried it takes up too much room. There are so many more choices for coal facilities in model railroading... I am considering using a coal facility and just "faking it" as a gravel facility. Any thoughts on this?

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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

You can easily make your own sand and gravel
station using balsa or basswood strips from the
hobby shop for the trestles. Create a 'jig'
using straight pins in a piece of foam to hold
the members for gluing.

The concrete sides of the track ramp have a
staggered top. Here is what I put together
but before the flex track was mounted. 









Mine is designed for 1 or 2 hoppers. You
can easily enlarge it for a larger operation.

It is important to use flex so it will 'find' the natural
easement from flat to ramp. It is often a
railroad rule to have 'idler' cars between the
loco and the hopper to be spotted on it. Be sure
the trestle track is level so the car does not
roll back down.

Don


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Rule #1: Your Layout, Your Rules.

By all means, use a coal facility if it works beter for you.

Another possibility is to kitbash an existing kit. Put it togeth r r in a different configuration than the manufacturer suggests. You can even place it at the edge of your layout. Only actually model the parts that interact with the trains, and leave the balance of the plant either as a photo on the backdrop or even left to the imagination.


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## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

Thanks Don - this is a great idea for a gravel pit / dump, and I may just do this. But I'm talking about the loading facility at the quarry, like this:









I was hoping to have a loading facility slightly more compact, but after looking at Walther's N Scale measurements on this it seems like the footprint really isn't as bad as I thought. Overall it's 5.625" x 6.625" long in N scale (not including the conveyors). If I configure the conveyors in a different direction than shown on the retail box, I think I might be able to make this structure work after all...


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

A grain elevator kit would be a good start for a frame structure, although a lot of stone or gravel plants are assemblages of portable machinery or even poured concrete.
You also will have some diversity in your "loads out" consists. The aggregate products produced will range from sand to stone sand all the way up to rip rap, which is very large rocks for erosion control. And don't forget the occassional gon or flatcar load of decorative boulders.


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