I found pictures of a rather unique sand tower on the Milwaukee Road in these pictures by Tom Harris on Railroad Pictures.net . Hopefully at some point I will get around to scratching building this structure for my layout.
So the inspiration from my layout comes from this track plan published in Model Railroader in 1994. I started building this as an ho scale layout, thanks to my friends Tom and Vern. They were able to convert this plan into HO scale using Xtrak Cad. The article described some of the key industries located in Janesville in the early 1990's and also an idea about shifting it back about 30 years when the Blue Railroad would have been CNW, The red would represent the Milwaukee Road, and the Green would represent the the Soo Line out of Rockford, Illinois.
What Is It? This is a team track transload ramp — a shared-use track and structure where shippers and consignees can load or unload freight cars without a dedicated industry building. It's a universal freight solution: one track, multiple uses, any customer. Why Include One on Your Layout? Transload ramps allow you to: Add operational variety without building new structures Justify almost any car type — boxcars, flats, gondolas, hoppers Rotate shippers session to session (e.g., machinery this week, lumber next week) Simulate modern or legacy freight operations (perfect for both CNW and MILW eras) Prototypical Uses Car Type Load/Unload Example Session Use Boxcar Palletized goods, small parts Local shipper with no siding Flatcar Crated machinery or lumber Machinery dealer or prefab kits Gondola Scrap metal, rebar bundles Construction waste or steel transload Covered Hopper Dry bulk (grain, fertilizer) Co-op delivery or seasonal ag supply ...
The major industry on my Railroad is the Paper Mill. The back building will ship the finished products and the house next to it is the chemical house that accepts chlorine and other chemicals used in the paper making process.
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