iron, steel and ports

[llewelyn]

Working on a new fictitious route. I have a container port already. I also have oil and coal industries, and an oil terminal which supplies crude oil (from a ship, although that bit is fake - but not that bothered about making the ships functional even if we can).

Now, a bit further up the coast I made a huge river estuary, because I could, and to have an excuse for a tunnel under it, and bridges across the river. Having done that, I had a deep water channel, so I thought there could be another port there.

What I would like is a bulk ore carrier ship (although a generic cargo ship other than containers would server for that) and a bulk ore loader which loads trains with iron ore. Ideally, it would look like the ore came off the ship. However, not having much luck finding industry items to implement this credibly. The ship part doesn't have to work provided it looks as though it could. The only ore loader I've found so far is part of a mine, which would work, if I had other stuff to connect to it to make it look credible.

Ideally, the iron ore and coal from the coal mine would go to a iron foundry/steel mill or such. Haven't looked for those yet, except DLS doesn't list an iron foundry although the search term may be wrong.

Anyone care to suggest anything to achieve that? Guessing that ore comes off ships with some kind of crane with a big scoop thingy, and would then go into a dump pile, there to be fed to the train loader.

 

[mjolnir]

The Port of Mobile (AL) has quite an interesting facility for handling steel at the Pinto Island terminal. There is a video of the operation at <http://vimeo.com/26014564>. Note that the steel making facility served processes steel slabs; it does not make steel from ore. The video shows how the slabs of semi-finished steel are transferred by gantry from ship to barge for transport up river to the Thyssen Krupp steel facility north of Mobile.

ns

 

[mikeaust]

Search for Hulett Loader and Ore Dock Loader, there are a few available.
Also ore ships available. Type in steel and there are blast furnaces and steel mills.
cheers,
Mike

 

[Greg_Hargreaves]

Try "Ore Conveyor Gantry Loader", <kuid2:60238:27209:1>. It can load and unload ore and coal between ships and rail. Looks like the ones used by the lake-side steel mills in Indiana, lower Michigan and Ohio.

"Hulett Ore Unloader", <kuid2:60238:27513:1>, is very representative of the great lakes, unloading coal/ore from ships.

For ships: Search for "ore carrier". There are a variety of 'drivable' ships, but there are also some static models. I'm personally fond of the Edmund Fitzgerald. These are all smaller "Lakers". Granted many Lakers occasionally go out to sea (Amsterdam being a popular destination port), they are still smaller than most ocean-going ships of today. Choice of ship will probably be affected most by where and how large your port is, and what era (how modern) you choose.

Edit: Search by the author "Vulcan". He has a great deal of iron industry doohickies to inspire any route; he's the author of the above mentioned Kuid's.

 

[llewelyn]

Thanks for the info. I will look again. I think I may have already picked up the ore gantry loader dingus, not sure. It's mostly getting the right search terms.

As for era, probably aiming for 50s-70s or so. Not trying to be very modern. Is there a way to filter for active industry items in CM rather than static scenery?

I assume for drivable ships, you create a ship route using some invisible spline? would be kinda cool.


[OT] There's a song about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, as you probably know - the tune was also used by Christy Moore for a song about shipping convicts from Ireland to Van Diemen's land. Both are worth a listen IMO.

 

[steamboateng]

From the web...........
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a song written, composed and performed by Canadian Gordon Lightfoot to commemorate the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. It was inspired by the Newsweek article on the event, "The Cruelest Month", which appeared in the issue of November 24, 1975.[1] Lightfoot considers this song to be his finest work.[2]"

A great song, and for those of us who have plied the Earth's great seas, a meaningful one.
I'm not so sure that a 'Great Lakes' steamer like the 'Fitzgerald', designed specifically for the service for which she was built, would be USCG certified for transatlantic service.

 

[Greg_Hargreaves]

@Ilewelyn: Yes, drivable ships are just that. Oversize traincars that run on an invisible track. I've found them a neat feature to ponder, but haven't done much with them. I like to keep the trains the focus of my routes and therefore static ships in the background work just fine for me.

When you find an something interesting, try searching by the author's name, to see what else they've made. Sometimes you get lucky and an author will have a focus, and will upload several different things related to one topic. For example the same person who made the aforementioned kuids, also uploaded ore-loading docks, ships, a lock system, and an iron mine to all link into an iron-ore mine and mill operation.

@steamboateng: Correct, the purpose-built Lakers were slower than ocean-going vessels of the same size, and therefore performed poorly on the ocean where ports were further apart.

After WWII many ocean freighters were transferred to service on the Lakes to help with the traffic boom that was occurring. Many mines were at peak performance, and 1953 was the DM&IR's record year for tonnage hauled. At this point we start see more inter-continental traffic coming up into the Lakes.

 

[steamboateng]

Those ships which plied the 'Lakes' were often not built to withstand a trying 15 day voyage winter crossing of the Atlantic, lacking in crew survival space requirements such as water and stores, not to speak of the basic requirements of hull design, which is called 'scantlings' for the enlightenment of you landlubbers!

 

[llewelyn]

While I like the Edmund Fitzgerald it needs a lot of space. I've been experimenting a bit, it won't go around a 15 major grid square (what are those, 10m?) radius curve. Even at 5 mph it derails and sinks.

The smaller Iron Duke will, so I will use that. Might park the Edmund Fitz. somewhere static just for show... Next to see if I can get it all to operate as I want. Ideally, the ship will go off out of sight, fill with ore and offload it at the dock, where a train can collect it.

 

[steamboateng]

Since the 60's many ships were equipped with bow and stern thrusters for maneuvering in tight waters, docking, undocking etc. An invisible turntable (if there is such a thing) can closely simulate those maneuvers.

 

[Greg_Hargreaves]

Since the 60's many ships were equipped with bow and stern thrusters for maneuvering in tight waters, docking, undocking etc. An invisible turntable (if there is such a thing) can closely simulate those maneuvers.

There is, as I recall, a 1,000 ft invisible turntable on the DLS for spinning ships in a harbor. For the life of me I can't remember what it was called...

 

[p-dehnert]

It's Ship_Turntable,<kuid2:210518:11177:1> by bendorsey.

Peter

 

[cascaderailroad]

On Monday Nov 10 is the anniversary of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald ... On that day let us remember the 29 who perished.

Has anyone ever made a route using Bendorsey's - Rotary Dumper, and the Kick_Back_Dumper pier ?

 

[philskene]

"Has anyone ever made a route using Bendorsey's - Rotary Dumper ... ."

But of course. In most of my routes and layouts.

See, for instance, at 4:50 (best watched full screen and in HD):

 

[steamboateng]

"In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the "Maritime Sailors' Cathedral."
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald."

 

[OverlordNZ]

a bulk ore loader which loads trains with iron ore. Ideally, it would look like the ore came off the ship. However, not having much luck finding industry items to implement this credibly. The ship part doesn't have to work provided it looks as though it could. The only ore loader I've found so far is part of a mine, which would work, if I had other stuff to connect to it to make it look credible.

Ideally, the iron ore and coal from the coal mine would go to a iron foundry/steel mill or such. Haven't looked for those yet, except DLS doesn't list an iron foundry although the search term may be wrong.

Anyone care to suggest anything to achieve that? Guessing that ore comes off ships with some kind of crane with a big scoop thingy, and would then go into a dump pile, there to be fed to the train loader.

The OCR Silver Star Mine loads custom iron ore cars and includes an 'off-loader' track that can be placed anywhere.
Click the banner if interested. Donation-ware

Cheers

 

[llewelyn]

Hmmm I'll have a look for the turntable. Can you get AI drivers to work turntables credibly?