Go to my new discussion forum at the All-Aboard forums and check out some exterior pix from the sim as well as some interior pix of the Coil storage/loading building and Hot-Rollingmill with some light detailing.....much more to add still!!!!

http://edmfamily.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26



Bill

Very nice, Bill. Neat thing about coil cars is they go in empty and come out loaded and you don't know the difference! Open top or flats are a b****h to bring in empties and bring out loads!

Thats really awesome...hey Bill, do you know where this is going to be located on Canton. Around Grove City....or maybe down past Suddenly

The Steel Mill will be located in Grove City just past the station.

Paul

Thanks Paul

RE:"hey Bill, do you know where this is going to be located on Canton. Around Grove City....or maybe down past Suddenly "

To the best of my knowledge, it will be located in the vicinity of grove city. I'm not absolutely sure where in relation it will be... but because of the incredible amount of detail (multiple hi-res textures and lots of polys) I have planned for it,...I assume rich will place it a tile or two away from Grove city to keep performance and framerates as good as possible.

Unlike the suddenly refinery which was placed right along side the mainline since all the detail and visual impact of the plant was on the Exterior,... this Steelmill does not necessarly need to be placed right off of the mainline as much of the detail will be inside the buildings. (but don't worry, the outside will be suitably tricked out as well )


STEELMILL ACTIVITIES????

The Steelmill will also have enough stuff going on that even 1 hour long switching activities can be made for it that do not even require you to leave the vicinity of the mill. The swithing activites can be done preferably at dawn or dusk when its somewhat dark outside but still light enough to illuminate the rolling stock as these types of activities will be quite visually impressive as you drive around the mill in twilight, peaking inside open doorways with lit-up machinery inside (some possibly animated as well). And of course, many of the switching activites will take you deep into the steelmill itself where you can see the incredibly detailed and prototypically accurate machinery that turns scrap metal into coils of sheet/strip steel for stamping plants, auto plants etc.

The mill will also have a voracious appetite for raw materials so one can run an entire 80 or 90 car train to the mill with maybe 40-50 gondolas of scrap steel, 20 or 30 empty gondolas & coilcars used for shipping out steel coils and steel slabs.

Also included might be various other inbound raw materials such as covered hoppers of additives such as burnt lime and coke (carbon), Fuel oil or coal for the boilerhouse/powerplant, diesel fuel and lubricants and even boxcars of parts, machinery, Graphite rods for the electric furnaces, Refractory brick for relining ladles and furnaces along with empty covered hoppers or gondolas to remove flue dust and mill scale rich in iron to be taken to "Sintering" facilities where it will be combined with coke and flux's and baked to make "Sinter".. to be added to Blast furnace burdens at lager "integrated" steelmills.

Departing trains will take the opposite of the above from the Mill to various destinations.

Another interesting activity will be the occasional outbound load of Molten metal for Rich's foundries when they have parts to cast that require more molten metal than then can usually be produced in the foundry's "Cupola" furnaces. such "Hot-metal trains" have special clearance with restricted speed limits and mayb include the use of spacer cars (usually empty gondolas) between the torpedo-shaped hot-metal cars as well a transfer caboose.


WHEN WE CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE IT.

Unlike the Suddenly refinery where much of the detail is achieved by multiple placements of 2 or more of each structure or storage tank, the steelmill will have a wide variety of machinery that will be different from building to building so that is one of the reasons why it has been taking me a while to finish this "pet" project of mine (Not to mention all the research and texture development).

Be patient my young padawans!!!.....impatience leads to the darkside and the darkside leads to TRAINZ.....

Just kidding there!!!...LOL


Bill

Bill,

Simply amazing! This project, along with the Suddenly Refinery, show the diversity and opportunity within train-sim. I guess the only limitation is our willingness to learn and execute.

Great work, and patience is my middle name.

Dave

The steel mills that I have seen have several switch jobs going on at the same time. So each of those could be at least one activity in itself.

Even the small mill like Delaney Steel on Ohio Rail, I can see 3 maybe 4 going at the same time. Not counting the supply trains bringing in raw materials and hauling away product.

I can't wait. In my neck of the woods, steel mills and coal mines are what railroading is all about.