Thanks Cid and Ted. Those are interesting links. Seems like modern unloading consists of using conveyors to bring the material from a pit to silos. What I'm looking to do is have the track elevated about 12' and use front end loaders to move materials around the yard. The prototype for what I'm modeling did not receive material by rail, they received them by barge. The name was Tidewater Sand and Stone, in Hackensack. They used a crane to unload the barges, then front end loaders moved them to the storage area which consisted of approx. 4' high concrete walls forming boxes open in the front. Each "box" or bin held a different material. The front end loaders loaded dump trucks and there was a truck scale at the entry/exit point. They also bagged sand. No attempt at keeping the sand dry as I recall. The loaders would dump a bucket of sand in an elevated hopper, a lever opened a valve in the pipe at the bottom of the bin and a bag was tied around the bottom of the pipe. There were wooden pallets of bagged sand next to it. About 10 years ago I built the main building and one of the sheds. I had photos but at the moment can not find them. I want to substitute rail service for the barges. My memory can fill in details of the yard but since there was no rail siding I need to come up with at least a plausible way to model it. I'm thinking the rails would need to be supported by steel beams spanning the piers. And held in gauge with the turnbuckles I mentioned above. I can probably space the piers to match the length of the hopper cars. I'm thinking two or three hopper car lengths long. If anyone has thoughts on how correct this would be or what would be more appropriate, I'd be glad to hear it.
Thanks!
Gary