Model Railroad Blog

Petroleum

Although these tank cars look identical, they are not, and therein lies a lot of operational potential. Looking up the placards, I could see that as a minimum, we have diesel fuel, ethanol, and carbon disulfide. The cars need to be blocked in the yard and spotted at specific locations within the Exxon Mobil complex.

I’ve written frequently about the concept of car spots and the fact that industries that are car spot dependent effectively “stretch” a layout. Food industries are the classic example. Hoppers get spotted in one location, vegetable oil tanks at another, boxcars at still another location. Even a small industry can take a while to switch, and therein lies the fun.

Taking that concept further, the cerebral chess game notches up when you have an industry where all of the cars “look” the same but are not. Corn syrup, for example. That row of seemingly identical tank cars each contains a different grade of product. In order to prevent contamination, each one needs to be spotted at a different unloading pipe. As an operator, you really need to pay attention since you don’t have differing car types to help you tell the cars apart.

On my recent trip to LA to rail fan the Harbor Subdivision, I noticed an unusual amount of activity related to blocking the tank cars in the yard. All were associated with the nearby Exxon Mobil plant. That seemed odd. I “thought” all petroleum tanks were the same. I’ve since learned they are not, which explains the constant sorting and blocking.

Bing Birdseye view of the Exxon Mobil facility served by BNSF’s Harbor Subdivision. From a modeling standpoint, you could probably omit much or all of the complex piping and still maintain the operational play value.

Blog reader, Paul D. works in, and models the oil industry. He was exceedingly kind to take the time to educate us as to what’s going on. Paul writes:

Hey Lance-

I was reading your blog about the Harbor Sub ops and thought I might be able to provide some insight into the XOM operations. I’ve worked in the oil industry for about 12 years now, specifically in oil refining and chemicals manufacturing; I also have a colleague that worked at similar sized lubes blending facility that I mined for information.

At least part of this facility is a lubricants blending plant that likely has some degree of rail service.  It’s a little hard to tell but the presence of the larger tanks nearby and the way the piping is routed leads me to believe that this spur may also supply something to the gasoline terminal that’s technically across the street.  The number of cars and the amount of switching activity you described seems a bit excessive for the lubes plant only, but could make sense as part of a supply to a gasoline terminal (unless my mental model of the throughput of this lubes plant is way off). 

One way to piece this out is if you have any pictures of the DOT hazmat placards on the tank cars bound for XOM – if you see large car blocks of any 1203 (gasoline), 1202 (diesel), or 1987 (ethanol) then they are supplying that terminal through this facility.  I’ll drop you some details of rail operations for both so you can pick and choose what you think gives you the most value here and what matches your observations from actually being there – I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not this rail spur serves the fuels terminal, but you should hopefully be able to deduce that from your pictures.  Either way, one or both options will give you plenty to work with.

Fuels Terminal:

Most fuels terminals are supplied by pipeline; if they’re getting rail service it’s either because there’s no pipeline and/or they’re getting specialty grades (the refinery I work at in the US makes and ships Canadian grade gasoline via rail, for example) or additives (e.g., ethanol) via rail OR possibly they’re shipping in other biofuels/biodiesel for blending/distribution – again, UN numbers on the DOT placards on the tank cars are you friend here.  Regardless of what they’re taking in, it’s likely to be car spot dependent – different gasoline grades may use the same import spot but the cars would all have to be blocked together; if they’re pulling in any combination of ethanol/gasoline/diesel, each of those blocks would have a unique car spot.  Guessing most of this would be pre-blocked at the yard, consistent with your observations so some yard sorting possible here if shipments of ethanol, for example, came in via different trains.

Lubricants Plant:

In general, these plants will take in lubricant base stocks (likely from the XOM refinery in Baytown, TX or perhaps purchased from a third party) as well as any additives.  It is likely that a decent chunk of the rail traffic into this lubes plant is loaded tank cars with base stocks and then empties out.  Most base stocks manufacturers will have a large number of base stocks available; indeed a look at the XOM website indicates many different grades available, ExxonMobil Basestocks & Base Oils.  Unloading for different base stocks is likely car spot specific.  The overhead shot from google maps at least looks like there are multiple hoses on the ground near the tracks and there are also a LOT of unique tanks, which further suggests a wide variety of feeds/products at this facility; this is not that different from corn syrup in most regards.

Most product is sent out either via bulk truck (note that this location appears to also have a truck rack next to E 37th street) or is packaged and shipped out via trailer.  But here’s where it gets a little fun – my buddy told me that some customers were large enough to take rail cars of finished product if they had their own tanks of sufficient size.  Another fun wrinkle is that occasionally they would ship interplant to another XOM facility if that facility was having issues and were at risk of shorting a customer.  So you could also have some unique product car spots for larger shipments to other facilities as well or one-off variations in the ops.

Overall, a plausible operating scheme for this facility could be:

-Regular/frequent (daily): 

      -To the lubes plant: Loaded base stocks in, multiple grades (car spot specific); empties out.  Multiple cars at a time.

      -To the fuels terminal (if rail served from this location):  loaded tanks in, gasoline/ethanol/biodiesel depending on what DOT placards you see.  One or more blocks of cars for each product type, each block would go to an appropriate unloading spot.

-Intermittent rail service (few times a month?): empty railcars in, loaded finished products out to larger customers (would probably be regular and of the same blends) – probably a car or two at a time, and also car spot dependent as you wouldn’t want to cross contaminate finished product.

-Infrequent/one-off: interplant shipments, could be either intermediates or finished products. Probably one or two cars at a time.

Since everything is car spot dependent, you can still play the same game of ‘car is currently unloading, needs to be pulled out and respotted at the same spot so they can finish,’ and the number/type of car spots you select can be fully dependent on how much space you dedicate to this facility.

Other realistic loads you could add if you felt like a bit of unconfirmed modelers license:

-Solvents or other reagents (things like alcohols, glycols, caustic, acids, other additives) – could be plausible if the plant was equipped to further modify the base stocks or possibly making their own additives on site.  Would give you an excuse to break up the parade of 23K & 25K tanks with some 20K or 16K gal cars.

-Equipment via flatcar (mixing vessels, tanks, piping, etc.).

…and in a subsequent email Paul added:

Ethanol and diesel make sense to me – I’d bet those 1202’s are actually biodiesel.  They have to rail both to terminals since there’s no pipelines for either of those products and CA has some pretty strict renewable fuels mandates. Looks like the longer cuts for the fuels terminal may go to the rear of the spur, so possible they have to move cars for the lubes plant out of the way to pull/spot for the fuels.  Seems like an interesting arrangement to me – if I had to guess, that lubes plant has been there for awhile and at some point in the last 10 – 20 years when the renewable fuels mandates really kicked in, the terminal made an arrangement to use the spur for unloading biofuels.  Should make for interesting operations!

Thanks Paul!

Weathering – The Big Picture

Weathering this Genesis GP-50 was a two-weekend, twelve-round cage match, complete with dodging a few near disasters.

A masterfully weathered model can be a visual game-changer for any scene. However, anybody who’s delved into it can attest to the fact that it can be a very humbling experience, no matter how long you’ve been at it. I made my first attempt five decades ago and can say with confidence I’ve botched more models than anybody reading this. Even now, most projects are still a battle that takes total focus. Rather than do a tutorial, today I thought it would be helpful to discuss overall strategy. All the tips in the world won’t help if you don’t have your eyes wide open as to the big picture.

First and foremost, the number one error is taking things too far, overdoing various effects. Go into every project repeating the mantra “light touch, light touch, light touch”. Work in layers.

There is a tipping point with any project. Be very, very clear about that before you even start. You build light layers, one on top of each other, with the goal of reaching the artistic promised land. You march step by step towards that end. However, if you go one step too far, if you go beyond the tipping point, you’re totally screwed. Backing off an effect that was too heavily applied is very difficult, usually impossible. One crucial thing I’ve acquired from decades of experience is this. As I’m applying layers, I’ve developed (through very expensive lessons) an internal alarm that goes off and says, “STOP!! You’re approaching the tipping point. Take a break. Go mow the lawn. Look at this with fresh eyes in a few hours or in the morning”.

A crucial skill in weathering, and it’s not easy to master, is one of color transitions, of feathering the edges of your lines from one color to the next. The difference between a master and a journeyman often comes down to this. You want very subtle, feathery transitions, not harshly defined lines.

A hallmark of Tom Johnson’s work is his mastery of color transitions and how he feathers his lines. (T. Johnson photo).

Be very aware of the importance of inserting contrast at your panel lines/rivet lines and doing so with ultra-thin lines. Military modelers are masters at this. (Google Tamiya Panel Line Paint and watch some of the YouTube videos). Contrast is vital but you need to be subtle about it.

For key steps in any project, always, always dial in your color mix and techniques on a sample, NOT the model itself. Ruining several three-hundred-dollar locomotives will drive this point home.

Work from photos and REALLY study them. Understand what you’re looking at and come up with a strategy before diving in.

Over years you’ll develop a critical skill, and it’s painful to learn. It’s one of becoming adept at recovering from disasters and correcting errors.

As you embark on this lifelong journey, critical skills to learn are: fading dark colors, rust streaks, paint streaks, and paint peel. Learning to use ALL color mediums (enamels, acrylics, oils, inks, pencils, and powders). Gain experience in how various chemicals react with each other, especially acrylics and enamels.

An overhead view. Brushing rubbing alcohol over a Dullcote finish creates the frosting effect. Note the contrast in the grills obtained with dilute India Ink.

In summary:

-Use a light, light touch. Be hyper-aware of not overdoing the weathering.

-Work in layers

-Be aware of the “tipping point” and the consequences ($$$) of going just one step past it.

-Be aware of the importance of panel line contrast.

-Practice subtle color transitions and getting away from harsh lines.

Harbor Sub. Ops. Plan

A very recent (April 2025) Google Streetview image of Arrow Reload Systems. Note the variety of car types. YouTube videos filmed on other days show a large volume of flat cars carrying steel products.

Prompted by a recent email from a blog reader, I thought now would be a good time to discuss operations on the Harbor Sub. (north end). Let’s start with the lay of the land i.e. an aerial of the prototype, and the layout track plan.

The old Harbor Sub was split into several sections. I’m modeling the northern piece shown in the map above. Splitting off from the main at Harbor Junction, it’s about a thirty-minute walk to Malabar. There isn’t really anything noteworthy south of Malabar; the line runs a mile or so and then ends in the dirt. BNSF’s massive Hobart Yard is about a mile to the east of Harbor Junction.

Now, getting to the heart of the matter, operations, blog reader Mark H. recently emailed me with the following questions about the operating plan for a future Harbor Sub. layout:

” I would appreciate some insight into your operating plan.  Would the incoming freight train be staged straddling the main line/entering the Harbor Sub, then proceed to Malabar Yard to drop cars and pick up outbounds and return to the Junction, with a local servicing the industries with pull and shove moves? Or would a train be staged in Malabar Yard to service local industries, with the main/Harbor Jct. functioning solely as a visual display? I would also be interested in knowing contemplated train lengths and whether trains would feature one or two units.”

I’ll start with the easy ones first before delving into operations. I would run two locos per the prototype. In reality, the trains are quite long. I don’t have that much space, so I’d probably limit them to five to eight cars or so. In most (but not all) cases, I’d probably start a session with a train incoming from Hobart staged on the bridge. Now getting to the bigger question on ops.

I classify industries on a branch like this as follows:

-Massive industries that are frequently switched (often daily…or more). These provide the bulk of the revenue for the branch. In the case of the Harbor Sub, that would be Exxon/Mobil.

-Mid-size industries that are fairly regularly switched and often have the added interest of being car spot dependent. That would be Arrow Reload.

-Small industries that see fairly consistent service such as Dar Pro.

-Small industries that get some switching but rarely, such as Pabco.

Getting to Mark’s question, most of the activity on this line appears to be related to moving cars between Hobart Yard, Exxon/Mobil, and Malabar. I’m not up to speed on how cars are spotted at Exxon/Mobil nor am I clear on what’s going on with incoming/outgoing loads vs. empties. (If anybody knows, drop me a line).

A typical op. session would start with a train spotted on the bridge heading south. Dar Pro would be worked first. The next trailing point would Exxon/Mobil where I would expect some form of load-for-empties swap. After reaching Malabar, the units either tie up for the day or run around the train and perform some significant blocking, the nature of which I’m not clear on. There are also frequent back and forth transfer runs to Hobart the nature of which I’m not clear on either. Certainly, Hobart is the eventual start or end point for every car.

On a separate day, cars for Arrow would be blocked in the yard and the shoved down to the facility to be spotted. On rare occasions a single car might be spotted at Pabco.

Here’s a timeline from my recent trip that might help.

I arrived at Malabar at about 3:45 pm on Wednesday, May 28th, and things were totally quiet. The two units weren’t even idling. I gather they are semi-permanently stationed in Malabar to work the Harbor Sub. Note the long strings of tank cars related to Exxon/Mobil. I spent an hour documenting the area and then drove to the north end of the line.

At end of the day that day, Wednesday the 28th at 4:45pm, I went back to Malabar. Both locos were gone! A few minutes later, I saw them heading back to the yard with a cut of cars from Exxon.

I returned to Malabar at about 9 am the next morning (Thursday May 29th) to find the Malabar yard units working hard at classifying tank cars. Why were they sorting them? It was a pretty extended sequence that blocked several busy intersections for long periods of time.

Shown above is a Bing Birdseye image showing a lone boxcar spotted at Pabco. Google maps shows the same. I’m not sure if this industry is still active, but the switch is still there. It took some digging but the Google aerial time stamp was February 11, 2024 which wasn’t that long ago.

A Google aerial view of the Exxon/Mobil facility. I’m totally ignorant as to the nature of the place and the car flow. Whatever happens car blocking at Malabar seems to be a crucial part of their operational scheme.

Time For A Change?

For some time, I’ve had the nagging feeling that it’s time for a new adventure, a new primary layout. The question is when and how to go about it. The theme would likely be BNFS’s Harbor Subdivision, shown above.

I’ve been wallowing in modeling limbo the past year or so. It’s a place I don’t particularly like. All three of my layouts are stick-a-fork-in-them “done”. My main railroad is The Downtown Spur. I could find a few “make work” projects, but there’s really nothing that motivates me that much. I love photography and at this point I’ve shot things from every conceivable angle. I switched eras on the LAJ and had fun with that but have no interest in doing so with the spur. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Self-awareness is the foundation of a great design. We need to know what we want the layout do for us if we have any hope of coming up with satisfying plan. Unfortuantely, very few of us, certainly not me, know our true interests as well as we think we do. Complicating things is that our interests change over time. Do I want to “have” a layout or do I want to “build” a layout? I tend to get into mission mode and lose sight of the fact that I want both. By pushing to finish the layouts, I’ve essentially worked myself out of a job.

It’s important to me to have a layout that sustains prototype operations. Complicating things is that sometimes I feel like operating, but often I don’t. If I were a diehard operator, I wouldn’t have a problem and could just run the Spur weekly for years. That’s not the case, though.

I strongly suspect the days of the spur are limited. I’ve already decided on the replacement, BNSF’s north end of The Harbor Subdivision, probably no surprise to anybody. I took the new plan into the layout room to visualize the sight lines. As I looked at the Downtown Spur layout, all of the work, the great times associated with it, I realized I…..just…..can’t….pull the plug yet. Which brings me to the dilemma of wallowing in this no man’s land.

Shown above is the conceptual sketch for what I’d likely do for a new layout. It represents BNSF’s Harbor Sub. from Harbor Junction to the terminus at Malabar Yard, about a mile and a half to the south.

Looking at the new layout, I’m placing a strong emphasis on sight lines and vistas, especially when you walk into the room. A primary goal for the layout is to feel transported, to be in LA. I’m okay with it serving as 3D art for long periods of time. As far as operations go, I now realize that frequent “formal” sessions with friends that share my interest in industrial switching just aren’t realistic. The interest just isn’t there locally, at least not on a consistent basis. That leaves solo sessions. Few people will consistently run solo for hours at a time. The above plan will easily support my attention span of 45 minutes.

If and when the time comes to take down the present layout, the question becomes how that will unfold. I would certainly sell it if somebody would assume the responsibility of dismantling it and hauling it off. However, having such a person appear on the horizon seems unlikely. The bulk of the labor hours are tied up in the structures. I have no stomach for doing the ebay thing to sell those off. I would certainly sell them individually or in groups to somebody that was willing to drive to Maryland to pick them up. Again, past experience leads me to believe this is unlikely as well. What I’ll probably do is pitch the bigger structures and pack away a few of the smaller ones that are my favorites. Stay tuned.

Tom Johnson’s Weathering Method

Tom Johnson just posted an exceptional weathering tutorial on his FB page. He was kind enough to let me share it here. Thanks Tom! (Tom uses a Paasche model H airbrush. Fifty bucks on Amazon)

Here are some weathered Incentive Per Diem boxcars for my mid 80’s Cass County and will be spotted often on my new team track. I researched all of the Athearn models I have and they all were found as far as the late 80’s with original reporting marks so all of mine fit. Plus, the weathering would still be fairly medium at most. They are mostly air brushed! This is my standard procedure for a moderately weathered car. I use flat Testor’s enamel paints I find at Hobby Lobby. I still like enamel paint thinned with a 50/50 mix of Testors Dullcote and Lacquer thinner. I fill up a one ounce jar and add just a few drops of the colors I use for weathering. I always build up the air brush layers until I’m happy.

For most colors of cars, I start with a thinned white for fading. I spray the thinned white overall and then spray several spots from top to bottom between ribs that represent the rippled effect in the sheet metal. Keep this very light!

Spray a layer of Dullcote.

Dry brush a grungy oil paint color along both sides of every rib and around the doors and its detail. I use a small brush and this is DRY BRUSHING! Scrub most of the paint out onto a rag or paper towel. I also add this shade along the edges and inside some of the detail on the roof and ends. I follow by cleaning up using a Q-Tip soaked with some Turpenoid. I run the Q-tip up and down on both sides of every rib and around the doors to get rid of excess oil weathering. I want to keep it close to the ribs and door edges and detail.

Add another coat of Dullcote.

Mix another very thin solution of a grungy color using the Testor’s flat paints and the full one ounce jar of 50/50 thinner and Dullcote. I mix flat black, flat rust, and flat gray. That gives me a nice color that is similar to the old Floquil Grimy Black. I lightly spray this shade up along the bottom edges on the sides and feather out moving upward between the ribs. I sometimes like to feather a tiny bit of this color from the top down. I also spray this color across the roof and feathering out from the outside edges inward. The ends are pretty straight from one edge to the other and top to bottom. I’ll finish by doing more very light dry brushing with a bushy brush around the door detail, door runners, and sometimes I’ll scrub them in just a bit between the ribs to bring out even more of a rippled effect. I like using Burnt Sienna for this that gives you a more lively fresh rust look but it will be very subtle. You may not even notice it in my photos.

Another coat of Dullcote to finish. I actually like about a 50/50 mix of Glosscote and Dullcote. It will give the car a sheen and not dead flat. No piece of rolling stock is dead flat.

I mix a thicker version of my grungy color and spray the under frame. I don’t spend a lot of time in this area because you can’t see it on the layout. It’s a waste of time weathering most under frames. I spray my thicker grungy color on the under frame and call it quits.

I use the same thick grungy color for my trucks and wheels. I then highlight with a brighter rusty color of oil paint around the bearings and the springs.

Finish once again with straight Dullcote for the trucks. I do want them dead flat.