GERN help needed

iis612

Member
I am trying to decide how to put GERN together on my layout. I have a 4x13' area (with the main line running around the outside in a loop) that is going to be GERN and GERN alone (so it has to be good sign1).
I have already determined that it will have it's own power generation so I will need a powerhouse. It is going to need a packaging building and some type of storage. Outside of that, I have no idea what type of processes are going to take place there. How would Flux be processed?
This particular division of GERN is making flux for auto manufacturers, munitions, medical grade, and fuel additives.
If someone can fire off a few ideas as to how they might process all of that, I can start to figure out how it should be laid out and what supporting structures the workers will need to report to.
Keep in mind that the era is late 40's to early 50's.

Thanks,
Matt
 

eightyeightfan1

Now I'm AMP'd
I would guess maybe a refinery type industry. Cracking towers, storage tanks and lots of pipes. Maybe another building for making Flux into a solid form.
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
This particular division of GERN is making flux for auto manufacturers, munitions, medical grade, and fuel additives.

I agree with Ed - I think this will mostly look like a refinery type industry. I would guess that the auto use (making plaid upholstry possible) and fuel additives (3% better mgp) would require liquid form Flux. This would require tankers for shipping.

The munitions and medical grades would probably be solids - perhaps in a powder or pellet form. I think though you'd be looking at separate facilities due to the purity required for the medical grade. (Don't want to explode when trying to cure Restless Leg Syndrome...!).

The medical grade would probably be shipped in secure containers in locked boxcars, while the munitions grade would go in covered hoppers with full-cushion underframes (are these available in 1940s & 50s?) to avoid any sudden movements.

But one of the more interesting questions is how does the flux arrive at your facility? Perhaps doctorwayne can comment on the delivery side?

Andrew
 

iis612

Member
Since Dr. Wayne's division is on lake erie I was thinking that it would be recieved via barge or great lakes steamer since mine is situated on the banks of the Saginaw river in Michigan.
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
I am trying to decide how to put GERN together on my layout. I have a 4x13' area (with the main line running around the outside in a loop) that is going to be GERN and GERN alone (so it has to be good sign1).
I have already determined that it will have it's own power generation so I will need a powerhouse. It is going to need a packaging building and some type of storage. Outside of that, I have no idea what type of processes are going to take place there. How would Flux be processed?
This particular division of GERN is making flux for auto manufacturers, munitions, medical grade, and fuel additives.
If someone can fire off a few ideas as to how they might process all of that, I can start to figure out how it should be laid out and what supporting structures the workers will need to report to.
Keep in mind that the era is late 40's to early 50's.

Thanks,
Matt

And GERN would be??? :confused:
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Since Dr. Wayne's division is on lake erie I was thinking that it would be recieved via barge or great lakes steamer since mine is situated on the banks of the Saginaw river in Michigan.

No problem if you want shipping via laker - my model of the GERN plant in Port Maitland is meant to represent about 1/3 of the total facility, with the unmodelled part representing the storage and loading facilities for water shipping. In my scenario, most GERN-brand Flux is shipped in dry form, as powder or granules, depending on its end-use. At the Gibson Works, special processing is used to obtain Liquiflux, Liquified Fluxene gas, Fluxene Peroxide, Anhydrous Flux, and, of course, Flux Sludge. These products are generally shipped in tank cars, with limited trade of some varieties shipped in drums.
Liquid Flux products are, almost without fail, produced at the mining and milling facilities around the world, as the quantities of Flux ore required are staggering. One tank car of such products is much cheaper to ship to a secondary processing facility, and, because of the concentrated nature of the product, can sustain such a facility for some time. The addition of other chemicals, depending on the intended end-use, will determine the refining method and the array of end-products produced. Those GERN plants which resemble refineries may use only one tankcar of liquid Flux product per week, but the processes may require dozens of tankcar loads of other chemicals, and the resultant products may be liquid, granular, powdered, or solid, requiring covered hoppers, boxcars, tank cars, or even gondolas for shipping to end-users.
In general, your GERN facility would look the way that you would want it to look, making the products that you feel are most profitable, and using the rolling stock that most interests you. Remember, "If It's GERN, It's Good" and that means it's good for you, too! ;):-D

Wayne
 
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