For those of you following our layout progression in the HO board, we are modifying the Worlds Greatest Hobby layout for our own liking. 
Central to that layout, however, is a gravel company. Not only did we come across the UPs pulling the large gravel train, but we came across a gravel company, complete with conveyer belts similar to the Cornerstone model we have on our layout. We're going to be going over the photos to see if we want to modify our layout based on this real life site.cabdriver said:
I've realized that seeing the real thing helps me model, and modeling makes me appreciate the real thing !! -- There are many yards near us and the UP, Southern, and BNSF are all over the place. Every time I'm near the rail and hear the rumble or the horn, I raise up my ears to hear and I feel the impetus to drive to the rail to see what is going on. I'm usually satisfied to see a couple of locomotives moving an incredible load down the track -- it still amazes me how much these engines pull -- still makes you feel like our smalller towns are interconnected via the rail -- the good-ole-USA is smalller than we think ! :thumb:
A very large grouping of UP engines were hooked up to a relatively small number of cars and were moving up and down the rail switching the cars onto various tracks. I've never seen this type of operation before -- the engine group would move forward, then a guy would jump off the back of the train and throw the switch, then the engine group would back up, literally unhook and throw off the back four cars, which would go careening down the track un-attended, and they would slowly stop in EXACTLY the right place, just on their own rolling power pushed off previously by the locos. 
:thumb: Forward they would go again, then manually throw the switch, and 6 hopper cars would roll down the rail to a resting place. These guys worked the rail for about a half hour until all of the cars were gone, then the 5 engines went down the rail to rest. WOW. Many of you must have seen this many times, but this was a first for me!. Really showed me how operations in a yard work -- I never would have thought they would just "throw" those cars off down the rail like that. 
