Walthers Cornerstone HO Scale Ore Dock Kit - 933-3065

Walthers Cornerstone HO Scale Ore Dock Kit - 933-3065 creates a major Great Lakes waterfront industry where railroads transfer iron ore from specialized freight cars into waiting ore boats. Built as supplied, the kit forms a single-sided dock with 18 storage pockets and two tracks, each capable of holding up to nine standard 24-foot ore cars. The completed structure measures 48-1/2 x 5" (121.2 x 12.5cm), giving it the length and visual presence needed to anchor an ore-hauling or steel-industry layout. Browse the complete Walthers Cornerstone model railroad buildings and structures collection for additional HO scale projects.

Ore docks were developed to move enormous quantities of iron ore efficiently between railroads and ships. Loaded ore cars were pushed onto tracks at the top of the structure and emptied into large storage pockets. When a vessel was ready for loading, chutes were lowered from selected pockets, allowing gravity to direct the ore into its cargo holds. These facilities generated constant railroad activity as loaded cars arrived, empty cars departed, and crews positioned specific grades of ore for individual customers.

Build an HO Scale Great Lakes Ore Dock

The Walthers Cornerstone Ore Dock includes extensive structural and operating-scene details for creating a specialized waterfront industry:

• HO scale styrene plastic ore dock kit
• Based on ore-loading docks used around the Great Lakes
• Standard kit builds a single-sided dock with 18 ore-storage pockets
• Two tracks accommodate up to nine standard 24-foot ore cars each
• Choice of left- or right-hand track approach
• Approach deck designed to accept a compatible Atlas Code 83 number 4 turnout, sold separately
• Deck openings accept Code 83 rail, sold separately
• Other rail sizes may be used with modifications
• Includes 18 detailed loading chutes
• Chutes can be installed in fixed positions or assembled for manual positioning
• Detailed pocket railings, machinery housings, operating levers, lamps, and wheel stops
• Heavy timber-style support framework with extensive cross-bracing
• Multiple kits can be combined to build a longer or double-width dock
• Two kits can create a full-width arrangement with four tracks
• Finished structure measures 48-1/2 x 5" (121.2 x 12.5cm)

The model's 18 chutes can be secured in a raised or lowered position to represent a specific stage of the loading process. They can also be assembled with thread and user-supplied counterweights so they may be raised and lowered manually. Positioning some chutes over a vessel while leaving others closed can reproduce the selective loading practices used to place particular grades of ore into designated cargo holds.

Railroad operations can be developed around loaded and empty ore trains serving the two elevated tracks. Small, heavy ore cars—often called ore jennies—were built to handle the dense mineral loads carried to these facilities. Dock assignments commonly required powerful switchers, including large steam locomotives and later heavy diesel power, to move cuts of cars up approach grades and across the dock.

The standard single-sided configuration has a narrow footprint that works well beside a layout backdrop or as a scenic divider. Modelers with more space can combine additional kits to increase the number of pockets, extend the dock, or construct a double-width facility with tracks and loading chutes on both sides. Ore boats, harbor walls, water scenery, approach trestles, classification tracks, and nearby industrial buildings can complete the waterfront setting.

Expand Your Walthers Cornerstone Heavy-Industry Scene

The Ore Dock fits naturally with Walthers Cornerstone heavy-industry structures when modeling the transportation network that supplies an integrated steel mill. Additional facilities from Walthers Cornerstone industrial structures can help extend the waterfront into a larger mining, processing, or manufacturing district.

Nearby warehouses and production buildings can be selected from Walthers Cornerstone factories and warehouses. Smaller components for detailing tracks, machinery areas, and the surrounding property are available in Walthers Cornerstone accessories and details.

For assembling and finishing the Ore Dock, browse Fusion Scale Hobbies' model railroad and hobby paint for timber colors, iron-ore stains, and waterfront weathering, along with model building glue and adhesives suitable for styrene structure projects.