Refineries are a fascinating industry to model, and they can add considerable switching activity to a model railroad operating session. Kits for contemporary refineries are available, but they weren’t much help on my 1895-era railroad where the principal retail petroleum product is kerosene instead of gasoline.
Some time ago, I became aware of the remains of an 1880s refinery in Newhall, Calif. It was the first successful refinery in the state, and about half of the plant remains standing. A little research led me to an original description of the plant plus photos of a 1930 restoration made by the Standard Oil Co.
In the August 2012 issue of Model Railroader, Don Ball drafted plans for this 1880s oil refinery.
I currently work in the oil industry and am working on a layout based on the oil industry. This fits in perfecly as an old out dated refinery. Great article.
More of these types of articles, please! I almost thought I was reading the Gazette.
So glad I spotted this on a UK shelf! It's the first time I've looked at Model Railroader and Don's article is a brilliant place to start. I'm a metallurgist working in oil refining and power generation. This will be a great subject for me to model (probably in HO) and I might even be tempted to add a bit of railroad and some rolling stock! Gives a great historical contrast to the Vollmer and Walters kits. Thanks!
Great Industry for the layout corner! Is there something that shows track to building location? The .pdf does not include any layout for the track/buildings.
Great article of a somewhat neglected modeling subject, oil field operations. As a petroleum geologist in the 70's and 80's, I'd run across interesting oilfield relics, and always thought they'd make interesting models. Glad to see this topic, there's more ideas for this subject out there. Thanks for publishing a very fine article!
Nice to have free plans to build from, although these plans are great for oil country more midwest oriented ones would be good.
Located in the UK I rarely buy the American Model Rail magazies but this brilliant article caused me to do this – I am currently building the refinery on my layout!
I enjoyed this article very much. I grew up in this area, from Newhall to Fillmore, ca. an area rich in railroading history, around every bend. Someone should do an article about Fillmore and Western Railroad. this road has rebuilt the line it now uses from the old Southern Pacific line, that serviced the citrus industry in the Fillmore area, lots of history relating to the Railroading history
excellent two or three evening project, will work wonderfully on my 1930 era logging line as a source of fuel for my newer locomotives, also gives me a use for the tank cars that are sitting around with no real use, may even run a pipeline to my engine house work shop boiler and upgrade it from coal to oil.Have no thought of all the other possibilities.
more of this kind of project please
A nice project to start prior to laying track
i too have not come across this even in formal history excellent
Having designed refineries as a living. It is good to see how they started. Greaat article.
It's great to see these kind of construction articles in MR, and particularly this one, which is frankly not main-line Steam/Diesel transition or modern day railroading.
Don beat me to the punch, though. I've been planning a much more complex 1890s refinery (Pennsylvania oil country) for almost 20 years. In another 10 maybe I'll have my article ready 🙂
Great article and well thought out. A perfect industry for a model layout.
I had the pleasure of seeing Don's refinery up close and personal on his layout. You ought to see the other structures not written up as well as bashed brass pre-1895 locos. Fantastic!
Excellent article. I often wondered how our current complex refineries got their start. Thanks!
Great job. Such a relatively simple solution to todays fuel problems. I wonder why the gas companys don't reinvent these.
Thank you for this article, there are lots of great ideas for many kinds of projects!
Thanks Loved it
Just what I've been looking 4! Thanx.
Great addition to my N Scale 1880's layout – and I don't even have to reduce the plans – Thank You
Great article. I wondered how they did it back then.
Thanks for the pdf. I once saw what was left of such a refinery in New Mexico, not far from El Paso Texas. These small refineries are a neat addition to any model railroad industrial zone and the pieces are pretty generic for scratchbuilders.
It's great I want to star
I highly recommend reading Don's articles. He is a consummate modeler and true gentleman.