I figure that amongst this vast collection of knowledge is somebody well acquainted what quantities are consumed in the production of steel.
Some background first. The Spokane Southern serves a steel mill in Bessemer, Idaho. The plant was built during WWII to support the war effort and supply steel to the ship building industry on the west coast (this bit of fiction inspired by the Geneva Steel plant in Provo Utah).
The mill only consists of a Walthers steel mill, split in two, giving two blast furnaces on the backdrop. A three track yard sits in front of it, where all inbound and outbound mill traffic will be handled.
I was figuring on one loaded ore train per day (40 cars, but representing a full train of say 12-15 thousand tons. Obviously, there needs to be shipments of coal or coke, alloy ores, consumables, and shipment of finished product.
So my questions are:
I one ore train per day to much or too little to support a dual blast furnace operation?
How much coal or coke needs to be shipped to support the ore making operation?
I was figuring one manifest train / day to handle empties and consumables in, and finished steel and empty cars out.
I would appreciate any help in determining the proper number of trains to support this facility as I design my operating plan. regards, Jerry