What is the difference between a cement company and a ready-mix company, and what support industries would apply?
If you're refering to the Walters "Medusa" kit, that is strictly a Cement TERMINAL, really no different than a grain elevator. They would receive bulk cement by rail, barge or ship ("boat" on the
great lakes, identical to the traditional "ore boat"). They then ship cement either in bags or bulk, by truck, to retailers and the "redimex" plants. It's unlikely that such a terminal would SHIP by
rail.
The redimix plant then receives the cement, as well as "aggregate" (gravel) and makes concrete, which is delivered in "cement mixer" trucks to the job site.
An actual Cement "factory" would be a much larger operation, receiving the raw materials (usually lime, as well as aggregate, often cinders, recycled glass, and other materials, I'm not real sure the
cemistry involved) by any of the above means (rail or water), and ship out finished bulk cement by the same ways. It would generall consist of a grinding mill, a large rotery kiln, and bulk storage
silos. I've visited several cemnt plants, and they would make VERY interesting models, but would have to be rather large (say the size of a small steel mill) to be credible. A terminal on the other
hand, can be as small as one or two silos and still receive cement by rail.
Don Dellmann
The cement company manufactures the Portland cement powder which is one of the ingredients in concrete. The ready-mix plant takes the bulk cement and mixes it with water, sand, and rocks and turns
it all into "ready-mix" concrete for use in building construction, etc. On a model railroad layout, you would likely ship cement from the cement factory to the ready-mix plant via covered hoppers.
The ready-mix plant can also take loads of sand and rocks via conventional open-topped hoppers, with finished product going out in concrete trucks.
Robert Zimmermann