North American Grain Elevators

[bman36]

Good Day Eh,
One of my next projects is going to be a typical country Grain Elevator from the early 1900's. Can anyone direct me to a web-site where I may obtain dimensions? All I know so far is that they stood around 60 to 70 feet tall. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Later eh...Brian.
[tup]

[Rene Schweitzer]

Hi Brian!

Here's a link to Buffalo NY's grain elevators. Some great photos and a few illustrations:
http://lucky.phpwebhosting.com/~ah/h/grain.html

BNSF grain elevator directory.
http://www.bnsf.com/business/agcom/elevator/elevmenu.html

Not sure if this what you're looking for, but it's a start. . .

[Rene Schweitzer]

I'm baaaaaack! I just learned that Vance Bass, our technical editor, is a grain elevator nut. Here's a link to stuff from his column, Online station. Go to Feb. 2003's links:

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/005/052figpd.asp

If you want more info, I can hook you up with him. Just send an email to me and I'll forward it on to him.

[Anonymous]

Of what are you thinking of making the "cylinders?" For that matter, if you were to scratch build a steam locomotive water tower, what approach might you use to make the cylindrical (cistern) part of it?

[bman36]

Capt. C.,
Simplest method I know is to use a concrete form or "sonnet tube". Not quite sure on the spelling. They come in many sizes and are quite strong. I don't plan to put any "guts" in the elevator so all you will see is what is visible outside. Should be a fun project. Later eh...Brian.

[bman36]

Rene,
Thanks for the links! This is a big help. Nice to be able to see how an elevator actually works. Now to start building. Later eh...Brian.

[bman36]

Hey All,
Well construction began on Tuesday. A trip to Windsor Plywood for a sheet of 1/4" Birch. Had to cut it in half to fit in the Windstar. Boy I can hardly wait to get my 1/2 ton on the road. Anyhow I opted for 1/24 scale and fired up the table saw. Could'nt seem to locate any actual dimensions for these "Prairie Castles" so I made it 70' tall and 34' square. In 1/24 this makes it 35" tall and 17" square. By the time the kids came home from school the superstructure was built. Today (Wed.) I will be working on the sides. Putting in windows where needed and adding the "offloading" portion for the grain trucks to come into. Need to find some 1/24 grain trucks now. When my wife came home last night she saw it and said "Let's take it outside to see where it will go!". So there we were at 10:30 placing the elevator in different spots. Glad she shares in my enthusiasm. That's it for today. Time to continue on. Sorry I can't post any pics. I'll send some to those whose email addresses I have and you can pass them around if you wish. Later eh...Brian.

[vsmith]

Hey Brian, saw your pic's looks like a good start. keep us posted on progress.

[Anonymous]

Hay Brian, I worked on the construction crew of one of the last wooden grain elevators to go up in the U.S. (Absaraka, North Dakota.....1960). The photo you e-mailed looks like your proportions are right on the money.
The head house is the only place any windows should be located since the lower 3/4 is all storage bins. A door on the ground floor in the center of the wall facing the track and a door in the center of the wall facing the truck-in shed are the only other openings you will need.
A window could be located next to the truck-in door so the mill-wright can see when he has a customer in the bay.

These structures were built with the 2"x planking nailed the flat way to form walls of solid wood all the way to the top of the bins. Corners were built log cabin style with interlocking planking. In more modern times the exterior was sheathed with corrugated metal most often painted silver.
We can talk more about this when you come here next week.

Don't let the grain dust get in your eyes........Later eh...Larry
Sorry Ian, I live so close to Canada that now i'm picking up this "bad" habit too......Just giving you a hard time...Larry

[bman36]

Old Dad,
Hi Larry. Thanks for the info. Already started the planking process. Tedious but worth the effort. The planks are close to 1x6 cut to 8 feet long. Looked at a lot of pics before starting and had to guess on the dimensions. Judging from all the different elevators I saw there did not seem to be a standard. It appeared that these mammoths were built according to how much grain capacity was needed. Glad I only made windows where I did. Capt. Carrales is going to make a web page for me when I am done. Was'nt sure on the entry and exit doors but I'll go by what you know. The Scale House is now on and I'll be busy with the planking for a while. Plan on using the Cedar Shake shingles from Smith Pond Junction. For anyone interested in Cedar Skakes they are reviewed in June GR. Web site is www.spjrr.com. I'll keep you all posted on the progress. Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Here is a start on that web-page. Still needs work, but it is a good start if I do say so myself.

http://oddeseana0.tripod.com/bman36.html

[bman36]

Capt. C.,
Now I'm blushing. Looks great. I will send more photos next week of the progress. This time I will use still capture on my video camera to get them to come out clearer. Thanks!!! Later eh...Brian.

[bman36]

Hey all,
Just an update on the progress. Been busy this week planking the sides. What a big job!!! Hope to fini***hat off next week. Then it will be time to sand it all down. Picking up cedar shakes in Minneapolis when I visit Larry's place (OLD DAD). Ordered 15 bags in order to have enough to cover all the roof panels. Let's see... at approx 40 to 45 square inches per bag...that's a lot of shingles! Gonna' send some more pics to Capt. C. to add to the web page. That's it for now. Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bman36

Hey all,
Just an update on the progress. Been busy this week planking the sides. What a big job!!! Hope to fini***hat off next week. Then it will be time to sand it all down. Picking up cedar shakes in Minneapolis when I visit Larry's place (OLD DAD). Ordered 15 bags in order to have enough to cover all the roof panels. Let's see... at approx 40 to 45 square inches per bag...that's a lot of shingles! Gonna' send some more pics to Capt. C. to add to the web page. That's it for now. Later eh...Brian.

I made some improvements to the website (never fear Iandor, I have plans for your webpage as well).

http://oddeseana0.tripod.com/bman36.html

[Anonymous]

Hey Brian, Hoped you enjoyed the pic I sent you. The grain elevator looks great!

Hats off to the captain on your web site!

[bman36]

Hey Matt,
Yes...thanks for the pic. I have been extremely busy getting stuff ready for Father's Day. Doing my annual train display. The grain elevator is looking very different. Has all the cedar shakes on, painted and trimmed. Will have pics for Cappy next week. No time before then. Will include shots of it in the layout. More later! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Hey Brian, looking forward to seeing your finished grain elevator.
OLD DAD

[bman36]

Hi Larry,
It's not totally finished yet, but as far as I can get it for the show on Sunday. You guys won't see me on the forum this weekend since there won't be time! Talk to you all soon. Later eh...Brian.

[bman36]

Hi guys,
Figured by now some of you are wondering what on earth happened with this project. Sorry to say but all my buildings are on hold for a while. It's summer so time to work on the garden. Finally got a gate installed in my back driveway. Closes up the yard so we feel a little more secure. My big ole' garage needed cleaning out....boy I keep a lot of "stuff"...and general yard work. Also trying to set up the right scene for the photo contest. I figure it will be Autumn before I get back at this project. Hope all your building projects are moving along well! Later eh...Brian.

[Marty Cozad]

I have missed this thread, heres a simple one i built couple of years ago.

I don't know if this is what your looking for?

Simple 8" PVC pipe with 3/4" plywood building. Not enough detail to go into a model contest, yet strong enough to handle NE winters.

[bman36]

Hi Marty,
The one I built is the old wood castle often seen on the prairies in the early years. Like what you did. Simple and as you say "tough". Winter here is very unforgiving. later eh...Brian.