Feed Mills

[blueriver]

Hi,
I recently bought the Walther's Cornerstone Series Sunrise Feed Mill in HO scale. The prototype was used largley for creating feed for livestock and farm animals. I am thinking about creating an interior so if I had interior lighting it will look like something more than a building shell. Can any of you tell me where to find information/photos that would give me a place to start?
I would really appreciate any information or help you can give me.

Thanks

blueriver

[cwclark]

I would visit a feed store and see what they have..you can get all sorts of accessories from walther's, campbell's , pileser, and other manufacturers ...fences are also a nice add on to buildings......Chuck

[orsonroy]

I've run across interior photos of a grain elevator (www.loc.gov) but never the inside of a feedmill. I'd follow Chuck's advice and go and visit one. They're still pretty common here in Illinois.

[cacole]

I remember a feed mill in my home town when I was young and innocent. The main machine they had was a large grinder for producing cracked corn and meal, and dust from it settled all around. Other than that, the only thing I remember was that there were large burlap sacks full of various types of livestock feed piled everywhere, and the mill made a very loud whirring noise when the grinder was turned on, that could be heard for miles around. This was pre-OSHA, and I don't remember the employees ever wearing any type of hearing protection or respirators. The townfolk, too, were subjected to the noise and dust just as much as the employees.

[Anonymous]

Remember that the interior of a FEED STORE (suggested above) will not be like the interior of a FEED MILL. The feed mill makes the stuff the feed store sells. You have raised a very good question, indeed. I hope you will share what you learn on this forum. I lived in small agricultural communities for over 20 years and absolutely drew a blank when I tried to come up with an answer for you.

[cacole]

Sorry that it was not clear from my original answer, but this was a grist mill and grain elevator, not a store. The burlap bags piled around the building were stored in a covered area awaiting loading into boxcars for distant shipment or pick up by trucks for deliver to area dealers. No one could purchase from the mill itself, as I recall. Corn, soybeans, sorghum, and other products were received from local farmers by truck, were stored in the elevator's silos, and the milled product was shipped out in boxcars, since this was prior to the advent of covered hoppers. The mill was located on a rail siding next to the town passenger depot. This was on an Illinois Central Railroad branch line between Saint Louis, Missouri and DuQuoin, Illinois, where that branch line joined the main north-south IC line between Chicago and the New Orleans area.

[Anonymous]

I worked in a grain mill when I was in school. There are all kinds of possibilities for modelling, especially if you have room to tackle an interior layout. There are lots of pulleys and big drive belts running between floors to power augers and seed cleaning equipment. The entire interior is basically very old, very worn, very plain, wood. And everything is very dusty. The one I worked in even had a counter-balanced, hand operated elevator, sort of a huge dumbwaiter. Basic but able to hoist a lot of weight with just onre person pulling the rope. I think ti would be a really interesting and reqarding challenge to try to do an interior for an HO sized mill.

[Anonymous]

sorry.... "rewarding"

[simon1966]

My collegue at work, used to be the office manager in her family run feed mill business. Basically, they made dry feed and wet feed mixtures. Outside the building are various hoppers into which the different grains are deposited. Inside the building various animal feeds are mixed from secret recipes. Basically, there are grains, fillers and many adatives that come in both powder and liquid forms (vitamins and other nutrients). This product would be stored in drums, cans and sacks. Everything is mixed in large vats and then packaged in sacks on pallets for shipment.