Some modern day grain facilities on rail lines resemble model railroads, with large loops of track connecting to a main line (staging yards? There are model railroad ideas here.
I just found an interesting website for the grain industry that has a feature on these facilities, including some aerial photos.
http://www.geaps.com/proceedings/2005/zdroj.cfm
The entire website has things of interest for the modeler.
http://www.geaps.com/index.cfm
Dave Nelson
Our local newspaper had a map of the ethanol facility to be built west of town. The track diagram will be a big loop with associated sidings for loading tank cars and covered hoppers, etc. It looked like it was designed for a 4'x8' piece of plywood. Very close to a lot of track plans for starter layouts.
Jeff