Of all the structures I could put on my layout, the Grain Elevator is the most important to me. Just as a Steam Locomotive holds a warm spot in my heart, so does the Prairie Sentinel. I remember those three day car rides across the Prairies watching the Elevators go by.
Here is a You-Tube Video I just came across where I learned and saw some things I hadn't seem before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X9R5iwQuXA
So show us your Grain facility and tell us what does having a Grain Elevator on your layout mean to you. Tell us a story of working in one, or playing in one, or taking your crops to one.
Then show us yours.
Here is my first of a few. (I hope)
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Brent,
Grain elevators(especially the wood crib ones) are a real part of the Midwest rural scene in the transition era. Many of those elevators were converted or had 'feed & seed' operations added over the years. I'll have to dig out some pictures of my small elevators. One is a typical wood crib design, and the other is larger with a Co-op feed/seed/fertz addition. Of course the wood crib elevators lasted longer in Canada due to government support of grain service 40' box cars.
In the US, the wood crib elevator died in the 70's as all most could load was 40' grain box cars, and did not have the capacity to handle larger 100 ton capacity covered hoppers. Even now many of the elevators that could handle the large covered hoppers are being replaced by 'shuttle' elevators that have the capacity to load an entire 100 car unit train.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Here's a somewhat blurry shot of the grain elevator-feed mill I scratch built several years ago. The clapboard wooden structure on the near end is for receiving boxcar loads of bagged and/or bulk grain or finished feeds
Here's an elevator scene on my layout. I don't have any special attachment to this type of industry, but have always liked them and the associated covered hoppers. The structure at left was scratchbuilt from styrene, Campbell corrugated aluminum, and other stuff, while the newer elevator and bins at right were kitbashed from Rix and Walthers components.
Rob Spangler
I remember as a kid in the late 50's seeing the biggest pile of lumber in my life (2x4's or 2x6's) in a pile at Elbow, Saskatchewan for a newer elevator under construction, these boards were laid flat on top of each other, there is now a big business salvaging all this beautiful dry lumber for construction today. but they have to get them before some communities burn them down.
Here's the "prairie skyscraper" I kitbashed while I was in N Scale.
Years ago there was a large "Landmark" Grain elevator in Columbus(Oh) and I always wanted a large grain elevator so,"LandStar Grains Inc." was borned.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
My Grain Elevator is an Export Elevator at my Port. It is scratch built using PVC pipes and is very large. I am using it for a view block between the two sides of the pier. On the back side is a coal dock made from the Walthers Ore Dock kit. They probably didn't have these two facilities this close together in the real world, but this works for me.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Back in the early 70's I witnessed an old wooden elevator being moved in rural southern Manitoba. Obviously the biggest thing I have ever seen traveling down the road. I believe it was being moved from a rail spur to an individual farm location.
Also remember many wooden elevators in the Swan River Valley of western Manitoba. Probably the only surviving one is a large orange Pioneer elevator northeast of Swan River.
I did see a few old wooden elevators in North Dakota this past summer. Almost all are clad in corrigated sheet metal. Saw some still in use as they were unloading truck loads of grain into the elevators. Many of the elevators in North Dakota have long strings of grain hopper cars stored on sidings serving these elevators.
Nice modeling, guys.
Thanks,
Ed
I have two elevators run by the same outfit, plus a pinto bean co-op that just has a leg for now. Bins and stuff come later, as I just began it a couple of weeks ago. Overhead space is an issue, so it'll be more the suggestion of an elevator.
This is the Graden elevator in Hesperus. Obvious pedigree for a stand-in for now. And here's the older Durango elevator complex. It's kitbashed from Rocky Mountain Model Works kit, with a scartachbuilt addition and loading dock.
This is the Graden elevator in Hesperus. Obvious pedigree for a stand-in for now.
And here's the older Durango elevator complex. It's kitbashed from Rocky Mountain Model Works kit, with a scartachbuilt addition and loading dock.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Where I live, we receive trains block of grain hoppers for shipment oversea. In port there is a large grain elevator and ship loading facility. This is our rendering of these structures we have at the Club. Everything is scratch built from styrene, ABS and Central Valley parts. I must say It is for 99% the work of one member, not me, the photos were taken by a friend of mine and posted with his permission.
Jack W.
Yea! I finally got back into my own thread without getting an ERROR messege.
There is some very good modeling going on as far as Grain Elevators go. Thanks all for contributing and let's see more pic's.
BRAKIE Here's the "prairie skyscraper" I kitbashed while I was in N Scale. Years ago there was a large "Landmark" Grain elevator in Columbus(Oh) and I always wanted a large grain elevator so,"LandStar Grains Inc." was borned.
Looks like the one at I-70 and Hamilton Rd. I see that thing several times a week.
Here is some film of the elevators I now attend to...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGnGLs6sna0 were you fooled?
Here it is again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KBqzd2XUL0
( There is a larger CO-OP central terminal elsewhere on the layout....seen in other videos.)
I was born in a six-room hospital in a small town in central Alberta, almost within spitting distance of the grain elevator at which my father worked. He was a grain buyer for a number of years in his early career (before becoming a graphic artist, printer, newspaperman and commercial fisherman.)
I distinctly remember being in the elevators often. I caught hell for crossing the mainline to visit Dad on my own when I was four years old.
I am searching for a sound file of the distinct low moaning, creaking and wind effects always present in the cavernous interior of the elevators.....I will add these to my ambient sound files on the layout. So far no luck. I will have to make my own recordings one day when I travel back to the prairies from the coast.
Here am I in 1956 or so with my father's elevator in the background in New Sarepta, Alberta to which we moved after. Grain companies always had rental housing in the small communities for the grain buyers. I remember the day my mother took this photo as she missed the great black steam locomotive that pulled past behind us.....probably a CN Sante Fe class heading to Edmonton.
Here is a shot of the elevator string at Amisk, Alberta about 1959. My father worked for the Alberta Wheat Pool as a grain buyer in the elevator in the central position. None of these type elevators survive in the small towns I mention.
Probably this link to the National Film Board (Cdn) video of grain elevators has been on the forum before. If not, here it is.......and just as I remember my father working the same system.
https://www.nfb.ca/film/grain_elevator
Great stuff Cisco! That NFB film was great, I like how he moved the boxcars. There are some really good NFB films available, I remember watching so many of these NFB films in school.
Do you still have your dads stuff?
Thanks for posting.
Yes, that film really brings back memories. I remember all of those tasks.....and the cavernous building. I'm afraid the only thing I have left of that era is an old clipboard that used to hang in one of father's offices..... and lots of memories.
I recall it was possible to get one's finger "zapped" in the moisture tester if you were brave or silly enough to do as your father urged.
I remember the time a feral cat had a litter of kittens in a nail barrel in the back of the elevator. My mother felt sorry for them and put a bit of cloth under them on the nails....the mother cat returned sometime in the night and moved all the kittens somewhere unknown.
I recall my father moving the cars with the "peavy-type" of lever too, and being surprised that it was possible.
At a later location we all went out one night to watch an elevator burn to the ground. I was told that people were keen to scrounge undamaged chute boards from the wreck as the years of grain flow had polished the internal surfaces of the planks to a wonderful natural sheen....great for making picture frames etc.
My mother always said the old single cylinder engine under the office said, "Fit-boom-boom-boom"... much to our amusement.....it also meant a farmer had just finished his delivery.
another video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWQrh7_LAlg&index=11&list=FLE7VkDiKUUZvKsSeYKH2acg a tour of an old wood crib elevator.