Is it realistic to have a grain elevator adjacent to a bakery? I get that it’s my layout, but wonder if they should get moved to different parts of the layout to depict a more realistic operation. Not sure if it makes sense to have a begining part right next to the end of that commodoity.
Thanks!
Hello all,
You are missing a step in the process.
Bakeries typically don’t produce the flour from raw grain. That is done at a mill.
That being said breweries and distilleries use the raw grain in the production of their products.
Grain elevators at the farm end collect the raw product from the producer(s). Then it is shipped; via rail or truck, to the next step in the chain.
For making baked products, that would be the mill for the refining of flour.
For alcohol production that would be directly to the manufacturer.
It would be more prototypical to have grain elevators at the mill, then the flour would be shipped to the baking facilities, again by truck or rail.
A side note- -In North America there are four types of flour milled:
Hard or “Winter” wheat that is used in bread production. This has the highest percentage of the protein Gluten which yields a chewy, elastic texture.
All purpose- -as the name implies a general purpose flour used by most domestic cooks made by blending hard and soft wheat.
Cake flour- -made from soft or “Spring” wheat. This wheat produces a low Gluten content for a more tender product.
Pastry flour- -this is soft wheat flour that has the lowest gluten content. This produces products that are light and flaky.
A large commercial bakery will use all of these types of flour to produce various baked goods.
In Denver, Colorado, there is a large commercial bakery on the east side just south of I-70, there are no grain elevators/silos near this facility.
Golden, Colorado; the home of Coors beer, there are many staging tracks for the incoming raw grain cars and several grain elevators for holding the grain before use.
Perhaps the bakery could be converted to a beer or spirits producer with the grain elevators adjacent to it.
Hope this helps.
Post Script: There would also be by-products from th
I didn’t know the entire process, and this helps.
Here are the products I thought to get. Based on this process, I might keep the two industries separate. Here are the items:
https://www.walthers.com/magic-pan-commercial-bakery-kit-16-x-8-x-3-1-2-quot-40-6-x-20-3-x-8-8cm (bakery)
https://www.walthers.com/adm-r-concrete-grain-elevator-kit-13-1-2-x-9-x-13-1-2-quot-33-7-x-23-7-x-33-7cm (grain elevator)
Seems to me they could be next to each other. As has been pointed out, they’re not “product connected” in a direct way.
Only problem is that the grain elevator would normally be in or near a farm town (I think it’s too small to be in a city or on a waterway). And a commercial bakery would like to be close to it’s customers, which would normally be a city. So I think I’d put them both in a farm town NEAR a big city.
Ed
Wow that bakery looks like a really nice kit. I might have to get one. Usually around here a business like that is in a downtown business area because they tend to have been around for a long time and many of their customers are local and the baked goods are delivered by trucks.
The concrete grain elevator is a popular kit. I have one which I use to represent the Cargill mill at the bottom of Cajon Pass.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1976399,-117.3730605,239a,35y,270h,39.29t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
It was built in this remote location on the edge of town so it could have plenty of room for the dozens of covered hopper it sees every day full of wheat and rye and other grains. Walthers Centennial Mills #933-3160 or Walthers Red Wing Milling #933-3026 structures go with it to complete the complex.
Around here the grain fresh from the farm goes to elevators like Walthers Cornerstone
Big Grain Storage Bin #933-3123, Grain Conveyor #933-3124, Dryer #933-3128. From there they go to the mill. These are located in rural areas near the farms.
I would put them all in different areas of the layout so that moving product by rail is the best method of transportation.
I hope this helps.