I just installed a grain elevator on my layout. Can anybody tell me how to model interior grain doors in 40’ boxcars. What kind of material were they made of and how should I model them?
grain doors dependent on era were 2" x6" or 8" lumber stacked up in the door about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up. Some 40’ boxes had small doors in the side door to allow filling from an elevator through a hose or pipe. I believe that plywood may have been used in later years before going to covered hoppers for grain movement.
Wow… that brought back a memory. Both grandparents were farmers, so was my dad. I remember, as a young boy, helping (although, I might not have been all that much help 
) to unload some grain cars of their load of corn. Yep, I remember the boards in the doorway. I think they were plywood, but it has been a long long time ago.
Glen
P.S. This was in Omaha, Nebraska.
In later years (I think) a heavy paper material was used that could be sliced open for unloading. A detail manufacturer had models of it in HO; try searching on http://www.walthers.com .
I work in a grain elevator.Up till 1970 we used planks about 2feet tall by 8 feet long,2 inches thick for grain doors.These were made from smaller boards 1 foot tall by 1 inch thick,I have some stored in my wood shed.These were spiked into a box car door to a heighth of 6 feet.After 1970 cardboard doors became more popular. Joe G.
A few years ago I was railfanning an abandoned Milwaukee Road right of way through Illinois, south of Rochelle (of webcam fame). I found a grain elevator that had had rail service. Next to the building was an old grain door plank – it was pretty heavy wood. And it was stenciled Milwaukee Road which suggests they were used over and over again.
Having said that at some grain elevators you would see smashed wood of a lighter thickness. The paper doors referred to above were VERY heavy duty brown paper – almost like cardboard but I think just one ply of paper, as I recall with strap metal inside for strength. You’d see the remains of that scattered around a grain elevator. Signode doors I think they were called. They have been offered in HO but it would be easy to make your own out of kraft paper or even a paper bag from the grocery store.
Dave Nelson
Nieuweboer,
Just did a search at the Index of Magazines at this site and found two citations using the search term “graindoor.” The more useful one for you probably is: “Modeling Grain Doors for Box Cars,” Railmodel Journal, November 1990, page 22. Also did a Google search to follow up on ‘dknelson’s’ mention of Signode, but couldn’t find anything relevant - probably because they have stopped offering them. Gee, maybe Scale Rails/NMRA Bulletin could print them for modelers of that era, as an insert in various scales on kraft paper, like the car sides they used to publish on card stock.
Bob
A picture of a paper grain door was shown in Model Railroader magazine Apr 2000 p.40. The regular boxcar door would be closed in transit. The grain door would show ONLY when the car was spotted for loading and unloading, and the grain door did not go all the way to the top of the door opening-- left some room for filling car. Paper grain doors torn open and discarded when unloading at grain dump.
Torn grain doors lying on the ground would be appropriate at a site such as an export terminal elevator where grain is unloaded from railcars, less appropriate at a country elevator where grain is received by truck from nearby farmers and shipped by rail to market.
A photo of a stockcar with cardboard lining used for emergency grain loading is shown in the journal of the Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society, the WARBONNET, 2nd quarter 2001, page 14.
I did a bit of internet research (my favorite search engine is Dogpile) and saw that Jaeger makes Signode Grain Doors in HO, and that evidently they are in the Walthers catalog.
Dave Nelson
I FOUND A PLACE THAT MAKES THE GRAIN DOORS AND GRAIN LOADS. BILLY WHITTLE COLLECTION 1204CHESTER AVE. OTTUMWA, IA.52501. BILLYWHITTLE@LISCO.COM PHONE #641 682 9997 *** BOWRON
My dad remembers the paper grain doors from his days on the farm. He grew up on a farm in the 30s and 40s. If I understand right, they were using paper even then.
In Saskatchewan, when I lived there from 1968-1971, open doors were filled in with planks, as mentioned above. An auger was stuck in, and grain pushed to the ends of the car. As it filled, more planks were laid in the doorway.
John Wanamaker
Thanks everyone for answering to my question. I think I now know enough to start modelling.
This is probably more than you ever wanted to know about the subject
http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2015/11/carrying-grain-in-boxcars.html
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/28945?page=1
https://prototopics.blogspot.com/2019/01/shipping-grain-by-box-car-and-grain.html
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/t/90694.aspx
O scale Food Service Boxcar with grain doors and roof hatches and prototype discussion and photos