BN Grain Hauler
This is a photo of my grain elevator. It is kitbashed from the Walthers ADM kit plus other kits and plastic pieces. On my layout, the grain elevator was a good choice for an industry against the backdrop of the layout. My model railroad is a fictional division of the CB&Q during the 1950’s and 1960’s when grain moved in boxcars.
I could show you some older elevators in the Kansas City area you wouldn’t believe. They have been added on to so many times it is hard to tell which was original, though I have learned that shorter silos were used several years ago, and then progressed to using the taller silos. Also sheds and head houses were added on at various times and the handling equipment varied by age also. One of the more interesting elevators in the KC area was the old Santa Fe terminal elevator in Argentine area. Man, what a conglomeration. Chuck Hitchcock modeled it for his Santa Fe several years ago.
My first hand exposure was one summer in Enid Oklahoma when summer jobs were tight, and I was in college working for tuition money. I hired out on a crew building a new Union Equity (now Farmland) terminal elevator with the hex silos. 12 hours a day pushing a mud buggy with concrete from the edge to the silo forms. I still wake up at nights thinking about it. And I have a fear of heights. Don’t cha just know I would be assigned to the buggy.
Bob
This is an old picture of my grain silos.
They measure 9 inches high. Imagine this scene with them twice as high. I m o in modeling you need to create an illusion of what you are modeling not an actual replica.
How woudl a mountain an other scenery look in comparison with 18" tall silos.
Just my opinion but it’s your railroad
Happy Railroading
Bob
Well I crunched all the numbers to see just how much PVC it would take to build the ENG LLC Elevator, and it looking like its going to take 210ft of 3" diam. PVC with the silo’s being 18" tall and when its all done the complex will be 8 scale feet long and will be 5 scale feet across. The top of the head house will be right at 38" high
As of right now I am still planning on modeling this and am planning to start buying and cutting PVC this week.
I will post pictures of the progress.
it’s your call, however, having learned from experience, better add a few more feet to your PCV order because you will cut some that aren’t perfectly cut and will have to be discarded.
Bob
I would look and see what the price difference is on thin walled PVC. Irrigation supply stores and places like Ace Hardware tend to carry it and it may save you a few dollars
Ricky
Pastor Bob, Thanks for sharing the website of your layout. Very fascinating and informative.
Grain Hauler. I just called Eastern Nebraska Grain in Lincoln and was told their silo’s are either 14 or 16’ in diameter and 100’ tall. If it is the one in Lincoln that you are modeling this should help. This is the one by 27th street.
Sounds like you have plenty of space to do this. For those that are space challenged I just saw this picture today on Railpictures.net of a grain loading facility in Portland with actual 45 degree curves for the loading tracks. The picture is here:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=339228
Here is a Google maps link that I created with the overhead angle view:
Looks like it would make a good diorama subject or a smaller facility if you don’t have space for something huge but wanted some grain operations…
Joe
Holy cow!! That’s the tightest radius I’ve ever seen on the prototype!
dngnrr, not trying to dissagree with you on this but just from driving by ENG elevator they are different in heights so maybe one of them maybe 100’ tall but then the other is either taller or shorter.
The measurements I got from google earth which im sure are not 100% right but somewhat right was right around a 18’-20’ radius on the silos depeneding if it was the north or south elevator set.
The ENG is on the west side of 27th and the AGP and the Cargill elevators are on the East side of 27th.
Grainhauler,
I will join the chorus and suggest you not be overly concerned about the height of whatever grain elevator you choose to model. They are so massive that a few feet either way is not going to be noticed by anyone except yourself.
As to the PVC, try to get the hardware store (or irrigation supply) to cut it on a pipe lathe. All the pieces will be the correct length and the cut will be smooth and square with the sides of the tubing.
For what it’s worth, my latest grain elevator is a free-lanced version of the one in Greenfield, OK. There’s a photo of the head house somewhere on this forum–I’m too lazy to look for it at the moment but you might find it of value in building yours.
John Timm
You have described your layout as being 16 foot long and 5 foot wide.
And you have described (as I understand you) wanting to make an elevator complex that is exactly to scale, and will turn out to be about 8 feet long (not 8 scale feet - 8 scale feet is in H0 scale about 8 feet x 12 inches/foot / 87.1 = 1.1" on your layout), 5 feet deep and 18 inches (ie about 130 scale feet) tall.
Are you building a layout where you intend to run trains, or is your primary goal to create very big exact scale diorama of a single elevator complex?
The reason I ask is that if what you want to do is to create the impression of “large elevator”, the sensible thing to do is not to create an exact 1:87 scale replica of every silo in the elevator in a an 8 foot by 5 foot area 18" high.
It is to get your layout up high enough that the tracks are at chest level, put in a viewblock along the center of the table, and model a facility you only see the front of between the aisle and the center viewblock.
Make it say 15-20" deep instead of 5
Ill chime in as I have tackled a large elevator project from scratch. Theres more detail on the thread link but I believe the silos are 13" to the top and the top of the leg is 21" which is impressive at a 52" layout height.
More info here: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/105989.aspx
Heres a quick pic:
I have added an annex silo with overhead conveyors but do not have any pictures yet.
-Tom
Thanks steinjr, you make some very good points in your post, im will for sure have to do a little re thinking on how this is all going to work out.
Awesome looking elevator tomnoy3
thank you everyone else who has thrown your opinion in on this