The Prototype Pulp Warehouse

Fortunately, the pulp warehouse still exists so I was able to use Google Earth to get the overall dimensions. This thing is huge: 290 feet long and 67 feet wide (40” by 9.25” in HO scale). The space available in my model Loveland yard can accommodate only a 25” long model so some length compression is required.  However, I can use the actual width and height. This is consistent with the rest of the beet factory buildings in Loveland: full width and height are modeled but length is shortened. The pulp storage silo shown (one of four) is 60 feet in diameter.

I took a number of photos of the prototype in 1985 so I have some basis for modeling. The west facing wall is for car loading and the track can hold a number of cars, both covered hoppers and box cars. I assume box car are mostly loaded with bags of pellets on pallets using a fork lift. There is also a grain elevator style pellet holding bin and conveyers that could also fill a box car with a loose load. Covered hoppers are filled from the same pellet elevator system. 

The east facing wall is mostly blank with a few access doors.. The primary feature here is the bulk pellet silos and their loading tubes. This is also another view of the pellet elevator mechanism. Note the conveyer tubes for loading the silos as well as the access walkways. I don’t know what the walkways were used for. The large doors allowed front end loaders access for bulk transfers of pellets to grain trucks.

The south facing wall offers a good view of the pellet elevator mechanism. Note the walkways and access doors. This is also a good view of the silo loading tubes and walkways.

The north facing wall also has access doors. The main feature here is the huge conveyer for moving beet pulp from the factory to the warehouse. I don’t know if the pulp is dried in the factory or in the north end of the warehouse (the brick portion). I assume pulp and molasses is mixed here to become pellets. The huge mechanism on the right may be used for drying the pulp but I don’t know.

A view of the opposite end of the north side. Again, more mysterious machinery.  The track in the foreground is the “molasses track” that is used to load tank cars for transport to the Johnstown plant for further sugar refinement and monosodium glutamate (MSG) production.

The Model Pulp Warehouse

The Walthers “Ashland Iron and Steel Rolling Mill” kit is actually a bit larger than I needed for my compressed  version.  The kit itself is 32” long by 11 ½” wide by 10” tall. My model (25” x 8 ½” x 9 1/2”) fits within all those dimensions. People interested in a smaller version could use the Walthers “The Works Rolling Mill” which is 16” x 10” x 10” and looks much the same.

The kit provides a large number of corrugated steel panels for walls and the roof as well as a multitude of interior mechanical details appropriate for a rolling mill..  The walls come in sections 8” long so I needed to splice together 3 wall pieces per side. I chose to not deal with the brick portion at the north end.

Extra pieces cut from the walls and styrene sheet stock provided plenty of splice plates to tie it all together. I used the kit floor to provide a base for the building and trimmed it as needed.  Plastruct “Plastic Weld”  glue was used for all the plastic gluing.

This is the east side where the pellet silos will sit.

The west side with loading doors:

The kit end pieces are a simple box with a triangle on top so I needed to score and snap to get the shape I needed: a box, a triangle and a clerestory on top. A model size table saw or a laser cutter would have come in handy here but it was all manual work with a good deal of filing to shape.

Roof sections were also spliced together to get the correct width and height. The clerestory was fabricated from excess roof pieces to get the vertical sides called for since the kit has a slanted-side vented clerestory.

I took some modeler’s license and added a loading dock on the west side.  The prototype simply has box car height doors. I needed some extra space between the building and the loading track since the track takes a sharp curve on the south end. The loading dock provided just enough clearance for this and gives a nice detail on a rather boring side.

Loading doors holes were cut into the walls using the kit doors for the doors. I left the south door partly open and stuck a generic warehouse interior photo in it.  The little fork lift is busy gathering pallets of pellets.

The slanted pulp conveyer on the north side was also fabricated from spare pieces of roof glued to a wooden framework with Woodlands Scenic’s “Foam Tack” glue.  The form factor of the conveyer is a little off since it needed to span more tracks than the prototype due to a rearrangement of the yard tracks to get everything to fit in the space available.

The model was given a coat of medium gray paint, a flat clear coat and a liberal dose of alcohol and black India ink weathering.  When I get the nerve, I will get out  my Doc O'brien's rust weathering powder and give the west side roof the obvious rust streaks.

The Model Pellet Elevator

A key feature to be modeled is the pellet elevator, conveyer tubes and walkways.  Without these, the pulp warehouse just a big, boring corrugated steel building.

Horizontal elevator conveyers were formed from laminated styrene strips. The horizontal conveyers rest on angle braces glued to the end of the building.  The upper platform was also attached and acts as the support for the top of the main lift. The lower platform is used by workers to control the fill tubes for box cars and covered hoppers.  The stairway and railings are a Central Valley detail set.

A long horizontal conveyer was glued to the east roof to act as the feed to the silos.  Holes were drilled at intervals to accept the silos fill tubes. 

Walkways were fabricated from Plastuct styrene railings and added to all the horizontal conveyers as well as the silo fill tubes.  

The elevator bin was made from 0.020” sheet styrene formed into a cylinder with a conical top and bottom.  The support structure was made from 1/8” styrene H-beams with appropriate bracing as seen in the photos.  A flat platform on top provides a base for a cobbled up elevator mechanism. Styrene safety railings run around the outside of the platform.

The main elevator lift section was made from laminated styrene strips, scored to represent vertical sections then weathered with rust and grime powders.

Alcohol and black India ink  was used to weather all the other elevator parts.

The Model Pellet Silos

PVC pipe couplers were used to form the pulp silos.  I had to use smaller than scale silos due to space concerns and went with 3 1/2” diameter couplers (25 scale feet instead of 60 feet).  Double top cones were made from stiff photo paper. I used Cadrail 9 to draw two sizes of circles with radial lines representing ribs.  I used a scribing tool to lightly score the ribs from the bottom, giving a vaguely 3-D look to the ribs and to help form the conical shape.   

I used Model Builder software to create metal plate siding for the silos and glued it on with Scholastic “Glue Stick” glue.  The silo tops were glued on with Woodland Scenic’s “Foam Tack” glue. Some random detail parts from the rolling mill kit were used as silo load tube fittings.

There’s not much dramatic scenery around the pulp warehouse.  Just dirt, random piles of rocks and weeds. Dirt colored latex paint and general scenic supplies took care of those details.

The Completed Pulp Warehouse

Here are various views of the finished building.  This is the east side that is behind the engine house. Of note here is the pulp loading chute on the left and the pellet elevator on the right.

An overview of the loading dock. The fork lift is gathering pallets for the box cars. Old #2, a venerable 2-8-0, has been painted and refurbished for a fan trip. The blob at the end of the pipe is the boiler water cooling pond, soon to be classified as a Superfund site.

On the south side of the loading dock is the pellet elevator. The covered hopper is being positioned beneath the hopper loading chute while a tractor trailer is being filled with pellets for a local feed mill.

The east side of the pulp warehouse has the pellet bulk silos, walkways, pellet loading pipes.

The north end of the building shows details of the silo loading mechanism and the pulp chute coming from the factory. The CSF track (consolidated Steffens filtrate molasses) has cars being loaded with molasses. A gondola on the rock and coke track has a load of limestone for the kiln.

The view under the pulp chute looks back at the limestone bin, the coke bin,  the BET cars (beneficiated molasses) and the end of the boiler house coat track. The Loveland yardmaster stays pretty busy servicing all the various factory tracks.

Great modeling

I am speechless. Good thing I can still type! This a beautiful model. It is huge and bulks so much, it has so much presence towering above items of known size.  Find myself thinking I am looking at a real scene, not a model. This is. Very awesome scene.

Beautiful Work

George:

A beautiful job of scratch bashing. You should be very proud of that model.

Very interesting structure

George great job, I model the

Sugar Beets

Rich, I now use "Bulgur Wheat" for sugar beets.  Good shape, the right size for Colorado grown beets and a decent color. I found them in the "Bob's Red Mill" line of grain products.

I've also used "cracked wheat" from the bulk bins of a local grocery store.  Good size and color but the shape is not good for individual beets but lookS OK used in a beet pile or car load.

I've also used the spice called fenugreek. Good size and shape but has a strong smell. It might attract mice to your beet yard for a snack..

For smaller sugar beets you might try anise seed. I think Walther's (or someone) uses that for "beet loads".

HO Sugar Beets

http://www.modeltrainprojects.com/juweela.html

Not sure how they look.

Juweela

Thank you George, I bought

Lime Kiln

George, 

I have read your blog over the years and it got me to build my own beet sugar mill on my Colorado Central railroad.   In 2014, my wife and I were traveling in north eastern Colorado, and during a stop in Greeley, we were able to drive over toward Loveland and (by chance) found the remnants of the Loveland factory.  Pretty much all that was recognizable were the silos which were still in use.

As we headed back to Denver, on US85, to catch our flight home and we lucky enough to see the Brighton factory which was still in pretty good shape.  I took pictures from all sides and subsequently created a set of plans for a “down-sized” version for my railroad.

One question I have for you is how did you model the lime kiln?

Thanks again for a truly engaging description of you of the Great Western and the beet sugar industry, the Loveland mill and the Windsor hi-lines.

Ric Zimmerman