the MRH Forum

Scratchbuilding a receiving bay extension for my grain elevator - advice appreciated! Scenery and structures
Reply
Active Member 58 posts CNWman Active Member 58 posts
CNWman

My layout has been an ongoing lesson in both model railroading as well as the various details about how parts of the real world function - and the latest lesson is that my grain elevator is effectively backwards to what it should actually look like.

For clarification, this is my grain elevator: the Walther's Cornerstone Prairie Star Grain Elevator. 

I was only a teenager when I got this kit for my budding layout and, having absolutely zero idea of how the grain industry worked, assumed that the rail cars running through the building was standard for all grain operations. 

Turns out, this is completely wrong. As I have finally learned, the only reason this elevator is built this way is because it's being loaded from the rail cars to store grain for the compatible partner structure, Prairie Star Milling Co. - otherwise, it should have been flipped for the covered section to be used by trucks as seen with every single other grain elevator I've seen both in kit form and in real life prototype photos.

However, the building is glued down with track running through it and it would be a colossal pain in the rear to rip the building up and flip it around, as well as requiring modification anyway to add the grain car loading stuff, so instead I'm going to fabricate a truck loading section myself.

The base deck is entirely scrap balsa wood sticks cut to the same rough dimensions of the covered section, so the end product will look largely symetrical with covered sections on both sides. A damaged spare Athearn roofwalk piece I've had lying around looks like it could work for the grate the grain gets dumped into, and I have Kadee roofwalks that actually have holes through it if that would be a better option. The 1953 Dodge Power Wagon is, unfortunately, the closest thing I have to a proper grain truck and I need to get a proper one for the 50s era.

I'm torn on what to use for the walls, as I could use styrene molded to replicate the wood plank style of the elevator itself, or maybe corregated metal to suggest an annex or rebuilt section since the elevator is 1900s style and my layout is post-war 1950s. Trying to match the roof design for my elevator also will be tough but I might could get away with cardboard and styrene ridges.

I'm also looking at other options to try and make the elevator look more realistic, such as kitbashing a cheap shed I found on eBay into an office, but something like a grain bin isn't going to fit as there's going to be a parking lot between the elevator and the main road and the space on the right isn't as big as it looks due to the terrain slope that hides the cork risers which raise the elevator for the track to run through 

5%5B1%5D.jpg 

If anybody has insight on what would be the best course of action, I would greatly appreciate it!

 
Reply 0
mike horton Frequent poster 515 posts
mike horton

What’s it glued down with?

Looks like it’s easy enough to pry off. The addition could be siding, wood or plastic, like clapboard. Or use plastic looking like galvanized metal, roof  and siding.¡
Reply 0
Michael Whiteman Frequent poster 519 posts
Michael Whiteman

There are at least 3 ways

to create truck loading on the opposite side of the elevator.  

1.  Open air with a single tube coming down from just below the highest window.

2.  Same tube going through a roof  that will protect the loading in rainy weather.This would have open sides.

3. Totally inclosed loading area with doors, just like on the track side, for ultimate protection.

Even though your placement is considered backwards, your story makes it totally believable.  Elevators come in all sizes and shapes.  Yours is rather unique which makes it kinda special.
Reply 0
Benny MRH Author 7,168 posts
Benny

...

My recommendation?

Stop modeling an Elevator and start modeling a Feed Mill or a Flour Mill - with what you already have put in place.

If you have freight cars dumping the grain into the structure (and not vice versa) and the rest of the structure isn't huge concrete bunker silos, then you have a business that utilizes grains versus a business that collects grain to forward to another center - either a feed mill or a flour mill.

You may then use your proposed location of a truck unloading area for a truck loading area for the bagged materials.  You may also find another track for boxcar loading is also desired.

Your location may obviously still feature a truck unloading area, but you could locate that just about anywhere on the completed complex as long as it makes some sense.

The good news is you have a large amount of space that is sufficiently large enough for a feed mill.  The bad news is that this mill would be between the railroad and the aisle, and feed mills can be quite a bit taller if scaled to your elevator.

--------------------------------------------------------

Benny's Index or Somewhere Chasing Rabbits
Reply 0
sanchomurphy Frequent poster 540 posts
sanchomurphy

Do as you like!

Grain elevators are very forgiving and it is rare to find two exactly alike. All of them feature modifications using multiple materials. My suggestion would be to look at the prototype and do what you want! There are even elevators out there that cover rail cars as well!

 

 
Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Burlington Northern 3D Prints and Models
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/sean-p-murphy-designs
Reply 0
CNWman Active Member 58 posts
CNWman

Looks like it’s easy enough

Quote:

Looks like it’s easy enough to pry off. The addition could be siding, wood or plastic, like clapboard. Or use plastic looking like galvanized metal, roof  and siding.¡

The problem isn't so much the building being glued down (which it is, I think it was done with caulk but it's been so long I don't remember) as it is the way the track had to be rigged up. The layout itself is almost entirely Bachman E-Z Track except for one 9" segment of modified Atlas Snaptrack which is the piece that runs right through the building. And all the track is glued down with what I KNOW is caulk. Its just easier to make an extension than having to deal with wrecking so much because trying to pull anything up would also damage the foam insulation underneath it all.

Quote:

Even though your placement is considered backwards, your story makes it totally believable.  Elevators come in all sizes and shapes.  Yours is rather unique which makes it kinda special.

Yeah, which is why I'm probably going to go ahead with the full enclosed addition, since from a practical standpoint it would make more sense for the car load area to be covered, too. It seems like if there was rain you couldn't load cars as the risk of moisture would ruin entire carloads.

Quote:

My recommendation?

Stop modeling an Elevator and start modeling a Feed Mill or a Flour Mill - with what you already have put in place.

If you have freight cars dumping the grain into the structure (and not vice versa) and the rest of the structure isn't huge concrete bunker silos, then you have a business that utilizes grains versus a business that collects grain to forward to another center - either a feed mill or a flour mill.

You may then use your proposed location of a truck unloading area for a truck loading area for the bagged materials.  You may also find another track for boxcar loading is also desired.

Your location may obviously still feature a truck unloading area, but you could locate that just about anywhere on the completed complex as long as it makes some sense.

The good news is you have a large amount of space that is sufficiently large enough for a feed mill.  The bad news is that this mill would be between the railroad and the aisle, and feed mills can be quite a bit taller if scaled to your elevator.

That's a thought worth considering. At this point in time, both the Prairie Star Elevator and the Prairie Star Milling Co. buildings are no longer in production (and I have no idea what I did with the optional piece that would allow the two buildings to connect anyway), but looking at the Columbia Feed Mill and how that's a two-building set, I might could split that - the track leading out on the other side of the elevator is even curved which would make use of the storage shed's angled wall. There's about a foot between the main road and the elevator so the whole thing might fit - problem is I don't trust the footprint that's on the walther's site because it looks like it's for a completely different building.

The setting of the layout is supposed to be along the edge of a granger town but given what I'm reading, it does seem like a joint facility could handle recieving and shipping grain by both train and truck. Plus, at only $35 the Columbia Feed Mill honestly isn't that expensive a kit compared to most things. I'll need to look into that.

Quote:

Grain elevators are very forgiving and it is rare to find two exactly alike. All of them feature modifications using multiple materials. My suggestion would be to look at the prototype and do what you want! There are even elevators out there that cover rail cars as well!

That's true - I guess the biggest issue here is my inner critic trying to make sure this layout, which is still my first, meets a lofty standard, but it's all a learning process I suppose.
Reply 0
Reply