Question about grain elevators
#1
I'm building a small grain elevator for my micro layout.
The silos were built using cardboard tubes glued together and covered with a thin coat of spackling compound.

I noticed at the picture of a prototype elevator that there is a small structure that runs on top the whole length of the silos group.
On the picture it's the small structure with a bunch of small windows.
So the question is : What's the purpose of that structure ? does it cover a conveyor belt or something like that ?
What's the estimated height of that structure, about 7' tall ?
The 2nd picture is the one of my unpainted micro elevator.

Jacques

[Image: elevator.jpg]

[Image: silo3.jpg]
Reply
#2
Grain is transported by long conveyors, belts augers, buckets then would be sorted/weighed then stored at the top which is called the Workhouse.

My experience is with fiber/powder silos, at the top of the silo it would be flat with air system ducts, bag houses, etc. I

Easy way to spot the differences:

Grain house has the "building" at the top.
Silos are flat.
Tom

Model Conrail

PM me to get a hold of me.
Reply
#3
Have a look at this PDF describing elevators in Minneapolis, with a bit of background information:
http://www.vanclevedevelopment.com/downl...Giants.pdf

On page 15 you will find an inside picture from the conveyor gallery on top of the elevator bins.

On page 17 you will find a diagram showing how grain moved around in the elevator.

The PDF also discusses the difference between three main types of grain elevators:
- country elevators (small elevators out in the small towns, where farmers delivered their grain and the RR picked it up)
- receiving elevators (like for flour mills or breweries - where they stored grain they were going to process - like the Pillsbury elevators)
- terminal elevators (where grain merchants stored grain before selling it and shipping it out)

Some examples:
- Country elevator http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=65578
- Receiving elevator: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=51604
- Terminal elevator: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=19597

Smile,
Stein
Reply
#4
Jacques, I hope these drawings and pictures from HABS/HAER will answer your questions. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:20:./temp/~ammem_21fF:">http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?h ... mmem_21fF:</a><!-- m -->:
Kurt
Reply
#5
Thanks a lot Tom, Stein and Kurt for taking some of your valuable time to reply and to supply me with some very useful information.
The PDF document "Vanishing giants" mentioned by Stein is very valuable , specially on page 15 with a picture of the conveyors gallery because that's exactly what I want to model.


To Kurt: It looks like the HABS/HAER link is temporarily unaccessible , but I'll try again tomorrow.

It's funny but I just checked the thread just above mine .
In his thread about "GERN Industries Gibson Works", that good old DoctorWayne posts a bunch of ... silos pictures.

Jacques
Reply
#6
Biased turkey Wrote:Thanks a lot Tom, Stein and Kurt for taking some of your valuable time to reply and to supply me with some very useful information.
The PDF document "Vanishing giants" mentioned by Stein is very valuable , specially on page 15 with a picture of the conveyors gallery because that's exactly what I want to model.


To Kurt: It looks like the HABS/HAER link is temporarily unaccessible , but I'll try again tomorrow.

It's funny but I just checked the thread just above mine .
In his thread about "GERN Industries Gibson Works", that good old DoctorWayne posts a bunch of ... silos pictures.

Jacques

Hmmm - looks like the HABS/HAER link Kurt posted had a link to a temporary query result. Here is a hopefully more permanent link:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp...@(ny1669))

You can also find it by starting from http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/ and browsing by place via NY, Erie county, Buffalo - this is the Standard Elevator. The HABS/HAER engineering drawings Kurt mentioned are absolutely worth seeing.

Smile,
Stein
Reply
#7
I can't seem to open the pdf file, the first one that Steinjr listed! Something about a plug in! :cry:
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:jmarksbery@aol.com">jmarksbery@aol.com</a><!-- e -->

W.C. & T. RAILROAD
N-Scale
Owner:
Col. Jim Marksberry
Reply
#8
jmarksbery Wrote:I can't seem to open the pdf file, the first one that Steinjr listed! Something about a plug in! :cry:

PDF = Adobe's Portable Document Format.

A PDF file can be viewed using a pdf plugin for your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox or whatever you are using) or you can right click on the link, chose "save as" to save it to your local computer's disk and then open the file from your local disk using acrobat reader.

Acrobat reader can be downloaded (free) from adobe at : http://get.adobe.com/no/reader/

Smile,
Stein
Reply
#9
Yeah I know. I can open the others, it is just that one! I am now trying to reinstall the reader.

Took some doing but I gotter! 219
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:jmarksbery@aol.com">jmarksbery@aol.com</a><!-- e -->

W.C. & T. RAILROAD
N-Scale
Owner:
Col. Jim Marksberry
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)