Grain Elevator/Mill

UP SD40-2

Senior Member
Outstanding!!!

WOW!!!:eeki::eeki::eeki: , SLAP FANTASTIC JOB STEVE!!!!:bravo::mrgreen:

EVERY project you take on, you slap master:thumb: , and you've learned from Kurt:worship: ,one of the two on this forum i consider to be the best of the best too!:winki: :worship: .....(BTW, OUTSTANDING JOB on the structure you posted too Wayne:worship: :thumb::mrgreen: )

Steve, two things....i cant wait to see it on your NEW layout:thumb: , and i cant wait to see what the next project is you have planned:mrgreen: .

:deano: -Deano
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Deano, my good friend:thumb:.....thank you buddy!
There is no doubt that I have learned a great deal from two of the best....Kurt and YOU!!

Once the bank account recovers from Christmas and the two birthdays within that same time frame....I will get going on the layout:cry::winker:.

Hang in there:thumb:
 

UP SD40-2

Senior Member
UP SD40-2; said:
EVERY project you take on, you slap master:thumb: , and you've learned from Kurt:worship: ,one of the two on this forum i consider to be the best of the best...

Deano, my good friend:thumb:.....thank you buddy!
There is no doubt that I have learned a great deal from two of the best....Kurt and YOU!!

Once the bank account recovers from Christmas and the two birthdays within that same time frame....I will get going on the layout:cry::winker:.

Hang in there:thumb:

sign1 well Steve, THANKS!:mrgreen: , but unless someone changed my name to "doctorwayne:worship: ", I WAS NOT the other person i was referring too:toug::119: ....but thanks anyways:winki: .

**I sure hope the bank account recovers quickly:winki: , as i know MANY of us are on the edge of our seat to see the start of your NEW layout, and all the projects that go with it:winki::thumb::mrgreen: .

AGAIN, FANTASTIC JOB STEVE!:bravo:

:deano: -Deano
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
sign1 well Steve, THANKS!:mrgreen: , but unless someone changed my name to "doctorwayne:worship: ", I WAS NOT the other person i was referring too:toug::119: ....but thanks anyways:winki:

:eek:ops: Thanks for the vote of confidence, my friend, but your skills need not take a back seat to anyone. I find that there are a lot of people on our Forums whose work is inspirational.

Wayne
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
Nice work! The elevator is excellent. The brick wall is an interesting detail - I assume it's a fire-proofing measure?

Uh, aren't you supposed to do an outhouse for your first scratchbuilding project?
I did this http://forum.zealot.com/t99201/ for my first major project hamr My logic was that I did not want to screw up the kit that I had actually paid real money for...! :)

Also you will notice a pair of "Elastic Omni-directional Pressure Clamps" TM holding the structure together as the glue dries...........I will be selling them for $10.00 a pair
They now feature 3% more clamping effectiveness, thanks to the addition of Elasto-Flux®, the newest innovation from FluxLabs*, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gern Industries, North America's leading Flux manufacturer.

*formerly the Industrial Applications Division of Gern.

And Kurt's admonishment to "Just do it!" is good advice that applies to any project: after you've analysed it to death, you start to doubt your abilities, leading to more procrastination and, eventually, shelving of the entire project.
Having been stuck in that place a few times in the past, I say "Amen!" to that... ;)


Andrew
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Thanks Andrew:thumb:
That water tower is a pretty sweet looking structure:thumb::thumb::thumb:. As others mentioned in the thread, the weathering is flat-out awesome. Great job!

When looking at the protype pics of the grain elevator....I assumed that the bricks were for fire-proofing (as you mentioned).....I'm glad that they put them there because it is an interesting detail:winker:.
 

nkp174

Active Member
Very nice Steve! Way to start large! These projects are far more of a mental challenge than anything else...so it is amazing to see that you have it this far along so quickly.
 

Gary Pfeil

Active Member
Nice work! That is really nice. I love the finish you put on it. I mean, I really like the model itself, but the finish just grabbed my eye and, well, it's fantastic. Congrats.
 
One detail question for you, since i've been looking at some elevators and mills in real life, what era is it for? and what is your power supply? Elevators used gas and diesel single cylinders up here untill the 1970's and the Esterhazy flour mill was Steam but changed to a big deisel in the 1950's and did so untill about 1980. needs a brick (steam) or tin (internal combustion) engine house to top off this great model. I plan to put sound in my elevator office when i build it.
http://forum.zealot.com/t154060/
 

cnw1961

Member
Chad, if Steve does not mind, I’ll jump in to answer your questions as I have all the information available from planning it together with Steve. The Wollenberg grain and seed elevator was built in 1912 and was in service until 1987. The building was nominated and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Unfortunately it was destroyed by a fire on Oct. 1, 2006. In the information on the elevator it says, that although it was structurally extremely conservative, power has always been provided by individual electric motors, dispensing with the need for steam or gasoline driven line shafting.
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
The Cumberland Museum just east of Ottawa has a big single cylinder diesel engine that powers the shaft/belt drive throughout their sawmill. The museum is representative of 1930s rural Ontario, so the elevator in Sask may have had something similar.

I have a picture of the engine around somewhere. I think it was built by Fairbanks-Morse in the 1920s. It's a beast - 6.5 litre single cylinder, or something like that.

Until I find my picture, here's another: http://www.biline.ca/Ottawa/Historic/cumberland/IMG_3271.jpg

Here's a link to a "review" site of the museum (not an official museum site, but with more content!). Cumberland Heritage Village Museum

And lastly, here's the mueum's official site: City of Ottawa - Cumberland Heritage Village Museum

Andrew
 
I have a few very common questions seeing Steve's very excellent elevator model and the modifications those he made.

What is the earliest time for such (large) grain elevators? How were dimension around 1900 or did not exist such industry at this time? - Sorry, I have seen a bit to late, the drawing shows for this elevator c. 1912.
Transport of grain and seed wase taken by boxcars? However how was loading and unloading realized? I think that doors of boxcars were closed and caulked(?) / sealed (?) inside by paper?

Thanks for your help and answers.

Bernhard
 

CJTK1701

Banned
Absolutely outstanding.... Outstanding in its own field! Excellent bit fo work there! Are planning on making the templates available? This would go great with a "Depression Era" project I'm working on.:thumb:
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
If I may...! ;)

Bernhard,

I am not sure of the earliest construction of elevators this size, but your guess seems reasonable - late 1800s to early 1900s . Certainly not earlier than that, as the railway did not arrive in the Canadian Prairies until the 1880s!

Grain was transported by boxcar. The doors were originally covered by planking nailed inside the door, about 3/4 of the way up leaving a space for the grain to be loaded (and for the worker to climb out!). Sometime later, pre-built grain doors were installed, but these had to be shipped back to the elevator(s), so I don't think they were very popular. The re-enforced paper door covers did not come until later, at which point the dedicated fleets of covered hoppers were not far away...

The grain was loaded via a flexible chute that was directed into the car over the planking. A canvas hose would have enabled the grain to be spread evenly in the car, probably with the help of a guy with a shovel. Very dangerous job!

As for unloading, some boxcars had drop floors (like some gondolas). Others were apparently tipped, like woodchip cars on a rotary dumper. With the paper doors, the paper could be ripped away, but this would not apply to the doors modified with planks.

I would imagine that in the 1920s and 1930s, a lot of this work was done by guys with shovels. While it is hard to believe today, a lot of jobs we use light machinery for (forklifts, front loaders, tractors) was done manually...!

Until the advent of more specialized cars (your modelling projects not withstanding) and weather-resistant coverings, box cars were used to transport a lot of materials that were either bulk, and/or needed protection from the weather. Salt, automobiles, lumber, grain, liquid goods in barrels such as water, other bulky dry goods. Today these commodities have their own types of cars (covered hoppers, autoracks, bulkhead flats, grain hoppers, tankers, airslide hoppers, etc, etc).

Andrew
 
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