Grain Mill Operation?


L

LakeErieExpress05

New Member
Hey Guys,

I’m extending my layout and looking to expand my layout by including a grain mill/elevator as seen in this picture. The prototype I’m using of a mill near where I am in Kent, Ohio. I guess what I am looking for is details on how a covered hopper is loaded/unloaded and what details are essential to really make this look like a legitimate mill. Any tips or ideas would be much appreciated!
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From what I've heard for unloading covered hoppers at a grain elevator they do one of two things. They'll either have grates underneath the track which feed the grain into a conveyor to the top of the elevator. they might also use an enclosed rotary dumper where the car is turned on it's side and it's contents spilled out to be loaded into a conveyor.

To unload grain into a truck they'll use something similar to the Walthers Old time coal conveyor. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3520 While that one looks like it's from the 30s modern style portable conveyors aren't too different.

When loading the car's roof hatches are opened and a chute or a large hose dumps loads of grain into the opening.
 
Covered hoppers would usually unload into grates below the tracks. Close to the unloading grates, there is usually an auger at the location the cars are dumping the grain to lift the grain up to another group of augers to distribute this grain into silos. Some of the are visible along the top of the silos, or could be enclosed in a housing running along the top of the silos. If you look at your pictures, you will see a small Structure along the top of the silos and a tower above the front of the building. This will be housing the augers (conveyors) to keep them from being exposed to the weather.

Here is a web site that will give you an overview of how they operate. It was a heck of a job finding this. - http://www.agdesignllc.com/Design_Services_Pit_Design_Services_State_Center_IA.html
Hope this helps you. It also gives you information on loading covered hoppers. In some areas the loading and unloading can be coverd to keep these areas out of the weather. Check Walthers for grain handling eqiopment such as the augers. The do have this available, or you gan get feisty and scratchbuild, or have this enclosed as in your photos. Hope this helps.
 
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In my hometown there used to be a soybean oil mill owned by Swift. They never received soybeans by hopper but they sent the oil out by tanker cars. They would empty these 18 wheelers by driving them onto a ramp, set the brakes, and open the back of the truck.

Then the ramp would raise up to about a 45` angle and dump the load into the chamber underneath the grates. Took only about 2 minutes, start to finish to raise, empty and lower the truck. There were two big hydraulic pistons that was located on the sides of the ramp to raise, or lower it down. I always thought that it was real neat the way the trucks were unloaded.
 
Cargill did that in Fargo, ND at the oil plant.
Something like this (unfinished) chip dumper at the Fuerst Matthes Mill#1:
 
I work in operations for a trucking company and there are a lot of bulk commodities that are unloaded like this. It's very fast and efficient. The only problem is that the drivers complain about having to put everything on the flooor inside the truck or otherwise securing it. Great modeling !
 
They tip the trucks at a local snack foods plant. Everything is enclosed except the truck dumper, the regular docks and some filtering equipment on the roof. It is VERY loud in the dumper area when they are unloading potatoes.
 
We work a large Archer Daniels Midland mill out of Pinoca Yard where I work. It's connected to us (CSX) on one and and NS at the other, because the mill is built around a diamond. Pic:

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What we do is leave 6 cars on each track on our side of the spur. One car inside the dump shed and 5 cars sticking out towards our main.

ADM has a winch and pulley system. So what happens is they dump a car, hook it up to the cable and winch it out, then winch in the next car... and so on and so forth. So when we come back to pick up the empties, they're all sitting outside the dump shed towards the NS main.

Inside the dump shed, there are metal covers between the rails in both tracks that they remove, leading to what I assume is an augur / conveyer system beneath. They then dump the cars from the bottom.

They take cars of wheat.
 
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