Grain elevators 1941.

Not taking anything away from the photo, which is quite interesting . . .

That does not look like elevators I see in our slice of the great American prairie.  I wonder if the darker structure is a taller and different elevator behind the concrete cylindrical one.  And it looks like there is a lot of patching/sealing of cracks, especially on the head house and nothing on the south plains resembles that.

There is a story there, don't you think?

Tom, there's a couple things strange about the picture. It's titled "Great Northern" grain elevators. The train in clearly Northern Pacific. Did the Great Northern own grain elevators? Enlarging the photo there are what looks like tar patching all over building. Also there is washed out letter on the elevators that says ANNEX. Don

Maybe the dark structure is an older design grain elevator, owned by Great Northern.  There were some Railroad-owned grain elevators at major yards for storing grain , waiting on the markets, and shipping throughout the year.  Santa Fe's at Argentine Yard in Kansas City was huge.  Maybe the concrete elevator is the GN Annex (?)  I know a guy in St. Paul who might know about this.

And, you're right - the train passing the elevator is an NP train.  We can see by the multiple-crossarm pole lines, that the train is on the main line, not the elevator track.  A pole line on each side of the main tracks suggests that there are two parallel main lines, one NP and the other possibly GN.  Since it looks like a double track, it could be a joint operation at that point with trains of both railroads using the right-hand track in the direction of their movement.

And the two "mainline" tracks are not at the same level.  Perspective of photographer to tracks?  As 90 states, each being built by a different company.  Were they run together, and what rules were used to run them?  

Is the picture in this link the same grain elevator from a different angle.  It shows the concrete silos on the right and the taller black structure.     The description " The Great Northern Grain Elevator “S”. The largest grain elevator in the world when it was built in 1898 and still in use today. Superior, WI [OC] [4608X3456]"WI.  https://www.reddit.com/r/Infra...vator_s_the_largest/

this link is a post card of what looks like the other end.  https://www.wisconsinhistory.o...ecords/Image/IM38188

this link is an article and lots of pictures to answer the questions of what and where it is.    http://american-colossus.blogs...thern-elevators.html

This grain elevator is located in Superior,Wis. I work as a marine engineer onboard vessels located on the Great Lakes. I have been there many times loading grain which we delivered to the General Mills plant in Buffalo,New York. When I was there in 2015 they had two switchers working , I think they were sw-2 types.

I understand that the largest bank of elevators stood (stands?) In south central Kansas?  Just curious to know if still there for a drive-by, if/when normalcy returns?  There is a book on Indiana abandoned and utilized elevators...wonder if there are books on Kansas ones, some of which l passed on 1950's two lane road trips, and for other states?

colorado hirailer posted:

I understand that the largest bank of elevators stood (stands?) In south central Kansas?  Just curious to know if still there for a drive-by, if/when normalcy returns?  There is a book on Indiana abandoned and utilized elevators...wonder if there are books on Kansas ones, some of which l passed on 1950's two lane road trips, and for other states?

Do you have an address or location for the elevator?  If so I have good luck looking it up on google earth.

Thanks to Stu and tactard, we know for certain that the Great Northern Elevator is the darker colored elevator behind the silos.  How interesting this topic is!  Thanks for starting it, Don.

Can you imagine making an acquaintance in Buffalo, NY, and then finding out that he works for the Great Northern Railway, which is a long way from Buffalo?

Some of the largest in Kansas are/were near Hutchison and Great Bend, Kansas.  Most likely still there as the production of food grains continues.  I recall when, in the '70s I believe, one near Hutchison had a grain dust explosion and it was one of the largest ever.  One elevator is/was over half mile in length.  This all from memories of seeing them, both parents were from South Central Kansas.  I remember riding in the back of the combine bin when young and using the scoop shovel to maintain a consistent level of the grain so it did not pile up on one side of the bin and become heavy sided.  Many memories of helping my mother's father, grandpa Fruit (German), work the farm in all seasons, all times of the year, when visiting during school breaks.

Jesse   TCA  12-68275 

texastrain posted:

Some of the largest in Kansas are/were near Hutchison and Great Bend, Kansas.  Most likely still there as the production of food grains continues. 

After checking several sources, the Farmers CO-OP Commission's grain elevator in Hutchinson, Kansas is credited with being the world's largest grain elevator.  And yes, it's still there.  Many pictures available on Google.

Rusty

Thanks, Texastrain, and Rusty.  I see why l missed it...stayed on I-135 southeast to Wichita when should have gotten off at McPherson on 61 southwest to Hutchinson.  Wonder what railroads served that "prairie sentinel"?  One fantasy l have is to overlay a transparent current road map on a 1940 Kansas railroad map and see how many wooden elevators l could still find and photo in the state.  (Stations, too, l remember a Mopac one east of Wichita). It would take months.

I hope this can help you find the elevator on goggle earth. There two bridges that connect Duluth and Superior, if you look at the bridge closest to Lake Superior you should is a group of elevators. Duluth, Mn also had a large number of elevators but a lot of them have been knocked down. The Great Northern had a large presents in Superior , Wis.  I was told by an old timer the yard in Superior was there largest one east of the Mississippi. Both ports of Duluth and Superior are also loading points for iron ore. The Great Northern ran the ore docks in Allouez. If you google Allouez ore docks you should see some neat pictures.

Rusty Traque posted:

texastrain posted:

Some of the largest in Kansas are/were near Hutchison and Great Bend, Kansas.  Most likely still there as the production of food grains continues. 

After checking several sources, the Farmers CO-OP Commission's grain elevator in Hutchinson, Kansas is credited with being the world's largest grain elevator.  And yes, it's still there.  Many pictures available on Google.

Rusty

Here is a few pictures of the large elevator at Hutchinson I took a few years ago.

First time grandson got to see grain elevators.

scale rail posted:

Tom, there's a couple things strange about the picture. It's titled "Great Northern" grain elevators. The train in clearly Northern Pacific. Did the Great Northern own grain elevators? Enlarging the photo there are what looks like tar patching all over building. Also there is washed out letter on the elevators that says ANNEX. Don

It looks very much like a Great Northern Elevator built in Superior WI. about 1900.  Looking at the style, size and what looks like deep water I think it may be what you are looking for.  The way it is built would be very common for a Great Lakes port facility for that period.  It may also explain the weathering of the silos from the extreme weather

I would love seeing pictures of the construction process of these elevators 

Elevators in Wichita are impressive too. Newton is has a big flour mill, long depot platform, and a modest turntable. BNSF territory heading for somewhere southwest. 

Try this site, https://concretestoragesystems.com/. Look at their recent projects. I’ve wired about 1/4 of them.

I have several books on grain elevators, and one has a comment from a guy that said his most fun lifetime job was helping build a concrete elevator...that they went up in sections, poured the bottom, when it set raised the form, poured, it set, raised the form, poured...like a layer cake.  I have an incomplete scratchbuild of an elevator at Jeffersonville, Ohio, that burned, and l can't find photos of its unusual stone bridge truck unloading ramp.  Another l want photos of was in Libertyville, Indiana, which had a tight, dangerous spiral ramp that trucks drove up to dump grain in the top of the tower.  Dunno how they got down.

Concrete silos are subject to moisture, and chemical reactions with the material stored.  Most cases concrete, at least the inside of a farm silo, is coated with an epoxy to inhibit deterioration.  Concrete is porous, a driving rain, could soak the concrete, and bleed-through to the inside.  The lines mentioned, may be maintenance.   Slip-form continuous pour silo on the family farm.  

Note the slip-form lines. 

My brother and l used to play in and around the open top concrete silo on my grandfather's farm (when empty).  We would stand at the bottom and yell up for the echo.  We never tried to climb up the enclosed ladder with ascending doors from which silage was forked down into the attached feedroom below.  There was a large contractor, now decades gone, in my mother's hometown that specialized in building concrete silos for farms.  I don't know if they built larger, rail serviced, commercial elevator silos, also.

90, I may need help here.

I remember going north on Amtrak's LONE STAR, oncewe got onto the ATSF at Tower 17 at Rosenberg, we would pass, at the time, huge unit grain trains headed for the Port of Houston.  Six axle units as leads, cars, then more six axles midtrain.  But there was also an F unit "B".  But it seemed modified.  Lots of antennae on the top.  Was this some sort of distributed power receiver?  The train used the ex-ATSF HiLevel coaches.

Santa Fe did have some converted B-units for Locotrol electronics for mid-train helpers (As did CP Rail.)  Today's DPU electronics are superior to Locotrol and the converted B-units are no longer necessary.

Rusty