O Scale Trains Magazine Online

“Prairie Skyscrapers, Midwest Sentinels.” Whatever
you call them, the grain elevators and feedmills that
used to grace nearly every small town in farm country are fast
disappearing in the wake of changing farm economics and giant
agri-business conglomerates. Yet, some outstanding examples
remain throughout the country. My part of Indiana still holds
quite a few, and I’m sure that other regions across the country
have similar treasures. Their simple boxy shapes would be easy
to model, with either scribed styrene or wood for the walls and
some homemade or commercial corrugated tin siding from
K & S Metals or Plastruct. Both manufacturers also make a wide
range of structural shapes that would be useful for the elevator
leg and distribution piping. Small buildings like these often fit
into the model scene nicely, lending character and revenue to
our operations. You’d better get to them with your camera and
notepad fast however. They won’t be around for long. Here are
a few of my favorites from close to home.
Photos 1 and 2
Knightstown, IN: Located on the former Pennsylvania
Railroad’s St. Louis mainline, a few miles west of Richmond,
Indiana, the Knightstown Elevator is still very much in business,
although everything is shipped by truck now. The PRR’s mainline
was elevated through town just behind the building. There’s
evidence that a spur track once dropped down from the main to
serve the elevator.
1
Idea File:
Grain Elevators
Mike Cougill
3
4
Photos 3 and 4
New Lisbon, IN: Here’s another going operation, located on
a former Nickel Plate branch that came south out of Muncie,
split at New Castle, with lines running southeast to Connersville
and south to Rushville. The elevator was served by a doubleended
siding with a capacity of 13 cars. Everything goes by
truck now.
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2
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48 • O Scale Trains - July/Aug ’06