If this grain elevator was your winter project, what would you do next?
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Weather it a little more and make a small industry with a siding?
Put it on the layout as is. Or I can see a few places where some accent lighting could be added. Looks great as is though!
Lose the base, add some faded signs to the side and install some lighting inside and out.
NJCJOE posted:Lose the base, add some faded signs to the side and install some lighting inside and out.
Bingo! Even if you don't lose the base, at least scenic it to blend into its surroundings.
Paint it red. Put a 'pool' sign on it.
NJCJOE posted:Lose the base, add some faded signs to the side and install some lighting inside and out.
I'll second that recommendation. We have one on our layout, with a track laid out into that overhang portion for boxcars (grain boxcars that is), and a road for trucks to access the ramp, in order to dump grain.
I sold mine... it was just too big for the layout!
. . . I'd find room for it . . . somewhere . . . somehow.
Don't see the need to touch a hair on it. It's gorgeous! 
J Daddy posted:I sold mine... it was just too big for the layout!
And thank you!!!!!!!!!!! It looks GREAT!
I second the either get rid of the base or weather it heavily!!!
Yeah, lose the base. What's the footprint of that thing anyway???
Looks good! The weathering is a bit heavy for my taste but I wouldn't bother to change it.
Use it on the layout as-is and blend the base in to the scenery. Trying to remove the base might weaken the structure. But those are just my thoughts. Do what YOU want!
Following on ACE's reply, I removed the base from mine and it still seems plenty substantial, especially since it's semi-permanently planted and not moved around.
It reminds me of a grainery in Warrensburg Mo., that was converted into a bar/night club, and appropriately called The Grainery. I can't remember seeing RR tracks, but they could have been long since removed. Unfortunately, this was more of a late 70's disco oriented hangout, so I only went in once to check it out. The real hot spot was Bodies, just up the street. This is where groups like Kansas and Missouri got started.
Don
Below the roof apex on the narrow nearside and farside walls, approximately 1-1/4 inch to 1-1/2 inch down from the apex, I copied two Wayne Feed signs from the internet on bond paper, trimmed them to size on the sign border lines, sealed them to prevent ink bleed, centered them on the nearside and farside walls and glued them in position. This is the Lionel kit, I also glued clear plastic as glazing for all windows, probably will light up the interior with surface mount LED's for amber tint glow and apply weathering to clapboard siding and corrugated sheet roofing. Also considering using exterior incandescent grain of rice lamp shaded bulbs to lightup the Wayne Feed signs, door entrys and some exterior lighting.
Hmmm, IMHO, it looks too sterile. I really like your weathering, but it needs either "signs of life" or "signs of no life". Maybe these images can spark something. BTW, I've always found something very beautiful in Elevators, something about the beauty of function. Anyway, keep posting your results please.
https://spectatortribune.com/w...e-Remnants-33333.jpg
http://indianaplaces.yolasite....%20in%20Carthage.jpghttps://c2.staticflickr.com/6/...154_257b758b5f_z.jpg
I use that one on my module for the modular club. I weathered it, put some ivy growing up the side, and a few signs for grain companies on it. I also added a couple of lights on the back ramps and interior lighting.
Lose the base and put up a few signs as others have suggested. Depending on how you intend to use it on your layout you might also want to add a couple of interior details for when the view inside is not obscured by trucks or hopper cars.
The question I have is what is the point of the ladder? I can't imagine that would be considered a safe place to store it, and it doesn't give access to anything.
Thanks everyone for your comments and modeling inspiration. When the weather turns cold I am going to go back and finish this project. Signs of life will be the chosen option. Tied to the base as I glued it on, so scenic material will be needed to overcome that mistake. Some lights, some signs, the ivy is a good one. Track and road in/out will be part of it. Also thinking a coke machine and picnic table by the front door for the drivers waiting to pull in; a farm junk pile or fuel tanks in the back. The interior details are a great idea! Maybe a couple of pigeons to poop on the roof are in order too. The ladder I agree seems to have no point. About 14X12 for the base dimensions. I will post pictures as I start finishing it. Grain elevators are to me an interesting bit of history, mechanical engineering and architecture. Just had to have one on the railroad empire.
"...appropriately called The Grainery."
I wonder why they didn't call it "The Granary" ? That would seem to be more appropriate, since "grainery" is not a real word and "granary" is.
If it is in Canada, red and "Pool" sign might fly. I have seen a lot of elevators ,built several models, working on one now, and never seen one with a track overhang , so lost that in my kit bash of that. Looks too dark to me, although there are black ones. Also lose the base and gain space. Add a cyclone , and maybe a pipe to a metal bin, to make it unique.
I like it. Just add a couple of people, track with vegetation and a boxcar, and you're good to go. Also, how about one or two of those green crook-necked outdoor lights -- the ones with the scaucer shades and single bulb.
Tomlinson Run Railroad
John C. posted:J Daddy posted:I sold mine... it was just too big for the layout!
And thank you!!!!!!!!!!! It looks GREAT!
I second the either get rid of the base or weather it heavily!!!
John - how does it look on your layout? show us some pics. I will never forget the look I gave the UPS guy when they wanted 85.00 to ship it! 
I would add interior and exterior lighting, some weathered signage and some foliage, possibly some vines. Structures like this tend to be fairly weathered and beat up from time.
Thanks,
Ed
If you have additional space...
I would consider the Atlas/Hillside (former Cornerstone) Feed Store #6913. And if I had still more space, I might even add the MTH Granary. Then your scene would have the warehouse and office (Atlas) along with the grain storage (elevator) and the feed mill (MTH Granary). I have a similar scene. I was able to find some models of steel grain storage "tanks" that added even more to the scene.
BTW, if you do not like the Atlas, or cannot find it...the MTH "dry goods warehouse" would fit in for a warehouse.
If you prefer to reject the rural feed mill, consider just using the elevator and the MTH Granary as a grain supply (elevator) for a flour mill (granary).
I don't know your era, but I do not recall seeing any wooden grain elevators after the mid 1960s that were still "in service". Even if the owner had covered or wrapped the wooden elevator in corrugated metal, the old wooden elevators were just too small and too unreliable for moving grain. The poured concrete elevators were significantly more common. By the 70s, steel grain "bins" were replacing the last of the wooden elevators in small towns. I recall a couple of really small towns (under 1000 people) where the elevator was repurposed to the storage facility for the local livestock feed mill raw material. I recall a lot of dairy and cow-calf operations receiving semi truckloads of livestock feed to their very own steel grain storage bins coming out of the larger towns.
For what it is worth, I have a Lionel wooden elevator on my layout with the granary and the Atlas feed store and steel grain bins on my layout and it works just fine. I have a single spur leading to the feed mill. This size operation would receive loads and deliver direct to "walk in customers" or truck loads to the ranch/dairy farm/feed lot. None would be shipped by rail.
As for receiving grain from local farmers during harvest...not so much. The concrete silo elevators usually had better prices, enough that farmers would travel 25-30 miles. I would note that there was a clear line where "farmers" and "ranchers" were divided...primarily a geographical line. "West of the river" was grain country, east of the river, the soil was not fit for grain, so it was livestock country.
Thus those small towns to the east tended to lose their "elevator" to a "feed store"...but usually they had to receive inbound oats, barely and milo/maize for cattle feed, but rarely shipped any wheat and never any livestock feed as they served the area ranchers and could barely keep up with that demand.
...and for what it is worth, it would be more common to see boxcars moving bulk grain to an elevator or mill such as I described thru the mid to late 60s. Covered hoppers tended to service the concrete silo elevators.
At least in my part of Oklahoma.
So, does the base add a lot of stability? I would either paint it (the base) to match your ground cover or remove it. The only other thing I MIGHT do would be to customized it with your own business name sign. Great work!
