CONTENTS

Acknowledgments Chapter One: Grain Chapter Two: Petroleum Chapter Three: Coal mining Chapter Four: Automotive Chapter Five: Produce Chapter Six: Livestock Models and Accessories Selected Bibliography

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1-2 Many older crib-style elevators were upgraded with additional storage bins. Steel tanks were common through the early and mid-1900s, with corrugated steel bins becoming common in the 1960s. Jeff Wilson 1-3 Most modern elevators, like this Cargill facility in Litchfield, Minn., are constructed of concrete. This elevator has a grain capacity of 500,000 bushels. Jeff Wilson

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1-4 Grain (in this case corn) is dumped through a grate into a holding pit. From there its transferred to a storage bin. Jeff Wilson

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1.Receiving area 2.Receiving tank 3.Leg 4.Head 5.Distributor 6.Overhead scale 7.Storage bin 8.External (annex) storage 9.Hopper car surge bin 10.Hopper car loading spout

Cash crops
Wheat was the major cash crop in the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. It grew readily on the Great Plains, and there was a strong demand for it from mills in the East. In addition, there was a substantial foreign market for wheat, so railroads shipped a great deal of it to ports in California and the East Coast for export by ship. Following the Civil War, surpluses of wheat led Minnesota and other wheat-growing areas to look for additional markets for their product. One answer proved to be flour milling, and before long Minneapolis was the countrys

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flour-milling center. The method of milling used, combined with the harder Midwestern and Western wheat, gave this flour a high protein content and earned Minnesota flour a premium reputation in the U.S. and Europe. Through the late 1800s corn was grown primarily for human consumption by farm families. But as surpluses developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, more and more corn came to be used as cattle feed. Spurring this was the development of a mechanical sheller in 1902. This made it far more economical to ship shelled corn rather than corn on the cob. This grain/feed connection would forever tie the grain and cattle industries together (described in chapter 7).

Oats also traveled by rail, but they were too light to economically move long distances. Also, the early 1900s saw a downturn in demand for feed oats as tractors began replacing horses on farms. Soybeans werent a marketable crop until after World War I. Through the 1920s farmers grew soybeans mainly to plow them under when rotating crops, as the rotting plants would help replenish the soil. But in the 1920s scientists discovered that soybeans have an extremely high protein content, so farmers began to harvest them as a cash crop. The beans were initially mixed with corn in cattle feed, as this mixture of feed accelerated weight gain and was less expensive than other types of feed. Over time, however, soybeans and soy oil came to be used in many processed foods for human consumption, and soybeans became an export crop.

Many other grains are also transported by rail, including barley and alfalfa.

History of the grain business

Large-scale grain merchants began appearing in the late 1800s. Cargill, which today is one of the largest agribusiness companies in the world, got its start in the early 1870s when Will Cargill, with his brother Sam, began to buy and build grain elevators in southern Minnesota and Wisconsin. A panic in 1873 sent many elevators into financial difficulty and allowed the Cargill brothers to buy out many bankrupt and troubled elevators at bargain prices. Will Cargills goal was to create a conveyor belt on rails that would collect and transport wheat from a series of small Midwestern elevators to Chicago. Throughout the remainder of the century Cargill continued to expand by acquiring a large number of grain

elevators across Minnesota and the Dakotas, eventually gaining a large national presence. Another notable early leader in the grain business was Frank H. Peavey. In the late 1800s Peavey acquired elevators from St. Paul to Sioux City along the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway and built a large terminal in Minneapolis in 1886. The company continued building and acquiring elevators to the west along several railroads, storing grain for eventual transportation to the companys key customers: the Minneapolis wheat mills. The seed business began to grow about the time of World War II. Prior to that farmers grew their own seeds, saving grain from the previous years crop. The 1940s saw advances in hybrid seeds that gave higher yields. Seed companies began sprouting up, among them Pioneer, Northrup King, DeKalb, Funks, and Cargill.

THREE

Map of coal mine in U.S. along with various grades of coal in each field

COAL MINING

Anthracite Lignite Bituminous Subbituminous

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Overall coal production from 1890s to present

Shaft mines, open-pit mines, and railroad coal operations

Millions of tons 3-1 The coal breaker/tipple building is probably the most recognized structure of the coal business. Note the various sizes of coal in the loaded hopper cars in this 1952 scene. The side of the slag, or culm, pile of waste material can be seen at left. William A. Akin

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This chapter will start with a look at some basics of the coal industry. Well examine the history of coal use in the U.S. and then explore the various types of mines used to recover coal, from traditional underground mines to huge, modern surface mines.

ailroads today haul more coal than any other commodity, which is fitting because coal and railroads have a long history together. Railroads have been hauling coal

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Basics of coal
Coal was formed over the course of time as plants in swamps millions of years ago were gradually covered by layers of sediment that grew to be hundreds of feet thick. The resulting pressure eventually created the black or brownish rock known as coal that burns due to its high carbon content. This property turns what would otherwise be ugly rocks into what have become known as black diamonds. Coal is found in layers (called seams, beds, or veins) between many other layers of rock. Large concentrations of coal are called coalfields. Figure 3-2 is a map of coalfields in the United States, along with the grades of coal found in each field.

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since the early 1800s, and because of steam locomotives railroads themselves were for a long time a major coal customera fact that led to many railroads having controlling interests in mines. The industry has evolved a great deal over the past 175 years, butother than the size of the railcars and length of trainsthe sight of long strings of hoppers coming from the coalfields remains much the same. Modeling coal operations and their many users is a natural, whether your layout is set in the middle of Appalachia (fig. 3-1) or in a small town on the prairie.
0 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 200

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Users can range from small municipal power plants and local coal dealers to large modern power plants that receive coal a trainload at a time. Even if you dont model a coal-related business, you can have coal cars or unit trains being interchanged or passing by on through trains.

Coal exists in many grades, each of which has different qualities in terms of carbon content, heating value, and the amount of waste material it contains, such as sulfur and other impurities. At the top of the coal chain is anthracite. This hard coal has a carbon content of at least 86 percent, with few impurities and a high heat value (around 15,000 btu per pound). Found mainly in eastern Pennsylvania and a couple of other small areas, it is the most desirable type of coal. It is also the rarest and most expensive. Next comes bituminous, the other hard coal, with a 45 to 86 percent carbon content and heat value of at least 10,500 btu. The heat value of some bituminous coal actually exceeds that of anthracite, but bituminous has more impurities. Most coal found in Appalachian and Midwestern regions is bituminous. After that come the soft coals: subbituminous (35 to 45 percent carbon, at least 8,300 btu) and lignite (25 to 35 percent carbon, at least 4,000 btu), which has the

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