One less grain elevator

[AndrewC]

The old Cargill grain elevator in Calgary was imploded yesterday.

http://calgary.ctv.c...hub=CalgaryHome

This building was once one of the largest and oldest concrete elevators around. My first job at 15 was working over the summer in the shadow of this beast at a roofing supply warehouse, connected to the manufacturing plant. My driver training was on a forklift.

http://maps.google.c...Canada&t=h&z=17

 

That was one long hot summer with the soup kitchens(sewage works) to the east, and asphalt plant to the north, and a grain terminal on the south side. There was no escape from the smells.

 

What may be of interest to modellers is I see some shunty plank potential here. Roofing materials plant with box cars for the wall board and recycled paper products, hoppers for the granules, and tank cars for the asphalt. Throw in some grain cars to the south for the elevator and voila.

[F-UnitMad]

98 years old! Wow! I didn't realise concrete elevators had been around so long - or was this the first?

 

Always sad to see things like this go. Change is inevitable though I suppose. I've been researching a US town for a possible layout, that features on a DVD I have. Google & Bing maps help enormously, but then I found on Railroad Picture Archives website photos of the place in the 1960's and 1980's. Little seemed to change between those two eras, but following closures, track cut-backs and re-openings, the place is barely recognisable now to what used to be there....

[AndrewC]

I don't think it was the first concrete elevator but it was sadly too far gone to be worth saving. There are still a couple of large concrete mill elevators just to the east of that one next to PC's Alyth yard. Wandering about my old home town via Google Earth and Bing shows a hell of a lot has changed just in just the past 8 years. Although saying that, I'm really surprised at how extensive the railways are still in the industrial areas. And just how busy they are.