New blog!

Okay, I've had new blogs before, and this blog by far has the best success.  However, I needed a place to store my growing photo collection, which has grown to nearly 1000 photographs.  Therefore, I created jjwtrainphoto.blogspot.com to store all of these photos and prototype information.  I already have two pages and the home page loaded with some information and a lot of photographs.  This blog will then be for my current ideas and projects, ie modeling and research.  The Photo Blog as I'll call it will be for what has been done, and for note on the prototype.  So now anyone reading this will have a complete resource to go to to answer all the questions they might have.  If you the reader sees something that isn't correct, or if the reader has any questions, I encourage comments and emails.  email is jjw2795 at gmail.com.  Thank you for reading, and please stay tuned!

--JJWill

Water, Steel, and Grain.

Flour Milling on the Mississippi.

Background

The Mississippi River was the main highway for travel to the Midwest and it's sister river, the Missouri, was the main highway west into the territory of Dakota and Oregon country.  But eventually came steam power to the U.S. and soon enough, trains were hauling passengers to places away from the rivers.  The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers were still major freight haulers, with a single ship being able to haul thousands of tons of rock, lumber, freight, and lastly, flour.

The flour mill industry was tied not to the railroads, at least not initially, but rather bound by the great waters that flowed through the central states. This is where towns like Minneapolis and St.Paul got their start.  The climate in Minnesota is perfect for growing grains, and those grains are milled into flour at the large industries that sprouted up in Minneapolis and St. Paul.  But why is Minneapolis where it is?  Why didn't the people just build somewhere else, out of the river valley, and into the great plains on top?

The reason for having the Twin Cities where they are was because this is one of the fall lines of the Mississippi River.  The flour mills needed cascading water to power turbines, which in turn ground the flour in the mill.  And the Famous St. Anthony Falls provided that cascade.  This is also as far north as barges could go because an adequate lock system couldn't be built big enough and strong enough for the boats at this section of the river.

I could write on and on about the River, however that is all we railroaders really need to know.  So now let's focus on the Railroads around the Twin Cities.

Just before the turn of the 20th century, trains were finally able to out pull, and out pace a boat.  On top of this, near by cities like Chicago and Milwaukee needed grains and flour, so the mills adapted to this by going towards steam trains rather than by boat.  Northern Pacific, Minneapolis St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie (SOO Line), Burlington Route, Milwaukee Road, and late in the game, the CNW.  Also Canadian Pacific and Canadian National all had routes going through the cities, plus many more.  So the trains came to pick up the flour and grains, then shipped it off to far away places.

Flour Mill Operations

Modelers are probably most interested in how the flour mills milled and dropped the grain into trains.  What is more amazing is that this was done. Specifically, modelers want to focus on the loading and unloading operations.  Below is a diagram describing the operations:

The steps are as follows:

Step 1. Grain is unloaded from box cars into large grain bins.  Before WWII, most grain was shipped through box cars sealed with sheets of wood and paper to make a large covered container for the grain.  In modern day, we have the covered hopper to ship grains, cement, and a variety of other products that are in a pellet or grain form.

Step 2.  The bins are unloaded by having a conveyor with buckets or scoops take out a load of grain and raise the grain up to the processing level.  Normally, grain was dried at the elevator, however this process could be seen at the mills too.

Step 3. The grain is processed, cleansed, then ground into flour.  the flour could be whitened, it could also remain whole wheat and be of that cream color.

Step 4. The flour is bagged and then boxed in crates.  the flour would then be shipped all over the country, and even the world.

While modeling a mill complex, a large mill tended to have a multiple track yard with tracks going to the unloading and loading areas of the complex.  In the case of Minneapolis, the unloading was nearest the river, while the loading was behind the building, closer to the yard.  Multiple mills would also share the same yard if close together.  Smaller mills would be located away from the urban center and more towards the outside of town, but still along a river if possible.  These mills typically had a two-four track yard with a spur for unloading and a spur for loading.  Real small complexes may have just had a spur for the loading/unloading.  Cars would be put into the yard on a certain track where they wait to be put into the unloading track.  Cars would also be put in the yard to be placed on the loading track later on.  Cars would then be assembled full of loaded flour, and put behind and outbound engine.  A typical yard set up for a large mill would look like below:

That is an overview about the operation of grain mills.

Modeling Mills

For the most part, modeling a Flour mill is just like a grain elevator, but on a large scale.  In real life, all the elevators in the region that sell to a particular flour mill ship the grain to the mill via trains.  This is true even by today's standards in some areas of the U.S. and Canada.  Unlike an elevator, grain is unloaded from the cars and is taken out in bags by either truck or by train.  Grain elevators take grain from field trucks and load it into railcars, with the exception of regional elevators that rely on the railroad to bring in grains instead of trucks.  The operations between elevators and mills are simply reversed.

Depending on the size of the mill, a set of yard track may be necessary.  A good rule of thumb would be to have enough trackage in the yard to store just as many cars as the loading and unloading tracks can hold.  So if the mill holds ten cars, then a yard should be at least a ten car yard.  The mill itself is a large structure usually, so be prepared to need some space on the railroad layout surface.

Prototypes

Prototype mills are few and far between in modern day,however they still exist in large cities in the Midwest. However, around the turn of the 20th century, mills were everywhere in the Midwest between Detroit and  Minneapolis/St.Paul.  I was fortunate enough to have visited the mill district of Minneapolis by St. Anthony falls during Christmas, so I have many photos of the area.

The River and bridges:

 In the Fore Ground you can see the Old Stone Bridge.  2 spans have been replaced with a steel truss in order to allow ships into the locks by St. Anthony Falls.

 Pieces of Railroad history still remain at the river.  Here you can see a stone pier for a truss bridge that used to cross the Mississippi down stream from the Old Stone Bridge.

 Here are views of the Central Avenue Bridge.  This bridge spans the St. Anthony Falls.  St. Anthony falls was at one time very high and similar to Niagara, however the soft rocks underneath the waters allowed the falls to rapidly disappear   Urbanization also contributed to this, and so in an effort to keep the waters falling, and the mills in business, the falls were encased in cement.  This slowed the erosion to almost nothing and now the falls stand proud as a steep slope of cement.

 Here we have the Central Avenue bridge and St. Anthony Falls.  Off to the left there is a boat lock for getting boats from down stream, to above the falls.

The Mills

 Vegas has the waving cowboy, Rapid City has the stock grower on horseback, New York has I Love New  York, and Minneapolis has Gold Medal Flour.  This sign is very famous in Minneapolis and belonged to the Gold Medal Flour mill along the river.  This particular sign was preserved along with much of the rest of the structure as a museum about milling history.

 This is a Mill Stone, and the monument was made so that all visitors to the area remember how grain was milled in this area for many years.

 This was once the Crown Roller Mill, but now sits as a large office building.

 This would have been the power plant generator for the mill in later years as the mill became powered by coal.

 Flour mills weren't the only mills in Minneapolis.  Here is the North Star Blankets textile mill.

 Another sign tells what mill it is.  Here is the Pillsbury Mill.

 Standing on the Old Stone Arch Bridge, looking South you can see the Washburn A. Mill.

 Looking across the river you can see the Pillsbury Mill.

 This is the unloading area for grain. The trusses supported the tracks above the spillway, and the cars would be unloaded here, and dumped into the large bins for storing grain.

The Garden Railroad According to the Novice

Perfect Harmony

The railroad is an amazing thing. Their basic purpose is to move material and man across great distances safely, and yet they seem to represent even more than that.  The railroad seems to represent the hopes and dreams of populations by the cargo that these giants haul.  They show man's ability to conquer the steep mountain faces of the highlands, and also humble us when nature overcomes the track, showing that what we build on this earth is temporary and will eventually met back into the natural world.

The garden is also an amazing thing. It represents man's achievements toward making food and beauty directly from nature.  It represents the artistic influence of cultures, as well as the softening effect that the wind and rains have on all of the stone and wood structures man has created to stabilize the land.  The garden can also represent nature in a whole.  Trees, shrubs, yucca, cactus  native wildflowers and countless plants can represent certain areas of the world, or even what you'd find outside one's own town.

So what happens when these two passions and visions are combined?  The railroad runs through nature, but the garden harnesses nature's power.  In almost perfect harmony, the two elements of gardens and railroads combine to form the hobby of garden railroading.  This article is supposed to explain garden railroading, the main points within the hobby, and what I have learned from my experiences.

Trains in the garden, or garden among trains.

There are two big sects of the garden railroading hobby; those that prefer to have their trains run through a miniature landscape of trees, rocks, and water.  There are also those who prefer to have their trains take center stage and use the garden merely as an accompaniment to the miniature railroad.  The first will be explained in detail, followed by the second.

Gardeners, and many modelers tend to approach garden railroading as a garden with a miniature railroad running through the garden. The garden is a thing of beauty and can rarely be a complete failure as long as the best practices and techniques are used to keep the plants alive.  Yet the railroad can be a fragile entity that has taken residence among the plants and rocks.  It is the railway that most often needs the maintenance and time, as plants tend to do well on their own with the exception of certain fragile, and non-native species. Both the garden railroader and the modeler in the backyard share common ground on the subject of track and maintenance, although techniques vary in keeping the track in good condition.

The modeler in the backyard tends to focus on the railway and not the plants.  For these folks, it is all about the trains and the structures associated with the railway. Although the modeler still often has plants, the plants are thrown in as accent and not as a miniature environment.  Track is often raised up for maintenance purposes, sometimes on an artificial roadbed of lumber or concrete.  This provides a definite boarder between what would be a backyard and the railway. that takes up space.  This is in contrast to the garden railroader who uses the landscape as an environment for the trains, with track melting with the landscape to form a natural looking railway.

I tend to lean towards the garden railroader who tries to make the landscape and trains mesh to form a miniature world.  I find that the railroad looks better and more relaxing when not bound by steel glass and stone, but rather by grass, flowers, shrubs, and rocky outcroppings.  Not to say that a railroad that is raised up to provide a suitable base for operating can't look good, it simply isn't what I see as my style.

The hobby as a whole

Many attribute the boom of garden railroading to the manufacturer of large scale trains, LGB.  I nthe 70's and 80's, LGB made many models for European and even American lines.  A:though the trains were expensive, they were very well made and lasted decades.  My LGB Stainz locomotive is still running strong after a decade of childhood playing followed by five years of outdoor railroading.  In Britain, garden railroading goes back to before LGB with the use of windup and live steam.  Live steam, models that actually run on steam like their full size counterparts, did not require quality track, but a simple rusty old line that was still in gauge.  In modern times, three big manufacturers of model trains have also made big splashes in the garden railway sector of the hobby.  Aristo Craft makes quality track as well as decent models for the beginning modeler.  Aristo Craft has also made great strides towards wireless control with their Revolution control system.

USA trains is the largest supplier of US standard gauge equipment, followed by MTH.  Their trains are very sturdy, are of relatively moderate cost compared to other manufacturers in the industry, and run very well from what I've seen.

Bachmann Spectrum has made huge steps towards making a very good line or 3ft gauge equipment.  Although they can be expensive, all of the details show the worth of these models.  Bachmann has become famous with their great Climax, Shay, and 2-6-6-2T locomotives. Most modern Bachmann equipment from their Spectrum line is now equipped with DCC, allowing very realistic running.

Bachmann Big Haulers and Hart land Locomotive works also offer cheaper, less detailed equipment that is great for the Christmas tree and for children.  The lack of small detail parts that can be fragile, and dangerous to small children is what makes these trains great for children that are old enough to run trains, but young enough not to care about the details.

Unlike the smaller scales, G Scale trains lack any sort of standards besides the gauge of the track. Couplers, some operating systems, and even track couplers are different of most manufacturers.  However, some standards are slowly being adopted and eventually a true standard for the scale might surface.  What sets large scale apart from the smaller scales is that although the gauge is the same, the scales can differ to offer a standard, narrow, or minimum gauge track.  The term 'G scale' is just a relative term.

My experiences in the hobby

I have a total number of about five years in garden railroading, compared to my near decade of small scale modeling and operating O gauge.  However, I have seen, read, heard, and talked a lot about G scale Trains and their uniqueness. I have built three garden railroads, five if you count the one's that I set up on the deck of my house.  All that time I have been getting better at building garden railways and maybe one day I can build a decent, but large, operation in the backyard.  However, compared to many I am but a novice.  But knowledge is knowledge, and I try to learn what I can.  Therefore, I submit below my top 10 tips of people interested in garden railways.

• Budget and plan.  A good plan makes good financial sense.  Never buy what strikes your fancy, but rather buy what you think will help operations of the railroad.  Budget money for track, trains, and landscape materials.  Budget time for completing this project.
• Do not go overboard with work.  Create a simple raised garden railroad first to get the hang of the building process and to get a firm feel for what you want.  A 10'x20' space is a perfect starter railroad that can be incorporated into a larger system later, or be used as a test track.
• Buy a starter set, perhaps couple extra cars, and then only after running the train for a while should any more money be spent.  If you for some reason do not like the train, or feel like this railroad is too much work, the set can be resold, or be used for the holidays.  If satisfied with the starter set, then continue to by a loop of track with wider diameter than the 4' wide circle in the set.  Two or three switches and then maybe a building or two. Be sure that the track is either brass, stainless steel, aluminum, or nickel silver.  Regular steel will rust.  Total investment should be in the area of $300 for the starter set, $100 for any extra train cars, $300 in extra track, and $100 in buildings and structures. This gives a total of $800 dollars.
• When building the railroad outside, either construct a roadbed from lumber that is raised off the ground, or use small crushed rock to provide a roadbed for the track on the grass.
• Keep trains and the power supply dry, clean, and in working condition.  Aside from the extra dust and moisture from outside, this isn't any different from indoor modeling.
• Get the family involved.  There is a job for everyone in a garden railway. Track maintenance, planting, structure building, operating, even sitting and relaxing make the garden railroad look better, and run smoother.
• Buy cheaper trains for children.  Let's face it, we all love our kids, but they are not always careful.  would you let your child handle an expensive piece of glass? If not, then it is wise to buy a cheaper, more rugged train like Hartland Locomotive Works or Bachmann Big Haulers.
• Keep the track clean.  Just like brushing your teeth, or walking the dog, a garden railway needs clean track when receiving power from the rails. Aristo Craft makes a good maintenance caboose that is also a track cleaning car which makes track cleaning easier.  the car sells for around $60 and the pads last a while.
• Say with one or two compatible manufacturers. Compatibility is of utmost importance. All trains should have the same couplers, relative scale, and system capabilities.  Although it is not vital to stay with one manufacturer, it is important to set your own standards and only buy equipment that can be modified to meet your needs.  I love narrow gauge, so Bachmann and some LGB are in my roster.  A standard gauge person may go with all USA trains, or stick with the new MTH models.  All operate on different systems, and therefore must have a railway adapted to their needs.
• Always try to have a good time.  If this hobby isn't fun for you, then perhaps something else may suit you better.  Not to say you should abandon ship because of a problem, or a slowdown in momentum, but if you truly are not enjoying yourself, and feel that there is nothing to do to make it better for yourself, don't waste a fortune because I gave a hopeful dream to you.