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| Last updated on January 12, 2021
An online extra from the January 2015 Model Railroader
Feed mills, which often included a towering grain elevator, were once a common sight along the rails of small-town America. These utilitarian structures feature a variety of building materials as well as a mish-mash of add-on loading docks, sheds, and other outbuildings. This translates into a great modeling opportunity and a one-of-a kind structure for a model railroad. Such is the case with this feed mill, the W. Case Benham Elevator in Canandaigua, N.Y.
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W. Case Benham here. Third generation running the mill. Just happen to come across this. I would be happy to share information about the mill.
There was no truck scale. Grain was unloaded into an exterior hopper, then sent through a cleaner and then weighted in a large wooden bin scale inside. It was then shipped via boxcars to buyers or returned to the farmer. The building suffered a fire a couple of years ago but is still mostly there. Sad for me to look at it now. Great drawing. I think I’ll have it blown up and framed. Thanks Mr. Russell.
William, to my knowledge there wasn't one. There is a small scale located just outside to the left of the Showroom under the porch. That was used for weighing bagged grain. I do remember some trucks being unloaded under the roof right next to that scale though. AFAIK, farmers brought in grain that was then mixed with other grains for feed on the spot…. This was a very small local operation and quite a bit of the grain arrived by boxcar. I remember seeing the boxcars being unloaded at the back of the loading dock on the right. There used to be stacks of bagged feed of all kinds stored in that area as well. It is possible that there was an outdoor scale over to the left of the entire building near where the tank car with molasses was set. I don't remember any building over there, but I really never went over on that side. If there was, it is long gone.
I was a small boy when i first went with my father to get feed there. We stopped buying feed there when I was a teenager as we changed to bulk feed for the dairy operation on our farm. It would certainly be prototypical to set a scale over in that area, but there is no evidence of it today… I will see if I can find out more information about that. No direct decedents of Mr. Benham left in Canandaigua that I know of.
Ray Howard (the guy who instigated the project with Harold…)
for those in europe these drawings are a boon ,thanks
Don't see any scale house for the elevator.
One of the important details of grain elevator operation was to weigh the grain truck before unloading and again when empty to determine how much grain was emptied. Also the mositure content was also measured which effects the weight of each bushel of grain. Usually the scale house is a small building with a road so the truck can first be weighed then driven to the elevator. When it exits the elevator often it will loop around back to the scales in front of the scale house, then back to the farm for another load.