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Thanks for the videos showing the grain handling in the 1940's & 50's I had no idea how complex the loading testing handling etc really was! In earlier days things were quite different, when the Q built the short line thru my home town of New Truxton, MO in 1905, the first things into operation after the station was constructed were the stock pens and the "granary" These granaries were single story buildings. In New Truxton the granary was built on a siding. The box cars and stock cars (yes stock cars were used hauling grain) would be spotted at the track side platform of the building and a tractor or horse drawn wagons, and later small trucks would back up to the platform inside the building and unload. In those early days all the grain was in large burlap sacks, and was sacked right on the harvest site. The sacks were then trans loaded from the trucks to the waiting cars. These granaries were originally about seven miles apart. With the advent of motor trucks of higher capacity and the development of the elevator versus the granary, the granaries went out of business and in most cases were torn down or converted to other uses. I have no idea how the grain was graded or how the farmers got paid during the "granary" days. The granary in New Truxton, MO was moved from trackside to a nearby farm and still exists today. I did a program on the facilities at New Truxton and the story for the Warren County Historical Society in Warrenton, MO. They have a CD which tells the the story about the rise of the town and its eventual fall to a ghost town after the RR was torn out. it is available from them at a reasonable price. The early Zephyrs flashed thru New Truxton in those days and are included in the story. Bill __._,_.___ Posted by: William Canelos <sharronbillc@yahoo.com> __,_._,___ |