Walther Cornerstone Prairie Co-Op Elevator Kit

[jpwisc]

I still cannot comprehend why they didn't release their Ethanol Series of structures in N. What a missed opportunity. Not only would they have made a great ethanol plant, but the structures could have been repurposed countless ways for use in our N Scale worlds. Aaaarrrgggghhhh.

[sirenwerks]

... could have been repurposed countless ways for use in our N Scale worlds. Aaaarrrgggghhhh.

That's what styrene sheet and window/door moldings are for.

[asarge]

I still cannot comprehend why they didn't release their Ethanol Series of structures in N. What a missed opportunity. Not only would they have made a great ethanol plant, but the structures could have been repurposed countless ways for use in our N Scale worlds. Aaaarrrgggghhhh.

They did not do as well with that in HO as they hoped. What does that have to do with N scale you ask?  Maybe nothing, but that's how Walthers thinks and has thought for a long time. I wish they haddone that and/or the Grain series, but........................................

[peteski]

They did not do as well with that in HO as they hoped. What does that have to do with N scale you ask?  Maybe nothing, . . .

I think it has a lot to do with N scale.  Since the N scale market is a lot smaller than H0, if some item doesn't sell well in H0, the chances are it will do much worse (quantity-wise) in N scale. I think that is how Walthers sees this.

[mu26aeh]

I could use parts of both the ethanol and grain series for Ag Com on the Hanover Sub.

[thomasjmdavis]

From the couple of chats I've had with Walthers reps at shows, they seem to envision N scale as the scale for people who don't have enough room for HO.  I think they figure we all have coffee table size layouts that are scale models of HO scale layouts.  Whereas what drew me (and I suspect a lot of people) to N scale was that I can pack 4 times as much stuff into a square foot.  The layout isn't smaller, the trains are bigger, in terms of numbers of cars, and scale size of buildings.

[Denver Road Doug]

No.

Jason

I stand corrected.   That's what I get for looking at stuff on my phone.   

Still, my point about height is still valid, IMHO.

[Missaberoad]

I stand corrected.   That's what I get for looking at stuff on my phone.   

Still, my point about height is still valid, IMHO.

I agree with you 100% for a modern elevator, or a Terminal elevator in a major city...

But I will say this elevator is a pretty good representation of a early 20th century concrete line elevator.

[nkalanaga]

As Ryan says, at looks fine for a small-town elevator.  A lot of those early "modern" elevators, concrete or steel, were replacements for the original wooden ones.  Thus, they're about the same size, because they weren't handling any more grain than before. 

[wcfn100]

Would an elevator that small have a scale house (like that)?

Jason

[Missaberoad]

Would an elevator that small have a scale house (like that)?

Jason

I've always thought the large exterior scales on walthers grain elevators were odd... Up here in Canada the truck scales were inside the elevators inlign with the dump grates.

I will admit im not familiar with american practices... Were there examples of country elevators with external scales?

[wcfn100]

Were there examples of country elevators with external scales?

Sure, just the one's I know of a just a bit larger than the Walthers structure.

https://goo.gl/maps/7UwdfXFZWD22


Jason

[Chris333]

I would think any sort of small town would still need to know the weight to sell or receive product.

[OldEastRR]

From the couple of chats I've had with Walthers reps at shows, they seem to envision N scale as the scale for people who don't have enough room for HO.  I think they figure we all have coffee table size layouts that are scale models of HO scale layouts.  Whereas what drew me (and I suspect a lot of people) to N scale was that I can pack 4 times as much stuff into a square foot.  The layout isn't smaller, the trains are bigger, in terms of numbers of cars, and scale size of buildings.

Next time you talk to Walthers reps who say that, get some e-addresses you/we can send them photos of the big and really big layouts we have here on TRW and in N scale in general. Sounds like those people have never seen or even known anybody with ANY N layout. HO is the dinky and toylike scale with regards to buildings-to-cars-size ratios, not N. HO-centrism always pisses me off.

[Rossford Yard]

Next time you talk to Walthers reps who say that, get some e-addresses you/we can send them photos of the big and really big layouts we have here on TRW and in N scale in general. Sounds like those people have never seen or even known anybody with ANY N layout. HO is the dinky and toylike scale with regards to buildings-to-cars-size ratios, not N. HO-centrism always pisses me off.

Not sure it would matter, and I am not bashing Walthers.  I read somewhere else that the "N scalers actually do have smaller layouts" is true.  A few large layouts won't skew those numbers.

For that matter, I was cleaning off my computer and saw an old article I had forgotten (and forgotten why....) I had saved about model railroading in Germany.  They had a lot of market research. One thing I noted was that N scale was growing relative to HO until the 2006-9 meltdown.  Then, N scale participation nosedived a bit and HO market share went back up over 70%. I have heard the same is true in NA.  FWIW, we N scalers tend to think the smaller scale is what attracts new modelers to model railroading.  According to this article, they thought it was the digital electronics that were the must haves for new modelers, which of course, fit better in HO.  Maybe when the N scale sound, etc. market matures, it will start growing again, relative to HO.

They also had a note about the amount of plywood pacific layouts.  Let's face it, we are probably lucky that Walthers commits so much resources to N scale structures as they do.  I think they have a pretty good sense of what will sell in N.  Some expert on some forum back in the day noted that N scale structures only sold 25% of HO, even back when N was about 33-40% of the HO market.  It seems we like our long trains, but so many build modules that we don't a) need structures or b) have enough money left over after we buy those 48 car coal trains.  We tend to be collectors and runners to a greater degree than the HO old line culture of building big layouts.

Also, doesn't surprise me the Ethanol plant didn't sell well.  While most structures from earlier eras can be put on modern layouts plausibly, an Ethanol plant is limited to that percentage of modelers who a) model really modern layouts (pretty small %) and b) see kit bash possibilities in structures (probably even smaller %)