Iowa Grain Elevators

[basementcalling]

More than a few new fangled grain elevators in Iowa were wrecked by Tuesday's Derecho that featured winds over 100 MPH in many locations in the corn belt.

I guess a T Trak model could feature a scene like this.

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[Chris333]

new fangled

(Attachment Link)

So do these use a different construction from older bins?

[mu26aeh]

Go to about 1130 mark

[C855B]

So do these use a different construction from older bins?

Versus concrete or other masonry. The corrugated steel bins are vulnerable when empty. I'm slightly surprised the lift tower is still standing.

Camping last week, we missed being in the middle of this mess by a few miles. We had strong winds where we were, but I saw the shelf cloud and had a clue as to what we were in for, so there was time to secure everything before it messed with our stuff. An acquaintance who lived further north was still waiting for power to be restored to her neighborhood on Friday (the storm was on Monday).

One headline from Iowa asserted that 10M acres of near-ripe corn was affected. That's probably a big stretch, but we've seen the aftermath of smaller derechos, with fields absolutely flattened. Most farmers carry insurance for this sort of thing, so aside from the cleanup work they should be OK. Including farmer dude. 

[Chris333]

In the first photo the brand new bins are down, but the older bins look fine. Just thought they were built different with a newer (better    ) way.

[wazzou]

In the first photo the brand new bins are down, but the older bins look fine. Just thought they were built different with a newer (better    ) way.

No doubt the height difference played some role or possibly they were full?

[C855B]

My best guess is they had to have been full or nearly so. The metal bin design since inception is basically a wrapper with a roof; there is no internal bracing. What could have been a contributing factor in the newer bins is possibly the foundation anchors and maybe thinner metal, but I still think 90% of it is a full/empty thing.

In watching the video the strongest indication I see of structural failure is where he highlights the anchor points broken away from the concrete. That wouldn't have happened if the bins were full, or if the anchors were deeper into the concrete.

[learmoia]

Be sure to include the tipped over empty grain cars.. (Lot of that going around too... )

~Ian

[BruceStikkers]

Several years back an elevator in our area blew down on the Canadian National mainline and stopped train traffic. These bins are not stable in high winds when they are empty. The coop rebuilt with concrete so it won't happen again. We have also had straight line winds blow over several intermodals over the last number of years. There was even a tank car blown off the tracks.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL
(about 120 miles south of Chicago)

[nkalanaga]

The MILW at Beverly, Washington, and the GN east of Glacier NP, used to have trains blown over regularly.  The Beverly Bridge had a TOFC train lose several trailers, loaded with Japanese transistor radios, and those radios were found downstream for years.  The sandbar below the bridge came to be called "Japanese Bar". 

The GN dealt with winds by watching the weather forecasts.  The MILW added signals at both ends of the bridge, connected to anemometers, to stop trains when the winds were too high.

The Rio Grande had problems west of Denver, but I'm not familiar with the details there.  The eastern slope of the Rockies is infamous for high winds.  Beverly is at the north end of a short gorge, and the winds funnel through from the Hanford Reservation.

[Hawghead]

In the Gorge we get what we call the "Colombia River hand brake".  One time I had a 5000 ton train train with only one motor.  That's still good enough for 50 mph on the river grade of the Gorge (although it will take a while in run 8 to get there).  Best I could get out of it was 36 mph and when the train was coming out from around a point of land that sheltered the it from the wind, I could literally feel the tug as the wind grabbed it.

Scott

[nkalanaga]

Portland-bound?  In the early days of the BN, they often ran 100-car trains, mostly loads, with 4-5,000 hp.  Basically, all they needed were the brakes, as it's downhill all the way from Kennewick to Vancouver.  BUT - they had to send enough power to pull the empties back to Pasco!

And, yes, the Gorge can have some ferocious winds.