This is where corn and soybeans get dumped, cleaned and stored. Trucks dump their loads into a pit (located inside the bulk overhead dispensor shed on the east side of the complex). An auger in the pit then moves the grain to one of the legs (the tall vertical pipes) where cups elevate it and deposit it into the correct bin. During this process, the grain is run over screens and shaken to get rid of foreign material, split/broken kernels, etc. Bin spouts on either side of the complex dispense grain for outbound shipping (trucks on the west side and railcars on the east side). For containers, the bulk overhead dispenser on the west side dumps onto a portable belt, which then conveys the grain into the container.
Inbound railcar shipments of grain are somewhat rare and, as such, the procedure for getting the grain out is a bit convoluted. A portable auger / belt conveyor is used to transfer grain from the hopper cars to a semi, which then drives around to the bulk overhead dispenser shed and dumps its load into the truck receiving pit.
Note in the prototype pictures below that a fourth elevated bin was added to the west side during the winter of 2012-2013 (with a conveyor running over to the premium conditioning plant). And since I won't be modeling the latter (no room for it), I went ahead and just skipped the former. Also note that a lot of the various details (pipes, elevator legs, etc) have changed considerably over the years. My model represents the state of the complex as I first discovered it back in 2009 (well, more or less anyway).
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