There is a wonderful book out that contains mostly smaller Canadian
grain elevators. It's a fairly recent book so many were painted bright
colors. It's a celebration of the passing of that era when elevators
dotted the tracks at every water stop and sometimes between. I don't
have it here and don't recall it's name--maybe tomorrow.
I have viewed the video that Pieter had posted on this list a few
times. That elevator is right along with what the Dakotas' had. What
was somewhat foreign to me, was the elevator that Building and Structure
Company put out in laser cut styrene some years ago. It had outside
horizontal bracing that I had never seen before. However on the way to
the Denver convention I stopped and photographed a medium sized unit
with such bracing. So 500 miles between the Dakotas and Colorado with
similar growing seasons and weather conditions brought out different
construction techniques.
Before I wrap this up, I'll mention another thing that was common, and
probably just down the road from the Zeiska residence. If one were to
view a model of a Soo Line station the judges might give it a bad review
because of sloppy application of brickwork. Actually it wasn't brick at
all. Many older homes and railroad stations that were hard to heat were
covered with an asphalt wrapper embossed with a brick pattern. So if
one were to take some brick paper and wrap your station without taking
into consideration how it lined up or if the wrapper actually went
around the corner you would be following what really was done. I have
photos of a couple of Soo Line combination stations with living quarters
above with such treatment. Unfortunately, I'm not certain how this
stuff was applied and what sizes the stuff was sold in.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 3/12/12 1:13 PM, Daniel McConnachie wrote:
This is true in Canada as well, but as someone else pointed out there
were significant differences between Eastern and Western grain
elevators and barns. Size and roof construction being the biggest
difference. So there are some regional influences. One other note,
most house construction in Canada is usually brick with some stone in
parts of Ontario. Here as well there are exceptions. Wood is the
preferred material in Canada's Maritimes.
Daniel McConnachie
Retired Head of Music
Stouffville District Secondary School
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