I wanted to make a grain elevator and covered hopper car that would be fun to play with and great to look at. Something that fits in the industrial district of a city just as easily as being part of a train layout. I brought in lots of details like the ladder and catwalks on the outside of the building.

The tower has a removeable wall to access the detailed interior. The first floor office includes a workstation for the manager, filing cabinets full of detailed records, and a testing station to determine which silo an incoming shipment should go to. The second floor breakroom includes opening lockers, a punch clock for employees, a small kitchen area, and a well-stocked vending machine. The third floor "headhouse" has lots of details like the distribution spout at the top to route grains to the appropriate silo for storage or to the departure spout to be loaded into a waiting freight car. Grain dust can be explosive, so a dust collector is employed to keep everything safe.

The grain elevator includes two brick built signs, "ABS GRAINS." Of course, that name has a double meaning because Lego bricks start out as ABS granules. There are a few other Lego themed easter eggs for builders to discover. The exterior includes a loading chute above the tracks and a receiving pit between the rails. There is a gangplank that can be lowered for easy access to the top of the car when its being loaded (if you have taller hopper cars the gangplank can easily be moved higher). The train track features a movable derail at the start of the siding and an industrial-style terminus at the end.

For the train car I wanted to create a detailed model that can serve city builders who would appreciate a single parked car to accentuate the grain elevator as well as train builders who might use the design to build a whole train of their own.

This set includes four minifigures- the elevator manager, two on-duty workers and one worker who just finished their shift. The three active works each have a hardhat and a hair piece.

Throughout I brought in my best building techniques so that anyone would have a fun time assembling this model and hopefully learn a few new tricks along the way.

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