A Place for Grain

Workers in the Spreckels Sugar Co. grain warehouse are busy reading the next shipment

In 1916, a large storm hit the Salinas Valley, one newspaper article noted that the “roof of the sugar company’s grain warehouse [was] blown away.” While that was a bit of an exaggeration, I thought that the article would be helpful on my recent scratch building project.

Sanborn maps from 1914 and 1919 each have a warehouse located just south of Spreckels, along the PVC RR yard, approximately 200’ x 50'. Other maps, and aerials of the area all show a warehouse, even today there is a large building in the same general area.  I didn’t have a lot of information to go off of, but I was inspired by a presentation at last year’s Pacific Southwest Division NMRA convention in Phoenix. Frank Baker presented a clinic on scratchbuilding, and shared some of his mock-up/placeholder buildings built of cardstock, so while I didn’t have a lot of details sorted out, I knew the dimensions, so I put together a quick mock-up. After a week, I decided to jump in a build the model. 

Called out in the 1914 Sanborn map

Called out in the 1919 Sanborn map

Because of the limited depth along the backdrop, I could only model about 1/3 of the width, while maintaining the scale length of the structure. This allows for six boxcars to be spotted here. 

The construction was straightforward, I used Evergreen styrene for the walls and trim, and Grandt Line and Tichy Train Group doors. The roof was constructed from 6 panels of Grandt Line shingles. These were not easy to find. I'm not sure why, but I could not locate any large sheets of shingles in N scale. 

I only detailed sections visible through the two open freight doors. The grain sacks are from Fine N Scale Products

Weathering was toned down on a portion of the roof to model the area damaged in the storm. The seagulls are from American Archetype, on Shapeways

The article above mentions that 50 feet of roofing was damaged during the store. My modeling is set in the 1920s, so the major storm had come and passed, but I still wanted to reference the roof damage. To do this, I masked off about 50 scale feet while weathering. While I’m sure no one will notice, I wanted to add a little history to the model.

The two tracks in the front lead to the Spreckels Sugar Co. Refinery. The Spreckels yard extends to the left

 The Sanborn map from 1914 labels this a "Spreckels Sugar Co. Warehouse", and the one from 1919 names it a "Grain Warehouse". Because I'll be modeling the large grain warehouses owned by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company in Moss Landing, I thought it'd be useful to have a grain warehouse on the other end of the layout. Boxcars will be spotted in Spreckels, loaded with grain, and sent to Moss Landing for unloading.    
       

All in all, this was an easy build. When the trackwork to Moss Landing is complete, this warehouse will provide a lot of operating potential between the two towns. 

Products Used:

Pigeons - American Archetype

Sacks of grain - Fine N Scale Products
Walls - Evergreen Scale Models #4041 - Clapboard .040" Spacing
Trim - Evergreen Scale Models #102 - Strip Styrene .010" x .040"
Freight Dock & Floor - Evergreen Scale Models #4030 - V-Groove .030" Spacing

Doors - Tichy Train Group - 4 Panel Door #2513, Baggage Door #2515; Grandt Line - Victorian Baggage Door #8018
Roofing - Grandt Line Shingles #8030 (I believe Scalloped Shingles and Rectangular Shingles have the same item number, I used the rectangular shingles)
Downspouts - .010" bronze wire
Paint - Rustoleum Paint & Primer Flat White spray (walls); Craftsmart Acrylic 'Suede' (trim); the roof is flat black with various washes and dry brushing applied.