New Blair Line Fertilizer Plant Kit (HO & N Scale)

To All:

Our good friend and fellow Frisco modeler Dale Rush of Blair Line Models continues of offer kits that represent some of the small town industries and business's that we all can use on our railroads. His newest offering, Farmer's Fertilizer, truly continues that trend. It represents a small town industry that received dry bulk fertilizer in bulk form from railroad hopper cars and then stored it in bins inside the plant. Local farmers could then order the fertilizer mixed to their specifications and transferred to spreader wagons or trucks that would then be used to apply the mix to their fields.

To that end I have attached two photographs taken recently of one such prototype example, Fredonia CO-OP, that sat on the Frisco's Wichita Subdivision in Fredonia, KS. As the photographs attest, the model clearly and accurately represents one such facility, albeit Dale did not use this plant specifically for his model.

The model will be available in both HO and N scale with the N scale version coming first in January 2014 and the HO version following shortly thereafter.


N-#1007...........$37.95
HO-#2007.........$TBA


Lastly, if anyone else can remember similar plants along the Frisco and better yet post pictures, please do.

 

I looked at the kit pictures, and It reminds me a lot of an MFA plant on the old passenger main on the east side of Springfield.

I have some pictures I took in August 2005, but I don't have time to get them uploaded right now. I will post those later.

Paul

 

Thee was a similar MFA facility in Bentonville, at the end of the original Bentonville RR, where the first depot was. I don't know that these are really plants; more of a warehouse. Of course it's a real mess when they burn, the Fire Department just protects nearby structures. The replacement was green fiberglass which was less combustible; there are still some of those scattered around.

 

Here are the photos I mentioned previously:






(Sorry about the colors on some of these. The camera I had at the time seriously over-exposed those images,
and I recovered them as best I could at the time with post processing).

Note that this building is located on East Trafficway between the Glenstone viaduct and Chestnut Expressway (and just east of the lead to Lilly Tulip).

Paul

 

That green fiberglass is hard to photograph; can't get the texture from a distance. I guess they had a couple of standard sizes as this one looks bigger than the one that was in Bentonville (gone now.)
I don't remember if Ron Williams has that on his layout; District One I think he calls the area.
I used Strathmore paper to represent one of these on a friend's layout.

 

Thanks for your interest. Fertilizer plants are nearly as common as elevators on railroads from the 50's to date. My new kit is based mostly on the MFA plant at Marshfield, MO on the Frisco. Paul Bender's photos of the Springfield plant show a plant of the same design, but much longer plant than the plant at Marshfield. I chose the Marshfield plant because it is nice size to model, still has rail service and with the office add-on is a little more interesting than most plants. Paint it white and it could represent a fertilizer plant from many other companies. Many of the plants I have seen, other than MFA are painted white. I have seen a model of an Agway plant in New York state painted white with red trim, a prototypical color according to the model builder.

I did a lot of research, both in person and on Google Maps. I found the plants are nearly the same design all over the USA. The main difference being size of the structure or how the fertilizer is moved from train or truck into the storage bins inside the plant. Much like modern grain elevators, nowadays the most modern fertilizer plants are much larger than older plants and capable of handling many hopper cars at a time instead of one or two cars.

The main structures are always made of wood, concrete, fiberglass or a combination of same. The fertilizer is highly corrosive to metal. I once had a metal shed and placed a sack of lawn fertilizer to close to the wall. In less than 6 months it ate a large hole through the siding. It also ate the metal shelf it was sitting on.

I found MFA plants at several Frisco locations. On the Highline they were at Harrisonville, Lowry City, Weaubleau and Bolivar. Other MFA locations on the SLSF are Springfield, Marshfield, Lockwood, Golden City, Mt Vernon, Aurora, Lebanon, Rolla, Crocker, Conway and Bentonville, AR. I am sure there are many more.

I have photos of the kit and prototype, but cannot get them to upload. Photos of the kit are at http://www.blairline.com/farmersfertilizer/

Dale Rush
Blair Line LLC
Carthage, MO

 

As far as I know, the Springfield plant still has rail service too. I once saw the plant workers moving a covered hopper with a bobcat ( or similar sized tractor ). It has two tracks, but I have only ever seen cars on the one closest to the building.

Darn. I ordered two kits so I could use one for a building on my East Lynne corner and use one on a new free-mo module based on the Springfield plant, but I guess I'll need to use one of the two on my Harrisonville module. ( this is probably better; I need to build buildings for my Harrisonville industrial peninsula.)

What paint did you use on the sample model? I would like to make sure I have the materials I need when the kits arrive.

Paul

 

Well, I am certainly glad Dale wrote us a update. I kept saying "Man I have seen that lots of times"
I was right, I have seen it lots of times.
I will need one for my pike.
Bill Jackson

 

Dale, please let us know when the HO versions are released.

 

The following link is for the MFA fertilizer plant in Lebanon, MO. It really has not changed much since the late Frisco days except that the BN lengthened the siding for it.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=leba...=9lg_9Z6rIXuL5FQ48BaNCg&cbp=12,189.56,,0,4.54

I remember ICG hoppers being spotted at the plant during the spring time.

 

Thanks for your comments guys. So far the response for this kit has been positive. I don't think anyone has ever offered this type of structure. I needed several for my own layout too. It is fun to build test kits when they are going on the layout!

We are going to have the N scale kit ready to ship Jan. 10. Shipping goal for the HO kit is Jan. 31, but may be moved back a week, depending on how design goes and how busy we are shipping other product.

Matching the MFA green is pretty much like trying to match Frisco orange. You have to go with what looks right to your eye. The green fiberglass tended to fade to a lighter shade of green with age. I painted the N scale kit shown on our website Polly Scale GN Glacier Green. Polly Scale Penn Central Green is a good match too, especially for an older facility showing some fading. Badger has Penn Central Green that looks to be a good match. Testors has a color, Candy Green, that looks like a pretty good match too, but is probably glossy so will require a coat of Dullcoat. Any flat white will do for the trim, bucket elevator and control box. Some of the bucket elevators are aluminum or gray colors. I used Krylon Camo spray paint in a Khaki color for the concrete, but any concrete color will be fine. The roofing is a printed peel-n-stick sheet with no painting required.

The Lebanon plant is a bigger plant too. Much like the Springfield plant it is extended lengthwise, but with what looks like three structures instead of one long structure.

Dale Rush
Blair Line LLC

 

Thanks Dale. I am looking forward to getting my kits. This is also motivation to do some trackwork, so I can serve the Harrisonvile plant.

Paul

 

A few other locations with similar buildings in Missouri, Salem, Meta and Freeburg, the last two being on the Rock Island.

Brad Slone

 

You're no doubt correct as no fertilizer manufacturing in a plant that small, hence the fertilizer "supply" name.

I have been through a Kent Feeds feed mill and I would guess that this is just a smaller version. i.e. grain is mixed with various supplements and then sold either in bulk or bagged on a batch basis. These locations could also sell bagged feed (dog, goat, pig, chicken, etc.) along with bagged fertilizer.

I am not sure when operations such as this one started sell liquid fertilizers. Some places in Iowa that I went through would have the liquid fertilizer in what looked like large propane tanks on wheels. They would fill it up, the farmer towed it to his field, used what he needed and was charged accordingly. They would also rent out tall motorized fertilizer/herbicide applicators.

 

You guys are correct, no actual manufacturing took place in these structures, yet we always referred to them as fertilizer plants in West Central Missouri, where I grew up. They call them fertilizer plants here in SW Missouri too. These buildings stored different types of dry inorganic fertilizer in individual bins or bays and then a custom mix was created based on the type of crop being planted and sometimes using information from a soil analysis too.

We had two fertilizer plants in my hometown, but had only one elevator. One of the plants was a Farmland Coop and the other was locally owned and independent. The Farmland Coop also sold anhydrous ammonia. They stored it in a large tank similiar to a large propane storage tank. The farmers applied anhydrous using the propane tanks on wheels that Bob mentioned. I don't have a time frame on the anhydrous usage, but it was widely used and very common by the 1970's.

Dale Rush
Blair Line LLC

 

Ken,

Typically they accepted your samples and sent them elsewhere for testing. The office portion of the plants are usually pretty small. I will probably be pulling fertilizer from the Crocker plant in a few months, have many times. To model one you need to have a bunch of buggies setting around the building, I'm not sure if anyone makes a model version though. Grass grows real good around the properties except for were the products are frequently spilled, in these areas it burns the grass up. If you are modeling the spring when business is the heaviest there will be a long line for customers loading. Dale mention how corrosive fertilizer can be. We had a fertilizer plant along the tracks in Dixon growing up, it started out processing bulk feed but they decided to convert the building over to fertilizer. This only lasted a few years as it was a metal building and the fertilizer just ate it up. Salt is just as bad, this why you will see most state shed storing salt in wooden buildings.

Brad Slone

 

If you are modeling anhydrous ammonia tanks in the modern era (post 1980 or so), you should surround them with a chain link fence. That ingredient became a popular component of meth production and junkies would stop at nothing to get it. Small towns were ideal targets as they had limited law enforcement, especially at night. The next time you pass through one of these towns with a small population I can almost assure the propane tanks are fenced in!