Western Railroad Discussion > Tapping The Wheat

Workers at Ritzville's Templin Terminal pull down the tarp on an outdoor wheat pile while an empty Herzog ballast train sits on the grain loading track last Wednesday.




 

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How big is one tarp sheet?

I can't give you a numerical value on the size, but they're big!

From what I've observed, they start with two tarps, which are folded, and positioned on the top of the wheat pile. Each tarp covers half of the pile.

It takes about a dozen guys to unroll each tarp, and cover the wheat.

Once that's done, they seal the two tarps together using a white goop, applied with paint brushes. See photo.

They also install vents at various points on the pile. The vents look like maybe 2" PVC pipes, about 6-feet-long, which they auger down into the pile, with maybe 12" sticking up above the surface.

It's an interesting process to watch.

I have some other photos I'll post when I get a chance. I entered a few shots in the photo contest of our fair and rodeo, which is this coming weekend.

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That's quite an optical illusion.  At first it appeared as if the workers had been downsized and were tarping over a coal load in the hopper in the foreground.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/26 11:17 by PasadenaSub.

PasadenaSub Wrote:
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> That's quite an optical illusion.  At first it
> appeared as if the workers had been downsized and
> were tarping over a coal load in the hopper in the
> foreground.


N Scale figures on an O Scale model!

timz Wrote:
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> How big is one tarp sheet?


Plastic to cover silage bunkers comes in sizes up to at least 72x200 feet, so the grain companies can definitely get whatever size they need for the outside piles.

Posted from Android

Darren Boes
Lethbridge, AB
Southern Alberta Railfan

They fold it once and ship rolls 36 ft long?

When they had the tarps staged atop the wheat piles, they were folded in the shape of a chest, or refrigerator.

Then, they unfolded it, and with a bunch of guys spaced maybe 10 feet apart, pulled it down the pile.

Posted from iPhone

Nice catch!!

Larry

timz Wrote:
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> They fold it once and ship rolls 36 ft long?

The sheets are folded a certain number of times, in a specific way, to make unfolding easier. 

Interesting photo.Looks like the sink up to their ankles. it must be a soft landing if they fall.

how hard is it to walk on a pile of wheat. Doesn't look easy

Kind of like quick sand, except it's dry, from what I've seen.

elevators on the ground

It's nice to see a good wheat harvest in part of the country.  In the central and southern Great Plains, the wheat harvest has been WAY below normal.  In some places, the wheat was so bad, it was just cut and baled for hay, or not even harvested at all.  A lot of the corn crop in that region isn't "making", either.  A lot of it will be cut for silage.

WW Wrote:
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> It's nice to see a good wheat harvest in part of
> the country.  In the central and southern Great
> Plains, the wheat harvest has been WAY below
> normal.  In some places, the wheat was so bad, it
> was just cut and baled for hay, or not even
> harvested at all.  A lot of the corn crop in that
> region isn't "making", either.  A lot of it will
> be cut for silage.

What was the issue? No rain?

Do these tent covered grain storage attract rodents?

BCHellman Wrote:
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> What was the issue? No rain?

Relatively dry winter, followed by a very dry May--normally one of the  wettest months in the Southern Great Plains.  That pretty much decimated the winter wheat crop in eastern Colorado, western Kansas, western Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle.  Then, after a little respite in July in some parts of the southern Great Plains, things got ridiculously dry again in August.  That crippled much of the corn crop in central Kansas.  Soybeans were doing OK in central and eastern Kansas until about 3 weeks ago, but with most areas getting zero rain for about 6 weeks now, plus temperatures in high 90's and low 100's for many days, the soybean crop is now looking a lot worse.  Things are in better shape farther north on the Great Plains and farther east in the Corn Belt, but it may not make up for the production shortfall in the southern Great Plains.  And, soil moisture is brutally low in much of same region, so the upcoming winter wheat crop planting this fall may not even have enough soil moisture for the winter wheat to sprout.  

Thanks for a good answer to a question none of
the rest of us knows anything about.

timz Wrote:
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> Thanks for a good answer to a question none of
> the rest of us knows anything about.

I'm glad that you liked the information.  Years back, I worked in agriculture, and following climate, weather, crop production, etc. goes along with my interests in railroading.  Oh, and one thing that I DON'T miss is the miserable job of unloading soybean meal (epecially) and corn from 100-ton railroad hoppers when it was 100° outside--that is young man's work and I'm sure not young now.