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GDC 2010 starts today!

Serious question....

The elevator is/was obviously large and apparently needed when it was built. I'm sure it was a technological marvel for its day. Why then, was it completely abandoned after the war? I would assume that rebuilding would have been cheaper than starting from scratch? What changed that rendered it useless? Was the surrounding farmland rendered unsuitable for farming? etc. etc.

I guess its time to bone up on a little history. (I sooo hated history in my youth...:eek: (
 
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perhaps it was Stalin's massive economic push to emphasize military production. a drastic move from what was mostly an agrarian society pre-WWII after the revolution, to an industrial society to show off the mighty red army and flex their muscles at the west. with such much being put into the military economy, they might have no longer seen a real need for a huge grain elevator. remember Lenin's policy was still focused more on agriculture whereas Stalin was all about building tanks and guns to fuel the war machine. thoughts?
 
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Serious question....

The elevator is/was obviously large and apparently needed when it was built. I'm sure it was a technological marvel for its day. Why then, was it completely abandoned after the war? I would assume that rebuilding would have been cheaper than starting from scratch? What changed that rendered it useless? Was the surrounding farmland rendered unsuitable for farming? etc. etc.

I guess its time to bone up on a little history. (I sooo hated history in my youth...:eek: (
1. It wasn't abandoned - it was back in operation (at least partly) in 1943. Still in operation today. Or at least, it was when we spent so much time in it!

2. Volgograd is (and always was) surrounded by Steppe. The grain has to be brought in by truck or train.
 
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Sweet, forgive my ignorance but what does a grain elevator actually do? Looking by the size of it, the elevator could handle some serious capacity and must of had hundreds of workers to keep it running. :eek:

How long did the fighting last around the area Alan, I assume production has stopped during the shelling by the 88's so every day out of operation was a severe hit to the Russians.
 
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1. It wasn't abandoned - it was back in operation (at least partly) in 1943. Still in operation today. Or at least, it was when we spent so much time in it!

2. Volgograd is (and always was) surrounded by Steppe. The grain has to be brought in by truck or train.
Ah. I was thrown off with the talk of people being the first Westerners allowed(?) in. I thought perhaps there was some sacred significance for that.

@Psycho_Sam
Zets is pretty much right. A grain elevator typically recieves, stores and ultimatly ships out grain. Wheat, grain sorghum, corn, soybeans, rice, etc are examples of the kinds of grain that may be stored in them. Each grain has its own specific "safe for storage" moisture levels. Depending upon the elevator, the elevator may dry grain (most today will) or they may not. In the event they do not dry grain, they will only accept grain below a certain moisture content.

There are pits that recieve the grain (from trucks, rail cars, barge off-loads), legs that transport the grain to drying apparatus, from there to bins (silos) where it is temporarily stored. The bins generally have sloped bottoms ...V... where the grain gravity flows into another leg where it can be moved to rail cars, river barges, trucks, etc to the end user (mills, feed houses, etc.).

Elevators are found in rural areas where grain is temporarily stored as it comes from local farms during harvest. Grain is perishable and must be harvested timely and stored safely. Often the grain will move from the local smaller elevators (via truck) to larger elevators located on rivers or major railway systems. From there the grain may move to local markets or often to even larger elevators at major export ports for overseas shipment.

Thus ends Floyd's Grain Handling Systems 101. :rolleyes:
 
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Zets is pretty much right. A grain elevator typically recieves, stores and ultimatly ships out grain. Wheat, grain sorghum, corn, soybeans, rice, etc are examples of the kinds of grain that may be stored in them. Each grain has its own specific "safe for storage" moisture levels. Depending upon the elevator, the elevator may dry grain (most today will) or they may not. In the event they do not dry grain, they will only accept grain below a certain moisture content.

Yup - Floyd has the basic idea. The tall chunk with the windows actually houses a lot of the "elevator" gear - bucket lifts and conveyors. Incoming trucks are (typically) weighed and sampled, then dump the incoming grain into pits, at the bottom of which is one end of the conveyor/elevator system.

The grain will be moved through to a dryer of one sort or another, while the truck heads out (being weighed again so you know how much grain it deposited). The grain is lifted to the top of the building and then out onto conveyors again, across the top of the building and is directed into whichever silo that grain is intended for.

At some later date, the grain can be dumped out the bottom of a silo, into another elevator/conveyor system. This shifts the grain mostly into rail cars (on the east side of the elevator in Stalingrad) or across a really long conveyor down to the river. For some reason the Russians always say they didn't - but the damn thing is clearly visible on aerial photos. Grain could also be sent out to be dumped into sacks or trucks, but the vast bulk would go out via rail/river.

Doesn't take many staff to run the thing, even though it looks huge. It is a lot of work during the harvest season, but the rest of the time, rather dull :)
 
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Yup - Floyd has the basic idea. The tall chunk with the windows actually houses a lot of the "elevator" gear - bucket lifts and conveyors. Incoming trucks are (typically) weighed and sampled, then dump the incoming grain into pits, at the bottom of which is one end of the conveyor/elevator system.

The grain will be moved through to a dryer of one sort or another, while the truck heads out (being weighed again so you know how much grain it deposited). The grain is lifted to the top of the building and then out onto conveyors again, across the top of the building and is directed into whichever silo that grain is intended for.

At some later date, the grain can be dumped out the bottom of a silo, into another elevator/conveyor system. This shifts the grain mostly into rail cars (on the east side of the elevator in Stalingrad) or across a really long conveyor down to the river. For some reason the Russians always say they didn't - but the damn thing is clearly visible on aerial photos. Grain could also be sent out to be dumped into sacks or trucks, but the vast bulk would go out via rail/river.

Doesn't take many staff to run the thing, even though it looks huge. It is a lot of work during the harvest season, but the rest of the time, rather dull :)


Very nice full description of this elevator grain concept.

Now, how about a very nice full description of RO:HOS?

-Any tanks vehicles in the game?
-What are they?
-Approximate date of release?

Lets hear about what we are all here for.

We need info!
 
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