Saturday, September 28, 2019

Fremont, NE: Grain Elevators

Google (fremont+nebraska+grain+elevators) Search Result

Satellite
I included the small yard it has to hold a unit train. I could not find a company locomotive. I wonder if it is parked in the loading shed.
Central Valley AG Co-op must be an equipment supply facility rather than a grain elevator. I could not find any silos or bins at the indicated street address.

Gavilon Group
It also has a private yard to hold a unit train. According to my 1928 RR Atlas, this branch from Blair, NE, used to belong to C&NW. 

Jeff Showers, Sep 2018
The company locomotive reflects the C&NW heritage of this elevator.

Evidently Google marks only the elevators that pay for inclusion in their display because I found some other grain processing facilities while looking at satellite images.

Satellite
At first I didn't think they bought directly from the area farmers given that they did not advertise in Google. But their webpage implies they do buy from farmers.
In fact, looking at the comparable elevator web page, ADM's soy processing pays more than their elevator does for soybeans. The soybean oil plant can pay the farmers more because they don't have to pay extra to transport the soybeans to where they will be used since they will use them right their.

MonthFuturesElevatorProcessing
Sep 20198.837.93-
Oct 20198.837.938.03
Nov 20198.837.938.18
Dec 20198.978.238.27.5
Jan 20208.978.238.32.5
Feb 20209.108.308.45
Mar 20209.10-8.45
Oct-Nov 20209.40-8.65.5

Since Ardent Mills makes flour, they would buy wheat. That is probably why ADM Grain doesn't have wheat in their price list because wheat farmers would come to this elevator instead.
Satellite
The north tracks are UP and the south tracks are BNSF/CB&Q.

SatelliteDebruce Grain Co.


The motivation for researching the grain handling facilities in this town was the following post:
KLKN (source)   Sunday, 9-22-2019
Over 25 rescue personnel are working to recover a male trapped in this grain bin in Fremont. He has been trapped since around 2:30 p.m. today.
[He did not survive]
This elevator with an accident wasn't any of the above elevators. It was the following that is north of town.
Satellite
Rescue personnel were told that the worker had entered the concrete grain elevator to break up a crust on the grain. He reportedly fell through the crust. The name of the man, Zane Fecht, 32, of Bellevue, was released Monday. Central Valley Ag Cooperative provided a rescue team and grain vacuums to aid in the removal of grain from the elevator and the recovery efforts, the Sheriff's Office said. Fecht's body was removed from the grain elevator about 9:10 p.m. Sunday. The investigation into the incident is continuing. [omaha.com]

First responders confirmed just before 8 p.m. Sunday that a rescue mission at Interstate Commodities grain elevator, just outside Fremont, NE, became a recovery mission, reports KFMT Fremont.
Fremont Fire Department, Dodge County Sheriff’s office and at least two other rescue crews from nearby agencies worked for nearly five hours to save a man who became trapped in the grain bin around 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Rope teams were on the scene, as was a crew from Central Valley Ag, attempting rescue from both the top and the bottom of the elevator.
[FeedAndGrain]

None of the reports that I found mentioned whether or not the worker was wearing a safety harness that was attached to a rope.

Justin Mensik posted
Fremont, NE. Elevator still fully functioning. Tho it’s a disaster.
Ryan Stanek: Wasn't there a fire there?
Justin Mensik: Ryan Stanek I’m always told grain explosion. So yeah. The silo or two to the west is where an employee became entrapped and the whole thing was unloaded onto the parking lot to get his body out.


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