Grain Elevator - Lyalta - 1982

History on the elevator and the rail line below. Recorded: September 9th, 2026 Music: Alter Hero - Helmut Schenker The grain elevator in Lyalta, Alberta, is a rare concrete "Buffalo 2000" structure built by the Alberta Wheat Pool in 1982. It featured an innovative pre-cast concrete design intended to modernize the grain-handling industry. Capacity: Holds about 190,000 bushels of grain across 30 bins. Only three "Buffalo 2000" elevators were ever built in Alberta (including ones in Foremost and Boyle), making them a short-lived design before the industry shifted to massive slip-form concrete terminal silos Ownership Changes: Owned initially by the Alberta Wheat Pool, it passed to Agricore after a merger with United Grain Growers (UGG), and is owned today by Canada Malting Company. It sits at the end of the former Alberta Midland railway line. The railway line running through Lyalta later operated by the Canadian National Railway (CN)—fully stopped being used for freight traffic in 2008. Transport: While it was built for rail, grain is now primarily moved out by truck rather than railcars. Local Landmark: It remains the last standing grain elevator in the hamlet of Lyalta.