The grain elevator can vary from vast, hard to model subjects right down to....well look at this one. (With apologies to those who will have already seen this industry elsewhere!)
Just West of Waukesha WI, on former Milwaukee trackage now operated by Wisconsin & Southern lies a small double ended grain elevator track serving Williams Grain. What I love about this one is it looks like something from another time and place...you almost wouldn't be surprised if an old 2-8-0 puffed round the curve and left a couple of boxcars for loading rather than a modern regional with SD40-2s and covered hoppers...

WSOR 4011 T4 Williams WI by Train Chaser, on Flickr
Believe it or not that rusty ol' elevator is still a rail shipper, and various images (including Bing's aerials) show covered hoppers on the spur for loading. There are other shots showing MOW gear stored in there too which would be another use for the spur.
Bing's shots can be found here: http://binged.it/Qja1jc
Oddly enough for a minor rural location Google Streetview has it too:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Waukes ... .2,,0,6.84