Regional Manager, Grain Division
March 5, 2026
On a September afternoon, Scoular’s Waverly, Illinois, team wrapped up a job that speaks volumes about efficiency and teamwork: loading 115 railcars with 450,000 bushels of corn in 8.5 hours.
Shuttle-loaders like Waverly’s are essential links in the agricultural supply chain, where speed and safety matter. For Scoular’s producers and customers, speed means farmer grain is being moved quickly and efficiently to customers who need it.
A shuttle-loader is a high-speed, high-capacity grain elevator designed to quickly and efficiently load a train of 100 or more railcars, known as a shuttle.
Waverly’s shuttle-loading facility provides 11 million bushels of storage, 30,000-bushels-per-hour of corn drying capacity and three grain receiving pits. It also gives corn producers direct access to West Texas feed and ethanol markets. That connection helps farmers turn crops into income efficiently and reliably.
The scale house is Waverly’s front door, the first step in the process.
Video monitors give scale operator Sarah Campbell a view of the trucks in line and the open tops of their trailers brimming with corn.
On the September day the crew loaded the train, Sarah watched that morning as trucks pulled onto the scale. Controlling a probe with a joystick, Sarah took grain samples from a trailer, checking the moisture and other quality factors that determine the producer’s final price.
Her testing also determined which of the three grain receiving pits and, ultimately, which bin the truckload of corn will go to.
“I have to do my job correctly,” Campbell said. “What I do affects everyone on the team. We all work together.”
When finished at the scale house, drivers shifted their trucks into gear and headed to the grain receiving pits.
After the grain was unloaded into the pits, conveyors and elevators moved it into bins.
Near the scale house, in what’s called the lower control room, a facility crew member started the flow of grain from the storage bins and blended the corn. Third-party inspectors sat behind the crew member, working with him to ensure the shipped grain’s quality would meet customer standards.
Loading a shuttle train is a coordinated effort involving precision and safety.
On that September day, employees tethered to fall-protection systems opened the hatches on the car tops.
In the upper control room, Senior Elevator Operator Shane Taviner operated a computer-controlled system that moved the blended grain to a hopper above the railcars. He used a joystick to lower the spout into an open hatch, and the grain flowed in by gravity.
Along with fall protection, facility crews receive comprehensive safety training that includes hazard identification, proper equipment operation, and working in confined spaces. Ongoing refreshers, peer observations, and clear procedures reinforce a culture where everyone owns safety and looks out for team members.
By mid-afternoon, the last lid was sealed, and the train was ready to roll south to a customer in Texas — testament to safety, teamwork and service to producers and customers.
“When that last car is loaded and the last lid is sealed, our crew knows they’ve done their job,” said Facility Manager Justin Pecka.