The club picked up some hoppers (from Accurail, thanks to George) with the Cincinnati Northern markings along with the NYC logo. Which brings us back to looking at prototype cars…
The hoppers George picked up match hoppers built the first half of the 20th century. From what I saw, they replicate the prototype hopper and markings very well. The NYC roster shows NOR S-800 to S-1549 being built by Pullman from 1922 to 1944. They were rated at 55 tons – so a pretty decent hopper for the ‘20s – ‘40s.
We’ll jump to this nice 3-bay Southern hopper (for George). I can’t quite read the dates on this, but I’d guess built in the early to mid ‘60s. The ACI code was likely put on in the late ‘60’s, and it looks fresh. The car is in great shape for a hopper – just a few dents in the top edge. And, the paint looks pretty new.
This 2-bay hopper pic gives us a great image of a ‘50s hopper. The built date appears to be 1953; load capacity is at 50 tons. This is very typical of the era – generally a coal or coke service hopper. Compared to the NOR hopper above, it has ten panels rather than 8, probably slightly more volume though the weight capacity is actually slightly less. I’m guessing just a bit longer because of the extra panels – maybe 36’ or 38’ in lieu of the 34’ NOR hopper, but certainly not significantly longer.
Here’s another ‘50s 2-bay built in 1951. These offset side hoppers were built with the plates moved to the outside of the framing to increase capacity. These hoppers were rated at 55 tons. Some offset hoppers (and hoppers in general) reached ratings of 70 tons in the ‘50s – generally, the 70 ton hoppers were 3-bay. There’s a great summarized history of hoppers at this website: https://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/a-brief-history-of-coal-hoppers/
…And are you wondering what the bins of the empties should look like? Here’s a prototype pic of an empty 2-bay hopper after the coal has been dumped. This one’s pretty clean!
Virginian hopper #4611 was still operating in its old paint scheme and number some 26 years following the merger into the N&W. This pic was taken in 1985, the merger took place in 1959. These 3-bay coal hoppers were built in the ‘50’s – as mentioned above, they were generally 70 ton
Parts of our discussions of cars was about grain traffic (revolving around when covered hoppers took over grain hauling from the boxcars). A string of single-sheathed boxcars awaits coopering at an elevator on the Milwaukee Road in Sisseton, S.Dak., in 1939. Single-sheathed boxcars could be found in grain service into the 1960s.
As we’ve discussed in the past, grain doors were attached to the boxcars on the inside of the sliding doors as seen on this string of B&O boxcars. Grain was then dropped into the boxcar through the opening until the boxcar was filled to the top of the grain doors.
In this pic, you can see the grain door on the opposite side of the car with two workers unloading the grain by hand into a bin below the track. This process was typical of the ‘40s. I’m not sure of the purpose of the chains at the bottom of the guides/pans/shovels the two workers are using, unless it’s solely to keep the pans from dropping into the grain bin below.
Grain was still transported in the ‘50s mostly by boxcar. As the unloading of cars became more automated, larger grain plants would unload boxcars via machines like this that tipped the car 30 degrees sideways, and then up to 45 degrees on end. Typical loads in the boxcars were 50 to 55 tons.
Here’s a couple boxcar dumpers in line with each other.
Two bay covered hoppers were first introduced in the 1910s for cement, but really weren’t established until the ‘40s. Here’s a 2-bay hopper designed for 100 ton loads. The 100 ton hoppers were built generally post ‘60s. This one has a ceramic liner – the ceramic liner was very effective in protecting the car while in a chemical service like lime.
This covered hopper is headed for the scrap yard in 2012. But, it looks like the built date is ’49. Note the square hatches – this was likely for cement service. These square hatched 2-bay hoppers first started coming out in the ‘40s for cement service.
Here’s a New Haven cement hopper in the late 1960s. The built date appears to be 1949 – it appears to be the same make as the Southern one above. Again, check out the square hatches – a sign of a ‘40s built hopper for cement service. This photo was taken by the late Jack Alexander.
B&O #631107 was likely built a decade or two later than the previous two hoppers. I couldn’t read the built date, but the hatches appear to be round. The ACI code shows that built date is likely prior to the early ‘70s. It has a similar design to the 100 ton hopper above, but I’d guess it’s probably a ‘60s 80 ton. Based on the weathering, I’d guess it was used for cement, sand, or possibly lime. I can’t read enough to determine if it had a liner or not. If you look at the ACI code and how the dust has almost obscured the color strip code – this was the failure of the ACI system. It worked well as long as the code was clean, but failed as dirt built up.
…And still another ‘60s to ‘70s 2-bay hopper. I couldn’t find the built date, but this one’s rated at 100 tons. So, probably a ‘70s hopper. Round hatches – likely designed for cement or sand.
We were talking about covered hoppers and their introduction into service. The first 3-bay covered hoppers for grain service were built in 1955 by Pullman-Standard. It only has a 70 ton rating. Note the length and size compared to the 100 ton 2-bays for cement above. The grain hoppers were built larger with greater volume, but generally less weight capacity (per volume) than the 2-bay cement & sand hoppers.
The majority of the covered hopper fleet for grain service was built in the ‘60s. This one is rated at 90 tons, but is huge compared to the 100 ton cement hoppers from the same era.
ATSF #307502 was a 3-bay built in ’66, had a 100 ton capacity. These grain hoppers had liners, but didn’t have to be lined against corrosive materials like the ceramic liners. If I’m reading the data correctly, this had a urethane liner.
NYC #886984, built in ‘67, a 3-bay rated just under 100 tons, had similar liner with a warning of not cleaning with steam or boiling water.
I’m trying to figure this gondola out! I couldn’t find/read any data on the sides. It’s high-sided with sloped ends and bay style pans below the framing. Guessing from the background (and the photographers logo) I’m guessing it’s a beet (or similar vegetable) gondola.
I found this series of pics starting with a Pinterest pic, where a model railroader was asking when the Susie-Q logo was used. The wood-sided boxcar makes the situation confusing, the logo was introduced in the mid ‘60s – the wood-sided car must have still been in service and was repainted.
This is obviously an early container train being unloaded (or possibly loaded from the direction of the worker). I don’t have a date, but the method being used to load/unload the container is interesting. There appears to be rotating mounts on the railcar for holding the containers allowing for side-“T” access.
1957 piggy-back
Here’s a piggy-back we could use at the NKP crossing on our layout!
TOFC (Trailer on Flat Car), Piggyback, Intermodal, whatever it may be called – these two pics show an early Piggyback project (1940-1957) late steam / early diesel & some of the very first 85-89′ cars in 1957-1959!
I’m going to finish up with these two photos of Wabash streamlined Hudsons (4-6-4s). They caught my eye because the color scheme is similar to CNor #2792, the heavy Pacific (4-6-2) I’ve been working on for the club. This pic of #700 shows a clean looking loco with cowling hiding the air tanks and air lines below the walkway. This is a colorized photo – the blue is a bit darker than our blue, and they ran red pinstripes shadowing the edge of the wide white stripe. (Of course colorization efforts are not always accurate in hue.)
Wabash #705 is very similar to #700 with some additional cowling up front with the Wabash logo – flag.
Anyways, there is a constantly evolving history with cars, especially hoppers, covered hoppers, and gondolas. It’s always worth doing a little research in the evolution going on just prior and during the era you model so that your car fleet is representative of the prototype.
Thx,
Kevin
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