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Post by alcocentury on Jul 18, 2023 11:48:42 GMT -8
Were boxcars with roof hatches used for grain lading?
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jul 18, 2023 13:31:40 GMT -8
If there were any, they were very uncommon.
Grain elevators were very use to loading boxcars in the old way--without roof hatches.
Ed
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Post by cemr5396 on Jul 18, 2023 17:09:36 GMT -8
If there were any, they were very uncommon. Grain elevators were very use to loading boxcars in the old way--without roof hatches. Ed It would not have been possible to load a boxcar through the roof with the boxcar loading spouts at most elevators. The end of the spout was WELL below the roofline of the car, and they were usually fixed in place, so there was no way to raise it up. When the conversion to covered hoppers began elevators had to add new loading spouts that were located higher up and could actually reach into the loading hatches on the hoppers. Thinking about that conversion period makes me wonder how many times a covered hopper was delivered to an elevator without the means to load them and left the elevator agent going "uh, what do I do with this?". |
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Post by Christian on Jul 19, 2023 1:46:22 GMT -8
Never say never during a grain rush. But boxcars with roof hatches weren't common and for the most part, weren't used for clean loading. Common boxcars fitted with lumber/steel/paper grain doors over the opening with a gap at the top. Grain was spouted into the cars and distributed by workmen who climbed out when the grain was reaching the top of the doors. (Mostly the workmen were high school kids. During harvest rural schools often let out. Age rules and laws didn't necessarily apply to farm work. The demands of WWII for grains made for a farm and agribusiness harvest frenzy that lasted through the 50s.)  |
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Post by cera2254 on Jul 19, 2023 5:36:46 GMT -8
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Post by edwardsutorik on Jul 19, 2023 5:56:08 GMT -8
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Jul 20, 2023 20:00:03 GMT -8
Saw Accurail kits of those cars for sale at a Monon theme museum in NW Indiana several years ago. They had one of those cars. No recollection of any information on the cars.
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Post by Colin 't Hart on Jul 21, 2023 11:02:54 GMT -8
LC boxcars (LC being the AAR mechanical designation for those equipped with roof hatches) are an extremely rare breed. Many were old cars retrofitted in order to increase their usefulness -- old cars being used for loads that were generally low value and/or too dense (partially filled cars) or too light (cars maxed out on volume but still under max loading weight). In order to increase speed or ease of loading (less manual work required) to be able to make some more money on these loads roof hatches were added.
Now some roads purchased some LC boxcars new. Notable examples are the SOU (generally used for clay for paper manufacturing), ACL/SAL/SCL (phosphate), the original NS (roof hatches not used! -- cars purchased this way in order get them returned to home rails faster!), and the Monon.
The Monon cars were used for grain loading. Apparently management at the Monon was very conservative and since grain had always been shipped in boxcars, they stuck with boxcars, but ordered some with roof hatches. My Monon expert contact did mention that he encountered one once loaded with corn cobs (technically also a grain though?)
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Post by 12bridge on Jul 24, 2023 15:00:19 GMT -8
Fantastic documentary on "a day in the life" at a Canadian grain elevator in the 1970's, including great scenes loading boxcars.
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Post by Christian on Jul 25, 2023 3:00:56 GMT -8
Fantastic documentary on "a day in the life" at a Canadian grain elevator in the 1970s, including great scenes loading boxcars. Great film. It reminded me that agribusiness is hard work. One guy shoving a loaded boxcar? Wow again. |
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Post by wagnersteve on Jul 25, 2023 12:42:03 GMT -8
July 25, starting close to 4:30 p.m., EDT
The HO 40' horizontal-ribbed boxcars with apparently six round roof hatches, decorated for the Milwaukee Road but with the silhouette of a Miller emblem on the single orange door on each sider, that InterMountain announced quite some time ago, replicate real cars that were used for hauling spent grain from a brewery in the railroad's namesake city, presumably Miller, probably for use in livestock feed. George Elwood's great website, rr-fallenflags.org, has a photo of MILW 8283 made in Columbus, Ohio in 1971. The latest revision of InterMountain's listing of cars available for reservations shows them as "Queued for Production". The rendering shows them as having been built 11-43 but shopped at MS 11-65. InterMountain's order # is 48505-01 through -06 for MILW 8235, 8275, 8288, 8289, 8291and 8293, respectively. The Walthers prefix for InterMountain is 85. I'm hoping to buy one of these.
I have installed HO versions of Signode paper grain doors in a few 40' boxcars with positionable doors, such as the former Branchlike Yardmaster series models. I don't use the sliding attachment Branchlike provided but instead use just a tiny bit of Walthers Goo to hold doors open when desired or closed. (On full-sized railroads the doors would be closed before moving the loaded cars.) The printed paper doors are made by Jaeger HO Products. Walthers shows their list price as $1 per pack -- I don't remember how many doors come in one. The Walthers order #'s for these are 247-2000 for ones with green printing (out of stock but expected 7/26/2023) and 247-2050 for ones with red printing (backordered, with no ETA shown). I have enjoyed building several kinds of loads from Jaeger's kits. Wrapped lumber loads are made by trimming and neatly folding printed paper wrappers around precut wood blocks for individual "packs" that are then fastened together to go on flatcars or bulkhead flats. Corrugated pieces of aluminum foil get "roll your own" treatment to resemble sections of culverts, etc.
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