Proper Grain Hauling Cars

rowdygoudy

New Member
Living in the corn belt I see grain being moved all the time. It is also my understanding that in the past it was moved by boxcar. When modeling a given era such as the 1930's to 1940's, or any other time frame would there be any specifics about the boxcars being used other than of the correct era? Examples: Would they tend to be newer or older cars in a fleet? Specific details that would be different from a normal boxcar? At some point I am going to be in need of a bunch of these. I would like to be able to start massing my collection.

Thanks for any help!!!

Goudy
 

60103

Pooh Bah
Goudy: the only details I remember are a wooden panel going up one door (horizontal boards, maybe 8" or more) and paper seals on the other door. There may have been a paper seal on the wood slats. I think the slats had an open bit at the top for loading.
And I hope the boxcars were clean.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Boxcars would need to be clean and "tight" (to prevent leakage of grain). Both the CNR and CPR used single sheathed 36' boxcars, mostly built in the 'teens and '20's, in the fall grain rush in western Canada, right up into the 1960's, as bigger cars were unsuitable for use on some lightly-built branch lines. Of course, regular 40-footers would also be used, both wood and steel types. Here's a photo of a car with a wooden "grain door" in place.

100_5491.jpg


Wayne
 

rowdygoudy

New Member
Thanks for the both your responses. I figured someone would know something on the subject. At least availability of proper rolling stock will not be a problem. I just discovered a local Historical Society Museum has a huge archive of railroad photos available. With luck there will be some taken at a local elevator.

Thanks Again,

Goudy
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Proto1000 offers those 36' Fowler Patent boxcars that I mentioned, in both CPR and CNR. I'm sure that similar cars would have been used on some of the lightly-built branchlines in the US midwest.
Here's a photo of one of mine: I've redone all of the steps and grabirons with metal parts, as I felt that the free-standing plastic ones on the model were too heavy.
100_5628.jpg


Wayne
 

oldtanker

Member
They were hauling grain in box cars right up into the 70's (I remember well, we moved to Mn in 71, that was the first time I ever saw grain being loaded and hauled). The picture that docwayne posted looks pretty much correct except that all the boxcars I saw like that were pretty rough looking.

Rick
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
Some boxcars were built with drop bottoms (kind of like drop bottom gondolas) to help with unloading. But that is a detail this is mostly not visible in most situations.

Many different bulk (or bulky) materials were moved by boxcar in the days before covered hoppers and/or covered gons or other "purpose built" cars were common - salt, grain, automobile frames and other parts, lumber, and so on. The box cars for autos and lumber had some product specific modifications - i.e. double doors and/or end doors for auto frames, and small doors high on the ends for lumber.

Andrew
 

tetters

Rail Spiking Fool!
Thanks for posting up about this. I also needed some info about what type of car was used to haul grain. This helps. Just one quick question.

What type of car is used to haul grain now-a-days? Thanks.
 

KATY

New Member
Actually box cars were loaded into the early 80's. Sent many an RBOX to Mexico loaded with grain sorghum.

Regarding the doors, whether paper or wood, you had to have ample room at the top to be able to get a loadout spout in there to fling the grain back to each end. What you ended up with was a peaked pile of grain at each end of the boxcar that would sometimes have to be "trimmed" or leveled out so an inspection agency could probe/sample the grain.

When I started in the business, the old timers told me cattle cars had also been used to haul grain. In my time I've also seen it loaded in open top swing bottom coal cars, sometimes tarped over, sometimes not.

Jack
37 years working in grain elevators (hope it ends soon!)
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
When I started in the business, the old timers told me cattle cars had also been used to haul grain. In my time I've also seen it loaded in open top swing bottom coal cars, sometimes tarped over, sometimes not.

I am not sure that counts as "clean lading only"...! Yikes! :eek:

Andrew
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
cyclingshane73 said:
Just one quick question.

What type of car is used to haul grain now-a-days? Thanks.

Nowadays, Shane, most grain is shipped in covered hoppers, and usually ones that are much larger than any models that I have a photo of. Part of the reason for the larger cars is that many of the smaller branch line grain elevators are gone, with the grain being trucked to larger, centralised elevators.
Jack (KATY) may be able to provide more details.

Wayne
 

KATY

New Member
There are a few of the smooth side 4600 cu ft hopper cars still around, but the vast majority are still the ribbed 4750 cu ft hoppers. Many of these can be purchased as models with numerous road names and private lines. My favorite is the pink Klemme Coop cars. Was always a kick to see 25 pink loaded hopper cars come in from Iowa. Wish I had taken some photos at the time. We're seeing more and more of the 5100 cu ft cars with larger load limits, but I have yet to see a model of one of those. Any modern grain loading facility is set up to load trough tops only. The round hatch lids are mostly for pneumatic flour cars.

For me, I model in N scale and would love to find a grain trailer truck, but have had no luck as yet.

Those open top coal cars were loaded maybe 25+ years ago. Pain in the butt, however the pigeons sure liked it!

Jack
 

KATY

New Member
Anything I spoke about is strictly U.S. equipment. Sorry, not familiar with Canadaian equipment or operations at all.
 

Triplex

Active Member
There are a few of the smooth side 4600 cu ft hopper cars still around, but the vast majority are still the ribbed 4750 cu ft hoppers.
The majority of covered hoppers I see in photos aren't ribbed-side. In the US, there's a mix of ribbed-side and the bulged smoothside (ACF-style). Here in Canada, both those types are common, but the National Steel Car Co. 4-bay cylindricals from the early 70s are still the majority.
 
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