covered hoppers......a timeline

[J. Edgar]

 

 at what period did covered hoppers for bulk drygoods come into regular use

 GACX I think introduced the "Air-slide" I think in the 50's....maybe?

 

[wjstix]

I believe the Airslide covered hoppers were introduced in 1954. Covered hoppers go back at least to the thirties, but they were not that common. It wasn't until the fifties that covered hoppers were used for very fine commodities like flour - I don't think earlier hoppers were that well sealed to handle fine materials like that (especially ones that needed to be kept clean - I think airslides had a special internal lining that older LO's didn't have ).

[Trainmaster.Curt]

Here in Canada, the Cylindrical hoppers came into use around 1971-73, and were later nicknamed (Trudeau Hoppers) cause it was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who advocated the use of cylindrical hoppers to replace the aging fleet of 40' grain boxes which were still very common at the time. And now there are no 40' in service(Last ones were used on the CNR Churchill or route to Thunder Bay)in 1996-97, save a few that were kept as OCS use and for Vintage Railway Societies, though a local CPR or CEMR yard here, which is a storage yard, you can still see them sitting there.

Here is an article on the CN Lines website about a unique "Articulated Covered Hopper"

http://cnlines.ca/CNcyclopedia/hop/hop4.php

[J. Edgar]

ok thx....

so one would assume that bulk drygoods i.e. cement,kanolin, sand,etc would be shipped in barrels/drums? in the good ol' 40 footer thru the ww2 era......?

[orsonroy]

ok thx....

so one would assume that bulk drygoods i.e. cement,kanolin, sand,etc would be shipped in barrels/drums? in the good ol' 40 footer thru the ww2 era......?

Actually, most dry bulk products would be shipped bagged, or more likely, loose inside the boxcar. The primary reason for the eventual adoption of covered hoppers was the huge leap in manual labor costs following WWII. Before the war, manual labor cost significantly less than mechanization, which made things like covered hoppers and their associated loading/unloading facilities uneconomical.

[J. Edgar]

 

 ok........i knew grains were shipped that way.....hugely labor intensive.....just never figured other commodities would be the same given that shipping weight is important fopr tarifs and charges

[J. Edgar]

 

 

 and again thx for the answers