Ore Car Load question

[MudHen_462]

On my layout, I have a Ore Mine, and Ore Processing Plant... and a long string of Roundhouse 22" Great Northern Ore cars. I was looking for "dummy" ore loads to put in the cars, and it seems that Chooch has stopped making the 22"
loads for Roundhouse ore cars. Does anyone out there have experience in making your own ore loads for the cars. I am trying not to "re-invent the wheel" here, and would appreciate hearing from anyone who has made a mold for ore or coal car loads, and / or any ideas along that line. Thanx.....

[Anonymous]

I made these loads:

http://www.the-gauge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5406

with left over blue foam and black aquarium gravel. Nice and light so the car does not get top heavy. You could probably adapt this idea for your ore cars.

Andrew

[leighant]

For my Santa Fe sulphur gondolas, I used "blue foam", painted it yellow, then sprayed with "wetted water" and dilute glue and sprinkled on dry-powdered tempera water color, to leave a loose texture look when dry. I put a fine wire loop sticking out to make it easy to pull out the load when the car is unloaded.



The same could easily been done to represent ore, only different color. I think powdered tempera is fine enough to represent many ores.

I do run an iron ore train on my layout though I don't have an ore mine, a user for the ore or even actual ore cars. I model Santa Fe and their only prototype ore cars are too different from any mass-produced plastic cars for me to scratchbuild in multiples. But Santa Fe sometimes handled ore in conventional open-top coal hoppers. They just could only fill them about 1/3 full by volume, because iron ore reaches the cars weight limit by that time. I use two-bay hoppers with just a smattering of ore in the bottom of the car covering the car weight. Because the ore is barely visible, I run the train THE SAME LOADED OR EMPTY without changing the loads.

Without a mine or user, my ore train represents a movement just crossing the layout.

My layout represents a courthouse square town on a stretch of Santa Fe secondary line in the piney woods of East Texas. Iron ore is transported from Lost River east end staging representing shipments from Rusk and Cherokee county deposits, well north of Beaumont and Kirbyville. The ore moves westbound via Rio Viejo (staging) going to a plant similar to Sheffield Steel which operated on the Houston Ship Channel from 1940s to 1970s.



Famous modeler Gil Freitag of Houston (Stony Creek & Western) worked in that plant and gave me a telephone interview about using conventional hoppers for iron ore.

Kenneth L. Anthony, Santa Vaca & Santa Fe Rwy, Corpus Christi TX

[Anonymous]

I have two cars that I did. I used poppy seeds glued to a cardboard insert. To me, they look fine (sorry, no pics), but you could also paint them to match what you want.

[Anonymous]

leighant,

TY [bow] Now I have a solution for my problem. It is wonderful to be able to learn about something that is sooo simple *Smacks head why did I not look at that foam sheet against the wall...

lee

[dknelson]

Try what a friend of mine does for his coal loads. he took regular foam rubber (as you would use for chair cushions or pillows) cut it to size, roughened the top and painted it. he painted his black but you could paint yours a rusty red
The foam tucks into the car easily, can be removed with a small pick and put in a box so you can simulate loads/empties. And it is so light it does not change the center of gravity of the car. At least for coal it is surprising how real it looks.
Dave Nelson

[dehusman]

Hey leighant, cool gons, who makes the cars? What era are you modeling?

Dave H.

[cacole]

I have 36 of the MDC ore cars and made my own ore loads. I started with balsa wood that measured approximately 1 inch square by 36 inches long, cut into blocks just long enough to fit into an ore car. Over this I poured ground up walnut shell that can be purchased from a gun shop that sells cartridge reloading supplies. Gunsmiths call the ground up walnut shell "medium" and use it to polish brass cartridges by placing the cartridges and medium in a rotating drum and let the walnut shell scour the cartridges clean as the drum rotates. I poured the medium over the balsa block and formed it into the desired shape, then poured a 50/50 mix of white glue and water over the whole shebang to seal the walnut shell down. After drying for a couple of days, the medium was hard enough that it does not spill if you have a derailment.