What would be shipped in 2-bay Centerflow Hoppers in the late 1980s?

[mandelswamp]

I've been admiring the Atlas N Scale 2-Bay Centerflow Hoppers but haven't figured out what they could be carrying that would be meaningful to my planned layout. The layout is Northern Vermont in 1989 and the major industries that I will be modeling are the Feed Mill in Richford, VT and the Paper Mill in Sheldon Springs, VT.

Can anyone suggest potential shippers and the contents that these hoppers could be bringing to my industries so that I can prepare realistic way bills?

[dehusman]

Cement
Roofing granules
Sand
Fly ash

Dave H.

[ndbprr]

Car volume is a function of weight. The AAR or FRA dictates a maximum axle loading of 80,000# so a short car like that is going to be designed to carry a very dense product usually and an 86' box is designed to carry high volume lightweight items like car body parts. I would add cement to the list BUT cars don't make money standing still in a yard so it is quite possible a railroad would use them in alternate temporary service to generate income.

[Anonymous]

Silica sand for glass making was a common commodity carried in these cars.

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by drephpe

Silica sand for glass making was a common commodity carried in these cars.

Also for oilfield operations.

[jimrice4449]

All of the above sound good. I know from personal observation that cement and silica sand were major commodities. For your purposes how about kaolin clay (for making coated paper at your paper mill)? This isn't based on actual knowledge but it would seem to be a reasonable assumption.

[nedthomas]

Kaolin clay for paper coating is usually shipped as a liquid in tank cars to paper mills.

[mandelswamp]

I concur with nedthomas. Atlas makes two kinds of Kaolin tank cars. All the cars are HO part numbers 1700/171X and N part numbers 34800/349XX. Whereas the Atlas' 1999/2000 released Kaolin tank cars are more of a straight cylinder tank design, the Atlas cars released in 2002 have a noticable slope from the ends to the center of the tank. Atlas states that these cars were "primarily used to haul kaolin clay slurry for use in the papermaking process, along with many other liquids, the 14,000 gallon non-pressure tank car first built by ACF® in the 1970's adds a modern flavor to any layout. This common tank car can be seen all over the country and is in service today."

[ndbprr]

Saw two CSX cars in a train this afternoon headed north on the IC probably to Detroit since they were labled Sodium Chloride (salt for all you no techies).

[Anonymous]

A dense heavyweight load would be shipped in these cars. I would add
rock to the list but I think they would use ballast cars for this instead.

[dknelson]

I think kaolin was or is shipped dry at times. I can recall seeing an old boxcar with hatches added to the roof that was labled for kaolin service (presumably headed to Wisconsin papermills). Presumably a covered hopper would have replaced those boxcars. I wonder if the difficulty in keeping the load dry enough is what makes shipping it as a slurry more attractive since ordinarily paying to, in essence, ship water from Georgia to Wisconsin would not make economic sense.
Dave Nelson

[Gluefinger]

I have to add that if you choose to model them as cement cars, a good weathering job is a big bonus. When these cars are loaded, the powdered cement tends to spill a little bit, and if it rains before it blows off the car...well...you can guess what happens

[wjstix]

At that time the Soo Line was running several cov hoppers a week past my house down to Model Stone Co., I presume carrying cement but also may have been hauling crushed stone like for walkways, driveways etc.

[Anonymous]

Cars like these , being of an older design , also end up doing things like company sand service. You'll find them parked next to the sanding tower, usually in older paint schemes. or MOW colors