Industries1Look at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-c/misc-c.htm under "GSS" label. Also email manufacture's sales depts requesting this model
Yeah good luck with that idea, considering these are a REALLY unique car, only used in captive service on that one railroad.
Good candidate for 3D printing/kits, RTR model, not so much.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
There's extensive nickel-copper mining around the Sudbury, Ontario area and they use ~25' gondolas for raw ore transport. The original cars had drop-bottom doors, but the smelter converted to rotary dumping in the late 1970s, so the existing cars eventually had the doors welded shut to convert them to solid bottom cars, and the modern replacements are sold-bottom gons.
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cp375582&o=cprail
If the ore is concentrated at/near the mine for shipping to the smelter, the concentrate is shipped is standard mill gondolas. In modern times, the cars will have fiberglass covers. Back in the 1970s and earlier, not so much, although in some places they might be tarped.
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=ont5020&o=ont
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?o=mwcx&i=mwcx200115_2
Beach Bill characterized by the height lower than a "normal" hopper, relatively short length
Copper ore is denser than coal so you reach the weight limit of a conventional hopper if it is carrying copper before you reach its volume limit. I can remember seeing pictures of PRR using conventional hoppers for iron ore before they got their jennies and there were just two relatively small heaps of ore over the bolsters. A whole thread exists on the topic
Ore loads in coal hoppers - Model Railroader Magazine - Model Railroading, Model Trains, Reviews, Track Plans, and Forums
Nice reference. It looks like a side dump car with extended sides but... this thread is eleven years old!
Look at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-c/misc-c.htm under "GSS" label. Also email manufacture's sales depts requesting this model.
This looks to be a pretty close match.
http://www.internettrains.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=TTG-4012&Category_Code=
I think I may try to cut down the sides of a USRA 55 ton hopper to get this look.
Again, thanks for the info, especially in such a short span of time.
Ray
Geared Steam The Nevada Northern (Ely NV.) and the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific (Butte MT) used these....
The Nevada Northern (Ely NV.) and the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific (Butte MT) used these....
Absent the wood "addition" to the top, these hoppers match those shown in the book for the Magma Arizona, characterized by the height lower than a "normal" hopper, relatively short length, and two dump bays priminently visible. Again, I'm not aware of a HO equivalent, but this would appear, then, to be somewhat of a "standard" for this type of service.
Bill
To build on that, here is a link to an article about some ore hoppers used on the Nevada Northern. If you search around on the website a little bit, you will probably find information on other cars they used.
http://history.nevadanorthernrailway.net/Ingoldsby/gold1.htm
sfb
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
The Utah Copper Corp owned the Bingham and Garfield Railroad which rostered 650 Steel Ore Hoppers according to the 1917 ORER. Although I cannot find any pictures Varney made their ore car kit in the Utah Copper Corp. Logo and reporting marks.
Rick
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Thanks, all, for the quick responses....really appreciate it.
Gordon Chapoell's book Rails to Carry Copper is the history of the Magma Arizona Railroad. While the book doesn't have any scale plans on the hopper cars, there are some photos that show relatively low-side 2-bay steel hopper cars. They are definately hopper cars and not the "shorty" ore cars. They appear to be about 36' long. The lower sides makes sense, though, as the copper ore/concentrate is likely denser or heavier than coal would be.
I don't notice anything to directly match these in the Walthers catalog, but the USRA 55-ton hoppers from Accurail would be relatively close. These models have the prominent dump bays at the bottom similar to the prototypes cited. If you build "loads" for them, I would suggest not having them full, but rather the load requirements would likely have the hoppers 2/3 to 3/4 full to not be overweight. Most cars in this type of service are relatively captive to shuttling ore on one line, and they receive heavy service. A string of well-weathered USRA 55-ton hoppers would likely look pretty convincing for this type of service.
Pentrex released a very good video tape a few years ago entitled, "Arizona Short Lines" that showed several different copper mine ore trains -- they are special built heavy-duty cars that no one I know of has ever modeled or mass produced.
I'm far from a mining expert, but I've been modelling iron ore railroads for quite a while so have picked up some info on them. I don't think you'd find iron ore cars being used for copper ore. I think the copper process is different than the iron ore / steel process.
Minnesota or Upper Michigan raw iron ore or processed taconite pellets are/were generally loaded into ore cars to be transported to ore docks for shipment by ore boat to steel plants in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio etc.. In recent decades more and more ore / taconite is sent "all rail" directly to steel plants. With copper, I think the ore is generally mined and processed in the same area, so only the final product might be transported by rail. I know in the west, the big open-pit copper mines use huge trucks to transport ore to nearby smelters for processing.
I don't know much about the copper mines of the west but there was copper mining in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan not all that far from the general iron ore ranges.
There are still "remains to be seen" of this rail and mining activity:
http://www.coppercountryexplorer.com/category/copper-range-railroad/
That site is worth exploring in detail. There is some info on rolling stock
http://www.coppercountryexplorer.com/ruins/rolling-stock/
My impression is that perhaps the rolling stock was captive and not interchanged and thus was more old fashioned looking than the iron ore cars.
Another site with tons of content: http://www.copperrange.org/master.htm
I have seen photos of copper range cars that look similar to iron ore cars but this website shows a car that looks more like a cut down standard hopper -- with modeling tips.
Dave Nelson
I'm interested in modeling a copper mine in the 50s to 60s. What kind of ore cars were used? Photos?
I'm tempted to use the iron/talconite ore cars, but......
Thanks, Ray