I started building a bulk fertilizer plant. I then got to thinking that ; my layout world stoped in 1960. I was led to beleive that covered hoppers didn't come into play untill the 70s.
If so, how was bulk fertilizer moved in the 50s? boxcars like grain?
Well, from what I remember from a thread on this a few years ago, is that fertilizer was in bags, moved in box cars, and bulk was moved in 2 bay covered hoppers.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/p/226294/2568527.aspx
Mike
EDIT: I did it wrong again, the link isn't live.
My You Tube
There were a lot of covered hoppers in use prior to the 1970s. Some railroads made their own covers for standard hopper cars to carry bulk cement way back in the 20s. Greenville built 50 ton covered hoppers for the Erie in 1934. The PRR H30 covered hopper dates back to 1935 as does the B&O N31 type covered hopper. Nickle Plate bought AC&F 70 ton covered hoppers in 1939.
I don't know when they started carrying fertilizer in them though. But there were a lot of covered hoppers in use from the mid 1930s on.
I would imagine most of it went in bags in box cars or stock cars when they weren't being used for livestock. A lot of railroads didn't park their stock cars in the off season but if the traffic was high enough carried other commodities in them, bricks, lumber.....
Another thought.. Does your plant produce liquid fertilizer? If so,tank cars will be needed.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Early covered hoppers were often called cement cars for reasons that ought to be obvious. Until around the late 1940's, it was fairly rare to find a covered hopper that carried anything other than cement, lime, limestone, or something else involved in the cement trade. There were exceptions that included specialized cars for carrying Carbon Black or other unique products. During the late 1940's and 1950's, people began to realize this type of car could be used for sand, potash, and various minerals and powdered chemicals. Until the transition to covered hoppers, these commodities had been handled in bags, in boxcars. Grain was handled loose, in bulk, in boxcars, well into the 1950's and even the 1960's, when covered hoppers came into use for grain haulage. These dates are rough general approximations.
Tom
I use a pretty wide brush for the gray area ,while following the prototype, but it has to be believeable.
From what I read here, it would be totally possible to see 2 bay cov.hoppers in 1960.
Thank You gentlemen I appreceate it.
This article might help.
SouthPenn This article might help.
Interesting, they were in somewhat common use way befor the 60s
Thanks