I remember the steaming carloads of coke when they were still being shipped out of the Cleveland area, too.
So... that begs the question. Here is a similar and older car that's made of wood!
Still has the screening and the side notches:
Interesting discussion! Even the Pennsy's later design H22 has slats in the car sides:
http://www.bowser-trains.com/history/h22.html
It almost looks like the plan was to allow air to circulate around the coke?
Regards, Ed
rrinker That's rather interesting. I wonder what the point of the screening was. Makign the empty weight of the car lower wouldn't do much since coke is relatively light anyway - usually what is seen with coke hoppers is they have extensions added to the sides so you can pile more up (and still not exceed the car's capacity). --Randy
That's rather interesting. I wonder what the point of the screening was. Makign the empty weight of the car lower wouldn't do much since coke is relatively light anyway - usually what is seen with coke hoppers is they have extensions added to the sides so you can pile more up (and still not exceed the car's capacity).
--Randy
Perhaps the coke was loaded into the car while still very hot. I can remember seeing truckloads of coke from Solvay Coke Co. go by on the freeway here and the stuff was still steaming hot - and the condition of the truck sides suggested that over the years the heat had taken its toll.
Dave Nelson
Another great link from you, Ed. I love old pictures of railroads and buildings, and some of the links you have provided are great! along with the videos you post.
I wonder about the screening, too. And, it appears there are two "notches" on each side. Wondering what that is about.
Mike.
My You Tube
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
While casting about for some resources for the Mesta Machine Company in Homestead, Pennsylvania, I came across this great site hosted by the University Of Pittsburgh...
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/images/pittsburgh/collections.html
This link takes you to the digital image collection, you can browse from there.
Lots of fascinating views of steel, coal and railroads with plenty of other period photographs available as well!
For an example—have you ever seen one of these coke hoppers? I'd sure like to have a few on my layout!
Historic Pittsburgh is hosted by the University of Pittsburgh's University Library System
Grab your favorite beverage and start surfing... there's 32,749 more photos where this one came from.
Have Fun! Ed