My Accurail MR&T 40' double-door boxcar arrived today. Since I model a railroad on the East Coast in the 1980s (flexing the era from early '80s to late '80s by swopping out equipment), I'm open to options as to what the MR&T might have shipped in this car in the early '80s. Since 40' boxcars were just about gone, I'm sensing a specialty product that wouldn't be in a then-new IPD box. Lutefisk might be too obscure. Hides for a tannery?
Any suggestions?
Tanneries and lutefisk, reminds me of cult producer John Waters (Hairspray) who produced a movie called Polyester, which featured odorama. I'm sure the electrical gurus can tell you how to make it work with DCC.
Push F8 and your guests can smell the fish
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Dedicated paper service to Quad Graphics for printing the magazines, of course!
Quad Graphics did have locations other than near MR. Yup, on their web page they list locations. Just around me, they have 2 locations in PA, one in NJ, on in NY, two in WV. Most of their locations are concentrated in Wisconsin since that's where their HQ is, but they do have other plants in the northeast, southeast, midwest, and west.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
That's what's filling a lot of 50' boxcars on my layout: paper. A double-door 40' boxcar in the early '80s would be rare. I know some of the ATW 40' cars were used for hauling bagged feed during this time.
The way the MR&T 40' hopper ends up on the East Coast is hauling specialty stone for use in precast concrete flooring products. When the MR&T 4600 covered hopper is issued, that's easy: specialty malt for a brewery.
Are you assuming the load in the MILWAUKEE RACINE AND TROY boxcar originated in Wisconsin? If so, just look at what is mined/farmed/manufactured in Wisconsin. Why not Harley-Davidson motorcycles?
Or, if it is general service boxcar, it could be loaded with anything what originated anywhere.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Oooh. I like the Harley idea, even if unlikely in reality. At least it will be post-AMF ownership. Decided it would be something shipped from along the MR&T in the box. I wish Kalmbach/MR would run an assortment of decals for the MR&T and various project layouts (or even staff layouts) they have done (without the dimensional data) and have a contest or at least a modeler's showcase of what people's imagination comes up with.
Oh there were still 40ft boxcars in the 80s. Grain service in particular. So perhaps dried spent brewer's grain from one of the Milwaukee breweries being shipped as animal feed?
Milwaukee at one time was called "machine shop of the world" and while much of that was gone by the '80s, there is MasterLock, Johnson Controls batteries and automobile parts, Briggs and Stratton small gas engines as for lawn mowers, leather goods (at one time Milwaukee had more tanneries than anywhere else in the world, but again different by1980), large castings from Falk Corporation, Cutler Hammer made electrical components as did Square D, A O Smith made everything from auto and truck frames to hot water heaters to huge silo bins for farms. Don't forget Milwaukee tools, still some of the most durable power tools you'll find.
And here is a good Milwaukee product that is shipped nationwide but perhaps not by rail: Milorganite, the popular and cheap fertilizer.
I have given you some business names here to Google and get more ideas from.
Dave Nelson
Double door cars were for loading wide stuff: Autos, lumber, rolls of paper.
They were terrible for loading bulk commodities for grain since you would have to build a 12-18 ft wide grains door across the opeing. The grain doors would cost more than the revenue for hauling the load.
Another possible commodity would be copper or aluminum ingots or billets. Since the car would weight out before it would cube out, there was no need for a 50 ft car.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
SeeYou190Are you assuming the load in the MILWAUKEE RACINE AND TROY boxcar originated in Wisconsin? If so, just look at what is mined/farmed/manufactured in Wisconsin. Why not Harley-Davidson motorcycles?
Kevin, The majority of modelers doesn't look outside of the normal layout industries. Your load of Harley-Davidson motorcycles is good.
Other overlooked loads is plastic cell phone covers,graylords of scrap rubber or plastic, gaylords of crushed glass,shredded paper. 55 gallon drums of paint, 5 gallon buckets of paint or paint filamints, 5 gallon buckets of tar. Also caskets and steel grave vaults these would be going to a distributor. These are real loads carried by boxcar as per my research. These loads was carried in 50' boxcars with single or double door. A 60' boxcar could be used as well.
MR&T also connects with a freelance short line so,the MR&T boxcar could have been loaded on that railroad per car arrangement agreements.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
The milorganite seems to be the ticket. A somewhat restrictive commodity loaded on pallets into 40' boxcars running out their last miles to smaller fertilizer/farm supply dealers. A quick check showed two nurseries within a 20 miles radius that carry it along with Home Depot and Lowes. Apparently it comes east.
I actually have a tannery on my layout, and a small packing plant, so I did some research and built a couple of hide service boxcars. These were typically old cars, and hide service was the last stop before the glue factory. The cars were often marked Hide Service Only, because really, you could never use them for anything other than hides because of the smell.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
VaCentralRwyThe milorganite seems to be the ticket. A somewhat restrictive commodity loaded on pallets into 40' boxcars running out their last miles to smaller fertilizer/farm supply dealers.
It sounds like we have a winner!
Good deal.
Other possible loads for 50' box cars,rain gutters,spouts,kitchen sinks,flooring,carpets,ceiling tiles,ceiling fans with lights,doors,windows roofing, insulation,drywall, drywll compound.. These loads would be for a lumber/home improvement company.
I called a certain Ohio short line railroad and spoke to a customer service representive (aka freight agent) and he gave me a short list of the car lading they handle and will send me a complete list of 50' boxcar lading for modern model railroads.
He also mention their GP7u was recently retired age and mechanical issues and they are currently using a leased GP38.
I thank the man for his time and he said he was on his lunch hour and was getting bored sitting behind his desk babysitting the office until the others return..
How about Fairbanks Morse locomotive parts and engine parts for ships.
Cars in hide service generally were old, grungy, and were most often the last use before scrapping. You would need to do a lot of weathering. Canada was still rebuilding 40' cars for grain service, I don't know if there were still any cars in such service in the U.S. Food service is a possibility for canned goods, boxed cereal and the like. Bagged sand would also be a possibility
I'm only 77, so excuse me for not recognizing "graylords". But I can still use a good search engine (DuckDuckGo is my favorite!)! From Air Sea Containers, Inc.: "The name “Gaylord box” has evolved into a generic term for any pallet-sized box for bulk shipping of storage. The term Gaylord is a trade name for this type of box since the first bulk bins that were manufactured in North American were by the Gaylord Container Company"
x-airbusdriverI'm only 77, so excuse me for not recognizing "graylords".
That was a typo.. It is indeed Gaylord. I worked as a security guard in a garden hose manufacturing plant and scrap rubber for the reclaim plant came in Gaylords. I also drove forklift in a warehouse where a lot of package items was shipped out in sealed Gaylords.
Another load for 50' boxcars is crushed aluminum cans in Gaylords.
Don't know where the 50' boxcars entered into this. There are plenty of things for 50' boxcars. Figuring out what would go into a double-door 40' in the late '70s/early '80s is the challenge. The IPD boxcar boom and crash pretty much eliminated the remaining 40's in the U.S.
VaCentralRwyFiguring out what would go into a double-door 40' in the late '70s/early '80s is the challenge.
No challenge.. The same items that went into those 50' IPD boxcars was hauled in 40' double door boxcars.