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Looking for Help on Prototypical D&H Loads for 1975-1985

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  • Member since
    September 2014
  • From: 10,430’ (3,179 m)
  • 2,311 posts
Posted by jjdamnit on Sunday, July 24, 2022 12:39 PM

Hello All,

doctorwayne
For scrap loads, I use all sorts of stuff...

I always liked the punched-out disk load.

Hope this help.

"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Wednesday, July 20, 2022 11:04 AM

dti406

The D&H moved ingot molds in gons from Bethlehem to Bufallo on their and LV lines. Both roads had a number of gons specified for this service.

Rick Jesionowski

Yeah, we used to get shipments of ingot moulds in gondolas at the steel plant where I worked.  I wish, though, that Rix would make some larger moulds, with the lifting lugs on the wide-face  sides of the mould. 
The ingots which we rolled were anywhere between 10 and 25 tons, mostly top pours, but we did occasionally get bottom pours for some specialized grades of steel.  In those days, our mill alone was doing over three million tons a year.

For scrap loads, I use all sorts of stuff...

...even an otherwise empty gondola doesn't have to be completely empty...

I have started to remove some of the non-prototypical-looking items from my scrap loads.

The load with the copper wire is from old motors, mostly open framed ones that no longer work.  Many of the coiled wires have been heated with a propane torch, which burns-off the shellac, allowing the blackener to create a rusted appearance.

Most of my scrap-metal loads are placed in a plastic container (usually a clear blister pack from Krazy Glue), then covered in either Hobby Black or A-West Blacken-It.  I usually leave it for a couple of days, then pour-off the remaining used blackener into a suitable plastic container. It remains useful for making rusted metal scrap.
Another useful product for creating a rust effect, especially on most types of metal, is gun blue.

Wayne

  • Member since
    September 2002
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Posted by ndbprr on Wednesday, July 20, 2022 6:44 AM

That pretty much takes care of outbound loads but there are also inbound loads probably on or in foreign road cars. Massive I beams and girders from Bethlehem steel for bridges and building construction.  New equipment and raw materials for existing businesses.  Newsprint for the newspapers. Refrigerator cars full if lobsters. Etc.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Northfield Center TWP, OH
  • 2,538 posts
Posted by dti406 on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 9:27 PM

The D&H moved ingot molds in gons from Bethlehem to Bufallo on their and LV lines. Both roads had a number of gons specified for this service.

Rick Jesionowski

 

Rule 1: This is my railroad.

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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!

  • Member since
    September 2014
  • From: 10,430’ (3,179 m)
  • 2,311 posts
Posted by jjdamnit on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 8:58 PM

Hello All,

In addition to all the great suggestions- -for me- -flatcars equal Maintenance Of Way (MOW) equipment...

Things like traditional heavy equipment: backhoes, bulldozers, and cranes come to mind for flatcar loads.

Sea containers converted for tool storage or MOW crew transport can also be secured to flatcars.

My pike is based on coal mining operations on the Western Slope of Colorado between 1970 and 1980.

Flatcars deliver many types of machinery to service the mine:

  • Complete dump trucks, replacement beds, and tires
  • Ventilation equipment; air handling fans and piping
  • Electrical generation and management equipment
  • Pumps, to keep the mines free of water
  • Parts for tunnel boring machine (TBM)
  • Wire rope and conveyor belt material
  • Excavation buckets for cranes
  • Electric mine locomotives
  • Cable reels for hoists
  • Rock crushing units
  • Air compressors

Many of these loads arrive on cars from the manufacturers' home roads.

This allows me to "justify" foreign reporting marks on my freelance pike. 

Items arrive crated or on pallets, while some are tarped.

Removable wooden frames can be used to replicate chocks.

Any tie-downs; chains or cables, can be attached to the pallets or frames to keep the loads self-contained.

As far as the gondola goes, pipe and steel loads are a great choice and can be modeled to "lift out" along with scrap loads of various types.

To secure loads, without permanently attaching them, you can put small guide pins on the bottom of the loads and drill small holes in the floors of the cars.

If the mounting holes are uniform, you can swap out varrious loads on the same cars(s).

Hope this helps.

"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • 427 posts
Posted by Colorado Ray on Monday, July 18, 2022 9:06 PM

The area was known for its Granite and Marble so a flat or gondola with large slabs of rock would look pretty cool.

Ray

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Omaha, NE
  • 10,621 posts
Posted by dehusman on Monday, July 18, 2022 6:02 PM

Steel products, wide plate on the flatcar, narrow plate, structural steel shapes, pipe in the gon would be universal loads that any gon or flat could haul.

Also in the gon could be scrap metal.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
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Posted by gmpullman on Monday, July 18, 2022 5:24 PM

Quite a few transformers came out of the GE Pittsfield, Mass. plant. I did some in HO:

 IMG_9723_fix_web by Edmund, on Flickr

Don't forget a sign. Most manufacturers were proud of their work and liked to take credit. While not directly served by the D&H it was close enough that interchange would have been likely.

The U.S. Navy had a large arsenal in Watervleit, NY served by the D&H and I'm sure some gun barrels and carriages were shipped in/out in open-top cars.

 Watervliet_Iron by Edmund, on Flickr

Other ideas here:

https://multiscale.digital/collections/n-1-160

Good Luck, Ed

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • 3,139 posts
Posted by chutton01 on Monday, July 18, 2022 5:19 PM

Well, maybe the mid 1980s is not the best time to model D&H:

In 1984Guilford Transportation Industries purchased the D&H as part of a plan to operate a larger regional railroad from Maine and New Brunswick in the east, to New York City and the Midwest in the west, Montreal in the north, and the Philadelphia/Washington, DC, area in the south. For only $500,000, Guilford purchased the entire railroad. The price tag reflected the D&H's horrid financial shape and the poor condition of its physical plant. At the time of the purchase, the D&H had little freight traffic, relying on federal and state money to keep operating. 
That bolded part is a bit interesting, clearly it must have had some (I have found images of the RF's pulling TOFC train, so that's something - not sure if it was a run-thru or not...)
This got me looking at the Delaware & Hudson Pinterest page (Pinterest is not always the most reliable caption info-the most accurate caption I saw stated 'But seriously, F--- you").  The RF's were captured pulling trains of boxcars and covered hoppers (they were photogenic in the 70s/80s you must admit), didn't see any gondola or flat car images. So...default to scrap for the gondola (why not).

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Wappingers Falls, NY / Troy, NY
  • 120 posts
Looking for Help on Prototypical D&H Loads for 1975-1985
Posted by N Scale Train Boy on Monday, July 18, 2022 4:54 PM

Hey all! I model central NY, CT, and Southern MA from 1975-1985, and I recently picked up a bunch of D&H equipment to expand my roster. 2 of the cars I got were a flatcar and a gondola, both 50', and I wanted to add loads to them, preferably removable. What would make the most sense given the locale and era? Thanks!

Check out the Balfour and Colucci Creek Southern Railroad, my proto-freelanced N scale model railroad, at bccsrailroad.weebly.com or on Youtube on my channel, N Scale Train Boy.

-Dennis

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