Gidday Mike, in all honesty I'm no closer to resolving what "food " was carried in covered gondolas, but I don't think it was sugar beet
I say this because in my fruitless research , l came across nightowlmodeler.blogspot.com/p/ssp-freight-carsgondolas.html which said the SP did not generally use steel bodied gondolas as they could get too hot and "cook" the beets causing them to start losing their sugar.
My apologies for not providing a live link, I haven't worked out how to on my phone, yet.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Perhaps "food grade" refers to things like sugar beets that were carried in gondolas, often with extended sides.
I've seen mention of those covered gondolas as being "food grade ", but have been unable to establish as to what food stuffs they carried.
It was also mentioned that once those cars lost their food grade status, they went into service as mentioned by Mark and Mike.
Ok, thank you Mike and Mark
Jarrell
Sometimes they covered mineral concentrates so they didn't blow away in transit. Lately they might cover waste products so they aren't lost to the environment.
Covered gondolas usually carried steel or other metals that had to be protected from the weather.
Mark Vinski
What type 'merchandise' did this type car usually carry?
Thanks!