1900's coal mine cars

[dehusman]

Probably the vast majority of coal around 1900 was carried in gondola cars. There were 3 major types: plain gons, drop bottom gons and hopper bottom gons. Plain gons had side 12-36 in high and were 30-37 ft long. They were manually shoveled out. Drop bottom gons were 30-37 ft long with 2-4 ft high sides and had 2 or more drop doors in the bottom of the car. Coal was manually shoved to the doors. Hopper bottom gons were 30-37 ft gons with 3-4 ft high sides and had one to 4 hoppers built into the floor. There were self unloading except for the small portion over the trucks that had to be shoveled into the hoppers.

True hopper cars were used, wooden 20-25 ton capy cars with heavy 6x6 truss framing on the sides, until the late 1890's when the higher capacity 30 and 40 ton cars that looked more modern showed up. Also in the late 1890's and early 1900's the first of the steel hoppers started showing up (Pressed Steel Car, Standard Steel Car).

Models for the early steel cars are available from Bowser (GLa) and from Westerfield. O&W Car Shops sells a hopper bottom gon. Various manufacturers sell "old time" gons. It is fairly easy to scratchbuild a gon superstructure on a MDC 36' boxcar underframe using Grandt Line side stakes.

Dave H.

[orsonroy]

It really depended on the railroad and the region you're modeling. Out West, most coal was moved by GS gondolas with drop bottoms, well into the 1950s. Out East, most roads were using hoppers (steel and wood), but were also still using GS gons from 1900 and earlier. One of the largest coal hauling roads, the W&LE, had three times as many gondolas on their roster than hoppers prior to WWI. In the Midwest, most coal was carried in GS gons, but some roads were starting to get all-steel hoppers.

Gondolas were unloaded by hand, by drop bottom doors, and by car tippers. Hoppers, obviously, were unloaded by their doors.

For the pre-WWI period, it was FAR more common to see coal hauled by gondola than it was by hopper. The road with the biggest fleet of hoppers was the Pennsy, and very few roads looked like that road! If I were modeling a pre-1910 road, I'd stick with 30'-36' wood side gondolas with four drop doors. Unfortunately, there really isn't a plastic kit out there for this sort of car, so you'll have to either build ;e, yourself, or build a fleet of resin cars. Check the "Old & Weary Car Shops" and "Funaro & Carmelengo" for resin kits of cars like this.

[scole100]

I am trying to build a early 1900's railroad that serves a coal mine. I have found resources on how the mines worked and all about how they brought coal "to" the train, but very little on the trains themselves. Does any one know what type of cars would have been in use prior to about 1910? Also, how did they get the coal out of the cars? Any help would be greatly appreciated.