Gondola and Hopper Loads

 Gondola loads eh?

Ductwork:

Large gears:

Concrete pipes:

Stone Blocks:

Nick

Those aren't empty cars!  They're full of next year's highway potholes!

Obviously you are looking at coal and aggregates in hoppers and gons for a start and they are pretty much the same as ore car loads.  Some ore cars got used for sand traffic when they fell out of ore traffic use.

Beyond that you can load all sorts of barrels, drums, crates, lumber, steel sections, machinery (usually attached to some sort of framework or pallet), stacks of pallets, slates, pipes ( loads of varieties) and more... even horse manure and trash being shipped out of town in some periods.

BUT a few things to bear in mind:-

A Gon load MUST be capable of being secured by a combination of blocking and strapping down with ropes, straps or chains.  This is one reason why lumps of machinery are on frames... the frame holds the lump still and then the frame is secured in the gon.

Whatever goes in a gon must be secured from sliding or bouncing about so that it will not damage itself or the gon... or anything else.  It must also besecured against being blown out of the car.

As with any car the lod must be stable, ballanced in all directions (or the inballance controlled by supporting blocks and restraining straps/ropes/chains) and the weight correctly distributed (this cannot always be an even distribution but, when it isn't this ust be accounted for in the loading).

[The same applies to loads in boxcars but - unless you have the doors open- you don't see the methods of load securing... and if the door is open the car should not be on the move...]

The problem is less how to get a load into a gon than how to get it back out.  This means that barrels and crates are not wedged in by their own size but will be packed with securing material that can be knocked out at the receiving end to release them.  There also has to be space and means to attach whatever gear will lift the load out.

The other side of this is that ore in particular not only compacts down with the vibration of the journey but, when wet and cold, can freeze into a solid lump.  Some ore cars were provided with reinforced[gussetted] holes in the sides through which steam lances could be forced into the load to release it.  I have evidence that an earlier practice was to smash holes into the top of the load with a steel bar and sledge hammer before dropping in a small charge of dynamite.  I would love to see this modelled!

Okay... so one thing is that a Gon load will be narrower and shorter than the inside of the gon so that it can be got back out.  A full width and/or length load will ride on a flat on which it can be secured by side/end stakes and/or chains/ropes/straps etc.

Usually any load that can be damaged by water in a gon will not sit on the floor and will be wrapped in some way.  Both the load and the wrapping must be secure... the wrapping should not be used to secure the load - that is the job of chains etc... excess tension on a covering, such as a tarpaulin, will almost always rip it if there is any high point, edge or corner... this will both reduce any restraint the misused covering may provide and risk the load being damaged by water ingress.  Load inspectors and conductors watch out for this sort of thing.

Things like pipes and steel sections often need shaped packing between the load elements and the gon and between elements.  These may be dumped at trip's end or ride back for the next load - making a mini-load of their own.  Fittings like these do not have to be totally held down but they must be either wholly within the gon or secured so that they cannot topple out of it.

That raises another couple of good loads... large sheets - of steel or glass in packing cases.  When these are very large they may be loaded on a frame and carried set at an angle.

Tractors,farm implements and stuff like jeeps can be loaded in gons but they obviously have to be craned in and out - except maybe if it's a drop end gon.

Now there is an interesting thing...gons with the end dropped and steelwork sticking out - the overhang riding over a barrier car at one or both ends....   

and that could lead on to other loads not fully within the car... or to be more exact not fully within the Loading Gauge...These are Out of Gauge Loads. 

Does this get you started?

Chooch and a couple of other manufacturers make scrap metal loads for gons.  I like the look of these.  You can also make your own with, well, scraps of metal.  The loads themselves are resin castings, and thus fairly heavy.  I removed the metal weights from the gons when I put the loads in.

As always, think about the industries these gons will serve.  I was scratching me head for industries for my layout expansion.  Then I glanced at one of these loaded cars, and instantly added a scrap yard to my plans.

If you are looking for an easy way to make aggregate loads for your hoppers and gondolas, this is the method I used.  (sorry, I can't post photos).

Cut a piece of extruded foam (blue/pink insullation) to fit into your car snuggly, but not too tight.  Shape the top to match the load you desire.  Get some material that looks like the load you want to carry (coal, sand, ore) and small can of paint of a matching color (not a spray can).  Take a piece of cling wrap large enough to protect your whole car, place it over the car and press the load into place.  (Remember loads close to loading are full, close to destination have settled into the car.)  Paint the top of the foam with a thick coat of undiluted paint and sprinkle a liberal amount of material on it.  Set it aside to dry.  When the paint is dry (next day) dump off the excess material, save for later use and pull the load out with the wrap and throw the wrap away. 

You can make the loads easily removable by inserting a piece of steel (3/8 washer is what I used) into the load before painting it.  Get a magnetic pick up tool at an auto parts store or wherever).  Works like a charm to remove the loads without having to handle the car.  Also adds weight to your loaded car.

Hope this helps.

Good luck,

For hoppers used chunks of blue or floral foam painted the color of the commodity.  coat the top with glue and sprinkle on a layer of the commodity.

A cool load for gons is to go to a store that sells RC model car parts.  look in the cast plastic suspension parts.  My local Hobbytown clears out the old parts every once in a while.  They look like huge industrial machine castings.

I use "live" loads in all of my open cars, so hoppers get loaded with either coke breeze...

...or locomotive traction grit, which looks sorta "coal-like":

Gondolas are seldom completely empty, often containing remnants of previous "loose" bulk loads, or blocking from other types of lading:

You can purchase scrap loads, or make you own from model railroad "junk", as in these cars:

This car is loaded with metal stakes that were included with Blue Box flatcar kits - they were treated with A-West Blacken-It:

Tires and axles from Rivarossi passenger cars:

Motor armature segments from dismantled open-frame motors:

This car contains scrap wire from the same motors:

A shipment of rail makes a nice load (and a good use for old brass sectional track):

These tanks were made from plastic office machine paper rolls, with strip styrene blocking:

You can also create a pole load for either a gondola or flatcar, or, as shown below, for both:

For flatcars, lumber is a good choice:

Steel plates, made from Plastruct ABS sheets, are good for a flatcar, too:

You can also create related loads that use several cars, such as this overhead crane, shipped as sub-assemblies on multiple cars:

Wayne

The examples shown above should just about cover everything. 

However, if you have some of the drop-bottom gondolas (from either Red Caboose or Intermountain), another option is to use them for either sugar beet or coal operations.  Southern Pacific used their drop-bottoms for sugar beet loading, and so did Rio Grande.  In fact, in the 1940's, Rio Grande used their drop-bottom gondolas mostly for coal, instead of hopper cars.  Chooch makes both sugar beet and coal loads that will fit the gondolas with very little trimming. 

Tom 

You tempt me to post a picture of a train consisting of drop-bottom gondolas loaded with logs traveling the center of main street in a small town.  Did so post within the last week, so I resist.

Mark

 Great collection, Wayne.

 I have not live loads, but removable loads.

Wolfgang

A gon can carry many types of loads from flatten automobiles to scrap semi trailers.From steel plates to  steel coils.From rip rap to crush stone.From pulpwood to logs.

Some times it best if one looks outside the box for unusual gon loads.

What kind of facilities would've received gondola loads of coal? I don't think I've ever seen a prototype picture of a facility receiving a gondola load of coal.

csmincemoyer

What kind of facilities would've received gondola loads of coal? I don't think I've ever seen a prototype picture of a facility receiving a gondola load of coal.

Early  years (and sometimes later) a place with a lot of men with shovels... or a few men with shovels and a lot of time...

Later either a grab bucket or a back hoe would unload.

csmincemoyer

What kind of facilities would've received gondola loads of coal?

A place where there were no coal-dump facilities.  Coal would be shoveled out by hand, lifted out by a clamshell crane, etc. from the gondola.  Some gondolas had bottom hatches to allow the coal to dump out toward the sides of the track.  Coal was shipped in boxcars too.  The railroad customer might pay a fee for the car to remain and would unload the car as needed to meet demand.

Mark

Evidently, western roads in particular favoured gondolas over hoppers for coal and aggregates.  It's easy to forget that even into the 1950s, manual labour was used to load and unload a lot of material.  Of course, drop-bottom gondolas eliminated a lot (but not all) of the shovelling. 

Grain travelled in boxcars, and while large terminals might have mechanised unloading, lots of places simply opened the door, let the load flow out, then sent in the guys with the scoops.  Sugar and flour, and probably many other products, were shipped in 100lb. bags,  loaded and unloaded by guys with strong backs.

Wayne

Forgot to mention that gondolas specially equipped to be turned upside down are used for carrying coal to facilities that have equipment to turn the cars upside down.

Drop-bottom gondolas carrying sugar beets dropped their loads into this pit when the sugar refinery was in operation.  I presume men would shove those beets falling outside the pit into it.  The pit is now used for locomotive inspections.

Mark

csmincemoyer

What kind of facilities would've received gondola loads of coal? I don't think I've ever seen a prototype picture of a facility receiving a gondola load of coal.

There was a few well into the 70s.There was some manufacturers that still had small coal fired boilers.The gons would be unloaded by backhoe.

Those small manufacturers would include small foundries,small refractories,a small garden hose manufacturer etc..Of course these smaller companies cease operations or converted their boilers to natural gas..Today that type of traffic is long gone.

on the old PC we used to get gondola loads of manure out of National Stock Yards at E St Louis going to Moonlight Mushroom Farms up in Pennsylvania.  (you heard the old joke about keeping them in the dark and feeding them you know what.)   well if we had a hard nosed conductor that we didn't like called for that train, we would try to get the car placed in the train about 2 or 3 from the rear end and the poor joker wouldn't know it was there until they got out on the road running about 50 MPH.  then all that contaminated straw would start blowing in the windows of his caboose all the way to Avon. this worked well in hot weather. hope he enjoyed his box lunch. heh heh.

grizlump

richhotrain

I am embarassed to admit that I have had my layout in place for 6 years and have yet to place any loads in any of my hoppers, gondolas, ore cars or ballast cars.  They all get pulled around the layout empty.

I have some ideas for loads for the ore cars and ballast cars, but I would be very interested in any ideas that you may have for loads for the hoppers and gondolas.

Thanks,

Rich

Thanks to everyone for all of your suggestions, ideas and photos,  It gives me a lot to work with and quite a bit of inspiration.  I particularly appreciate the suggestion to consider Chooch products for this purpose.  Their product line is pretty extensive.

Rich

I read this a while ago in a magazine, but just remembered about it.

A cool pre-weathered scrap load on the floor of a gondola is actual rust flakes off of a car sitting in your driveway! You can make the load as big as you want or as small as you want, depending on how rusty your car is.

Gordon