Did it look like this??
http://www.michaelluczak.com/oscale.html
I've seen them described as coke containers also, I believe coke is also very fine and would need to be covered in trainsit.
Apparently they were an early version of containers, Lionel did a No.1 gauge version in the 20's-30's:
http://www.lloydralstontoys.com/nopreview/090906photos/213.jpg
Very helpful. Thank you!
PD
Those canisters were how they shipped powdered cement in the days before covered hoppers became standard. The containers would be loaded and unloaded using compressed air and could be taken off the gondolas at a jobsite. Some railroads would cut access holes into the sides of gons used in cement service to allow the crews access to the air hoses when loading. By the mid `60s though covered hoppers were pretty much the norm and the gondolas were removed from cement service.
For the most part it was Northeastern railroads like the Lehigh Valley, New York Central,etc. that handled them but I imagine they were shipped allover the country.
Sounds like cement to me. L&NE and DL&W had a lot of them out of the Bangor and Portland area of PA fed to the likes of NYC at Maybrook.
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Hello,
I watched a television program a couple of night ago about the New York Central. It featured video from the '40s - '60s. There were a couple of different shots of passing freight trains that had open 40' gondolas with several large cannisters inside. Does anyone know what might have been carried in these cannisters and whether or not this type of load was common outside the Northeast?
Thanks.
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