Hi,
I am interested to know whether or not the milk tank cars (inverted bathtub shape) used during the first part of the 20th century ever ran outside the northeast. I would appreciate any help.
Thank you.
PD
You need to post the picture somewhere on the web so it has a URL ("www.-----). Once it's there, click on the green icon in the toolbar for posting a message - to the left of the yellow smiley face, it looks like a little roll of film. Then cut and paste the URL for the picture in the pop-up box.
Don't worry about finding pictures, find books. Google or Bing, check Amazon and Barnes and Kalmbach books...also Bob Bahrs who wrote several books on milk cars. You'll find pictures and the information you are looking for.
As far as I remember the "inverted bathtub shape" cars were a Borden car as I remember them on the DL&W in New Jersey in the 50s'. But Borden was not just a Jersey dairy so it could be so that those cars could be found in Ohio and Wisconsin at least, and any other place Borden was buying or processing milk.
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Hee is a link connecting to a photo of the Bordens milk car restored and at the Ill Railway Museum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BFIX_520_20050716_Illinois_Railway_Museum.JPG
The photo is attributed to Sean Lamb (Jul.16,2005)
Not sure in what specific areas of the country these cars ran. In this part of the world back at the turn of the century 20th there were a large number of dairy farms. Specifically, around the Parsons,Ks area on the railroads the MKT, SLSF, and the Interurban line to Cherryvale. The milk from the frarms were loaded into milk cans and taken to flag stops and stations where they were loaded in baggage cars and returned to Creameries located in the larger towns for consolidation. The milk was put in baggage cars or REA Cars for rail transport to the collection point. Major Dairy Plants were located in Cities like Joplin, Mo. Wichita, and Tulsa, OK.
Creameries may have used some refrigerated cars to move it the longer distances to the major facilities. form their outlaying collection centers to the bigger packaging and processing plants.
The morning locals were used to get eggs from the farms to the plants, and other produce items for sale in the larger towns as well rode on the railroad.
Thanks for the photo. It 'learned' me something today that I never knew. Back in my teens I had heard slow trains called 'milk runs' but back then I knew nothing about milk being transported by rail.
When was the last time such cars were used?
Norm
Never saw a car like that in Illinois on the old Alton/GM&O. I lifted many a 5 gallon and 10 gallon milk can into a baggage car from a baggage cart. The 5 gallon ones were no problem, close to 45 or so pounds, but the 10 gallon cans weighed twice that and had to be lifted a foot or so up and swung into the baggage car with the help or leg or slightly bruised shin. The full cans were headed north but I never saw an empty come back. Puzzling!
Art
Art, I think those cans held cream, not milk.
I stand corrected. Although we all called them milk cans, I'm sure they contained cream. During high school days, I worked in a dairy for about a year; we didn't sell much cream or coffee cream so the farmers surely needed another market for the cream.
Both raw and processed milk were carried in cans and cars...depending on whether the product came from a creamery or from a farmers' lot.. Check out Bob Bahrs book series on milk cars and Bob Mohowski's books on milk trains and dairies.
2 Borden's milk tank cars at Canada Southern website
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/non-nyc/images/bfix-516.jpg
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/non-nyc/images/bfix-522.jpg
Piggyback (cowwyback?) ride for tired milk tanks
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/non-nyc/images/picx-101.jpg
On the point again, Wanswheel! CS was the NYC's line between Buffalo and Detroit? Does anybody know the market these cars worked?....last car I saw in actual service was in 1968 I think at B&M's E. Deerfield, MA yard. New Hampshire would not allow tractor trailer milk trucks so Hood had to move milk by rail to Boston I believe....As for the highway tanks on flats: this is something, or a Roadrailer type system, which I can't believe hasn't been tried in modern times (i.e. since 1970 or 80 say).
The butterfat content (essentially cream) is an important factor in what the farmer gets paid for his (her) milk. My Mom has related that occasionally they'd short the dairy just a little on Sunday so they could have whipped cream with their dessert.
Most "station cans" had an originating code stamped on them so they could be returned to their owners.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Reporting marks BFIX, as seen on those milk tank cars, were assigned to Borden until 1957. The fleet included 51 different cars, all of which had glass-lined tanks--most (501-543) were of 6000 gallons capacity, such as those illustrated; the last few (544-551) had a capacity of 7,640 gallons. The first eight cars were built in 1926 or 1927; the fleet had expanded to 35 cars by 1931. By 1941, all but five of the larger-sized cars had been built, and a couple of the 6000-gallon tanks had been retired. In early 1949 the fleet still stood at 49 cars (as many as the company ever operated at once), but there were only 19 cars left as of 1954, and most of those lasted into 1957.
Couple of thoughts:
It would be interesting to see what the larger tank cars looked like, whether they were of the same design as the 6000-gallon cars. Their dimensions were only slightly different from the 6000-gallon cars.
Wouldn't it be neat to see a unit train of these cars (keeping in mind that they were considered to be passenger equipment)? This is the kind of service (and perhaps the only kind of service!) that the BL2 locomotive would look great on!
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
CShaveRR Wouldn't it be neat to see a unit train of these cars (keeping in mind that they were considered to be passenger equipment)? This is the kind of service (and perhaps the only kind of service!) that the BL2 locomotive would look great on!
Rutland, NYC, B&M, DL&W, O&W, ERIE, and LV at least had such trains in the day (sans BL2, but I think many would love the steamers and first generation diesels). Some were mixed with more passenger and RPO services than others, but they did indeed grace the rails in the East at least.
A BL2 pulling Borden milk cars! How could you tell the difference??
wanswheel [snip] Piggyback (cowwyback?) ride for tired milk tanks http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/non-nyc/images/picx-101.jpg
Looking closely at this photo - looks like a small turntable mechanism under the single axle of these trailers - kind of like an early forerunner of the later NYC "Flexi-van" equipment ? That's quite a massive assemblage of steel parts to hold the "5th wheel" at the front end of each trailer, and elsewhere to support and restrain the trailers on the car. Think of all the engineering and fabrication time that went into that - and the 'tare-to-net weight ratio' must have been just awful . . .
Thanks for sharing !
- Paul North.
P.S. - The several BL2 jokes above are pretty funny, too ! What we need now is a photo of one next to the milk cars . . . even if only of models. Wonder if anyone ever did that . . . ? Here are links to a couple of photos (not mine) of BL2's so you can easily see the resemblance to the Borden's milk tank cars - the Stourbridge line one is kind of 'sports-car' looking and not that far away, so maybe someday soon . . .
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=292360
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=331313
- PDN.
your last link in this post do you have any other photo's of this? I a Z scaler 1:220 scale I just did a set of 3D printed milk car and wanted to do a setof tankers like in the photo. But can't fine any other or what years these tanker where use. I would make a great train car load. Can you help thanks! http://shpws.me/LL0Z
this was the photo i'm talking about!
Walt (southernnscale)
these are the milk cars in Z scale
http://shpws.me/LL0Z
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