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What freight cars carry wood chips and sawdust, respectively

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  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: California - moved to North Carolina 2018
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Posted by DSchmitt on Monday, February 6, 2012 1:11 PM

For the older type drop bottom gondolas with raised sides check out the Intermountain website {both HO (Red Caboose) and N (Intermountain)}

Also MicroTrains N scale.

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

  • Member since
    October 2008
  • From: Canada
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Posted by cv_acr on Monday, February 6, 2012 2:16 PM

R. T. POTEET
Wood chips were USUALLY transported in hopper cars with raised sides however gons were sometimes used in this service.

As stated much earlier in this thread, that really depends on your area. On some railroads and in some areas hoppers would have been used exclusively, and in others they'd be virtually unknown, and gondolas ubquitous. Or even standard boxcars using wood/cardboard doors like old fashioned grain doors.

If not specifically modelling a particular prototype situation, the modeller is free to choose whatever type of car he pleases, but each mill receiving chips from sawmills will probably have a preference to receive a particular type of car (as the unloading equipment/facilties for each would be different depending on whether you're bottom-dumping a hopper, rotary dumping a gondola, end-dumping a gondola with hinged end doors, or digging out the chips through the side door of a boxcar or gondola).

  • Member since
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  • From: chicago, Illinois
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Posted by Mr. LMD on Monday, February 13, 2012 4:35 PM

cv_acr

 

 R. T. POTEET:
Wood chips were USUALLY transported in hopper cars with raised sides however gons were sometimes used in this service.

 

As stated much earlier in this thread, that really depends on your area. On some railroads and in some areas hoppers would have been used exclusively, and in others they'd be virtually unknown, and gondolas ubquitous. Or even standard boxcars using wood/cardboard doors like old fashioned grain doors.

If not specifically modelling a particular prototype situation, the modeller is free to choose whatever type of car he pleases, but each mill receiving chips from sawmills will probably have a preference to receive a particular type of car (as the unloading equipment/facilties for each would be different depending on whether you're bottom-dumping a hopper, rotary dumping a gondola, end-dumping a gondola with hinged end doors, or digging out the chips through the side door of a boxcar or gondola).

I have three Tichy Sugar Beet gondolas that looks great and will run great as my woodchip haulers.

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

  • Member since
    October 2008
  • From: Canada
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Posted by cv_acr on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 1:48 PM

Mr. LMD

I have three Tichy Sugar Beet gondolas that looks great and will run great as my woodchip haulers.

 

That should work fine. Railroads often re-purposed older cars into woodchip service, including older gondolas, old open hoppers and even cutting the roofs off boxcars as shown earlier here. Any place receiving woodchips would probably only receive one type of car since that's what they'd be set up to unload.

  • Member since
    September 2011
  • From: chicago, Illinois
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Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 1:53 PM

cv_acr

 

 Mr. LMD:

 

I have three Tichy Sugar Beet gondolas that looks great and will run great as my woodchip haulers.

 

 

 

That should work fine. Railroads often re-purposed older cars into woodchip service, including older gondolas, old open hoppers and even cutting the roofs off boxcars as shown earlier here. Any place receiving woodchips would probably only receive one type of car since that's what they'd be set up to unload.

What other type of cars would lumber mills or logging camps use because I was thinking of having a few covered hoppers to haul the sawdust to a powerplant and that as fuel while the woodchips be used as BBQ fuel or other uses.

 

thank you,

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

  • Member since
    October 2008
  • From: Canada
  • 1,820 posts
Posted by cv_acr on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 2:23 PM

Well, depending on whether they actually ship/receive certain things by rail or truck, a lumber mill has one basic input (logs) and a primary output of lumber. Secondary byproducts of lumber production are sawdust and woodchips (created from chipping the bark and scraps).

The logs would be shipped flatcars with side stakes or in gondolas. Or just shipped in by truck from local loggin cuts.

Depending on era, the lumber is shipped in bundles on flatcars, or loaded by hand, board by board, into boxcars.

Woodchips are shipped to paper/pulp mills for turning into paper. Chips are shipped in open cars. Usually tall gondolas (solid bottom cars), but some areas used hoppers (bottom dumping cars). A lot depends on era as well, the big 60' cars built specifically for woodchip service didn't really show up until the late 1960s. Prior to that lot of older cars were rebuilt with extended sides for woodchip service and not much was built specifically for woodchip service. If your railroad had a bunch of excess beet hoppers with tall sides, or was able to acquire a bunch on the cheap, it's conceivable to use these for woodchip service.

Sawdust was normally just burned as waste, although if the mill could actually make money by selling it to another industry like a wood pellet producer for pellet stoves and barbeques, or MDF/pressed particle board, then they might do it. The fine sawdust would be light enough to be required to be shipped in a covered hopper (or it would just blow away - even woodchips have had issues with blowing out of cars in transit) - IF the mill actually shipped sawdust to another mill, and IF it was shipped by rail instead of locally by truck.

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned a few times earlier in this thread that shipping sawdust or woodchips to a power plant for burning would be unlikely.

  • Member since
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  • From: chicago, Illinois
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Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 2:31 PM

cv_acr

Well, depending on whether they actually ship/receive certain things by rail or truck, a lumber mill has one basic input (logs) and a primary output of lumber. Secondary byproducts of lumber production are sawdust and woodchips (created from chipping the bark and scraps).

The logs would be shipped flatcars with side stakes or in gondolas. Or just shipped in by truck from local loggin cuts.

Depending on era, the lumber is shipped in bundles on flatcars, or loaded by hand, board by board, into boxcars.

Woodchips are shipped to paper/pulp mills for turning into paper. Chips are shipped in open cars. Usually tall gondolas (solid bottom cars), but some areas used hoppers (bottom dumping cars). A lot depends on era as well, the big 60' cars built specifically for woodchip service didn't really show up until the late 1960s. Prior to that lot of older cars were rebuilt with extended sides for woodchip service and not much was built specifically for woodchip service. If your railroad had a bunch of excess beet hoppers with tall sides, or was able to acquire a bunch on the cheap, it's conceivable to use these for woodchip service.

Sawdust was normally just burned as waste, although if the mill could actually make money by selling it to another industry like a wood pellet producer for pellet stoves and barbeques, or MDF/pressed particle board, then they might do it. The fine sawdust would be light enough to be required to be shipped in a covered hopper (or it would just blow away - even woodchips have had issues with blowing out of cars in transit) - IF the mill actually shipped sawdust to another mill, and IF it was shipped by rail instead of locally by truck.

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned a few times earlier in this thread that shipping sawdust or woodchips to a power plant for burning would be unlikely.

thank you for the information., it will really help a lot. I thinking of having a bio-mess powerplant that uses certain waste to power a powerplant. If that's not probable with woodchips and or sawdust, i will find another use for the byproducts, but thank you again.

 

:)

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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