Question about Railroading in the 50's

[CopCarSS]

Hey All,

Starting to finally get the N-scale layout going. I'm building a freelanced shortline that interchanges with one of the granger roads in the midwest. Probably a big part of the layout is going to be the grain elevator. My question is this:

Was there widespread usage of grain hoppers in the late 50's, or was most grain transported in boxcars? I know that boxcar usage ended around the late 60's to early 70's, but I don't know when hopper usage really took hold.

Thanks in advance for any info!

Chris
Denver, CO

[gabe]

Chris,

Sounds like a very interesting layout. At age 29, I can only give you hearsay. But I grew up in Central Illinois and have a penchant for listening to stories from oltimers about trains.

My Dad used to work for a grain elevator company while in highschool during the late 50s. He tells me that box cars, by that time, were the exception rather than the rule and most of the time they had hoppers. He also said it was much harder work to load the box cars--so you should give your model railroad grain employees a break and invest in hoppers.

Good luck. Your layout seems interesting, if you post a picture of it on the net, let me know, I would like to see it.

Gabe

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Boxcars were the historic way of hauling grain. Anyone who has walked along the tracks in a rural area or a line that serves grain elevators or processors can vouch for the fact that boxcars leaked their commodity badly. Covered hoppers didn't come into play for hauling grain until the 1960's, although use of boxcars for grain haulage continued into the 1970's, even later in Canada.

[CShaveRR]

For a couple of years after I hired out with C&NW in 1971, we still had classification tracks for empty grain box cars and "bulk" (the loads, which had to be inspected). I well remember the mess caused when an overspeed impact would literally blow a door off one of those loads.

Most covered hoppers built in the late 1950s were still too small in cubic capacity to be useful for grain. A 40-foot box car had about 3900 cubic feet of space, most of which was usable (an inspector still had to be able to get into the car). I can't think of many covered hoppers with greater than 3500 cubic feet capacity that were built before, say, 1962. Southern Railway's "Big John" cars were built in that era, and were, I believe, originally used for grain. A covered hopper of the same size would offer some economic advantages (less prep time, ease of loading and unloading), but the bigger Pullman Standard cars (4000 and 4427 cubic feet) and Center Flows (4650) didn't come until the mid-1960s.

[CopCarSS]

Thanks for the answers everyone. Looks like my poor elevator workers will be earning their pay loading box cars.

gabe: It's getting to be an interesting layout. So far it exists mostly in my mind. I'm hoping to get some benchwork started this weekend, and maybe start laying some track. I haven't finalized a track plan yet, but I have some basic ideas. I'll be taking pics with the D60 as progress occurs. They'll be up in the Model Railroader section, and if I can make a tie to the real thing, I'll get a couple posted here, too. [;)]

Chris
Denver, CO

[tatans]

As boxcars were the method of transporting grain (wheat) don't forget the method of sealing them was with grain doors, large doors that fit on the inside of the boxcar but did not quite reach the roof (in order to get inside) and some also were lined with cardboard to prevent some leakage.

[Anonymous]

As late as the mid '70's, the CNW hauled grain in 40 ft. boxcars. How do I know? One of my first jobs was cleaning boxcars in the North Fond du Lac(Wi.) yard for Oakee and Co. [:D]

A real messy job. After the chaff and such was swept out, they were "sanitized"(don't remember exactly how, I was on the sweeping crew) and sent on their way. After 3 weeks, I just couldn't handle it. My allergies would kick in, and my day was done.[V]

So technically, I have worked for a railroad...but I have to be carfeul to say for how long....[;)][8D]