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+--- Thread: Steel beam colors (/showthread.php?tid=4935)
Steel beam colors - sailormatlac - 03-12-2012
Hi!
I'm actually planning to build a few gondola loads, chiefly steel beams loaded on Pennsylvania cars: era 1950s.
I would like to know what was the typical color for beams when the were shipped to customers. While surveying many buildings, I often remarked roof trusses and beams from 1920s-1960s building were painted black. Was it a standard practice. Nowadays, you find gray, red and other primer colors on steel member (a lot of gray in fact).
Thank you.
Matt
Re: Steel beam colors - jwb - 03-12-2012
Here's a photo from maybe 6 weeks ago of some steel pipe in a gon. There are what seems to be plastic caps on the ends, but the rest of it is unpainted. There may be some sort of oil treatment. The impression I have of new, raw steel in shipment is that it's various shades of dark gray-to-black as you see here.
Re: Steel beam colors - MountainMan - 03-12-2012
If it's unpainted, it will usually show signs of rust by the time it reaches it's destination.
Re: Steel beam colors - doctorwayne - 03-12-2012
If it's simply structural steel shapes (I-beams, H-columns, etc.) it would likely be unpainted. Grey, blue/grey, black would be common, and, as MountainMan notes, likely with some signs of rust. This could range from just a hint here and there, to totally rust-covered - some grades of steel oxidise very rapidly, then that surface coating protects against further action.
For pre-assembled construction steel, such as roof or floor trusses, these are usually painted at the assembly plant, either in primer (probably red lead in the '50s) or in that company's "stock" paint colour. The customer could probably request a particular colour, too, depending on where it was going to be used. Of course, when a roof is a couple hundred feet wide, the trusses would likely be assembled on-site and probably painted before installation.
Most of the mills in the steel plant where I worked had the structural steel painted grey, the steel floors non-slip red, and the outside of the buildings (usually corrugated siding) in various colours or unpainted galvanised.
Wayne
Re: Steel beam colors - sailormatlac - 03-12-2012
Thank you all of you! You confirm my thoughts about it. I was just wondering if what I see in modern times was the same back then. There's a large CANAM-MANAC plant shipping a lot of bridge components to the States in Quebec City. Just as you said, it's bare steel rusted at different degree. I think it will make a nice load and a good way to recycle unused Rix bridge girder.
If there's only a single layer of large I-Beams, would they be strapped together? Or strapped to the gondola?
Matt
Re: Steel beam colors - doctorwayne - 03-12-2012
They'd most likely be on blocking, not directly on the car's floor, and also with blocking/dunnage to space them away from the car's sides and, possibly, from one another. This is to facilitate placing chains or cables around them for loading and unloading, as much as it is to keep them from moving around in-transit.
Wayne
Re: Steel beam colors - sailormatlac - 03-13-2012
So, they would end up in a wood cage with blockings to keep them from moving. Good... a nice 1 evening project to do.
Matt
Re: Steel beam colors - Brakie - 03-19-2012
sailormatlac Wrote:So, they would end up in a wood cage with blockings to keep them from moving. Good... a nice 1 evening project to do.
Matt
Matt,For your information..They no longer used chains they now use heavy duty metal strapping..
I have used scale 2"x4" balsa wood cut to fit.
I have also cut the heads from matchbox matches and used the wood for spacers.
For fire safety I place the heads in a small jar( I used a old baby food jar) and when it was full I tossed the jar in the trash.
Re: Steel beam colors - Prairie Trains - 03-19-2012
Brakie Wrote:sailormatlac Wrote:So, they would end up in a wood cage with blockings to keep them from moving. Good... a nice 1 evening project to do.
Matt
Matt,For your information..They no longer used chains they now use heavy duty metal strapping..
I have used scale 2"x4" balsa wood cut to fit.
I have also cut the heads from matchbox matches and used the wood for spacers.
For fire safety I place the heads in a small jar( I used a old baby food jar) and when it was full I tossed the jar in the trash.
If the matches are of the strike anywhere type you are basically throwing a fire bomb into the garbage. :o The jar could be crushed in a garbage truck or at the land fill, starting a very dangerous and costly fire.
Re: Steel beam colors - MountainMan - 03-19-2012
sailormatlac Wrote:Thank you all of you! You confirm my thoughts about it. I was just wondering if what I see in modern times was the same back then. There's a large CANAM-MANAC plant shipping a lot of bridge components to the States in Quebec City. Just as you said, it's bare steel rusted at different degree. I think it will make a nice load and a good way to recycle unused Rix bridge girder.Flatbed trailer loads are tied down as a group on top of wooden beams, so I would imagine the same sort of process would be used by the railroads.
If there's only a single layer of large I-Beams, would they be strapped together? Or strapped to the gondola?
Matt
This might help:
![[Image: truck-hire-russell-island-1.jpg]](http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr19/MountainMan01/truck-hire-russell-island-1.jpg)
Re: Steel beam colors - Brakie - 03-19-2012
Prairie Trains Wrote:If the matches are of the strike anywhere type you are basically throwing a fire bomb into the garbage. :o The jar could be crushed in a garbage truck or at the land fill, starting a very dangerous and costly fire.
Not to worry these was common box matches that you strike on the side of the box.
I have used the strike anywhere and never heard of a major garbage dump fire..
One can always add water in the jar of match heads if he/she has concerns...
Re: Steel beam colors - Russ Bellinis - 03-22-2012
MountainMan Wrote:Flatbed trailer loads are tied down as a group on top of wooden beams, so I would imagine the same sort of process would be used by the railroads.
This might help:
The difference between flat bed trailer loads and loads on rail cars is that the trailer is loaded, the straps are fastened by the driver and he then drives the truck to the delivery point where he removes his tie downs and stows them back in his truck or the trailer. Since the flat car is loaded at the mill, sent across country on a train that may be interchanged between a number of railroads, and all tie downs, blocking, etc is considered dunnage to be disposed of when the car is unloaded, they would definitely use steel bands rather than expensive nylon tie down straps.
Re: Steel beam colors - MountainMan - 03-23-2012
Russ Bellinis Wrote:MountainMan Wrote:Flatbed trailer loads are tied down as a group on top of wooden beams, so I would imagine the same sort of process would be used by the railroads.
This might help:
The difference between flat bed trailer loads and loads on rail cars is that the trailer is loaded, the straps are fastened by the driver and he then drives the truck to the delivery point where he removes his tie downs and stows them back in his truck or the trailer. Since the flat car is loaded at the mill, sent across country on a train that may be interchanged between a number of railroads, and all tie downs, blocking, etc is considered dunnage to be disposed of when the car is unloaded, they would definitely use steel bands rather than expensive nylon tie down straps.
I posted the image to show how the concept works, not to specify the materials used.
