01-13-2020, 11:44 AM
Our local brick plants stored the finished product on site on pallets for fast loading. They also made ceramic blocks which were hollow and used in some building construction. They were about 8 x 16 and had webbing inside for support. They were made from a mix of local clay and shale. The same mix could be made into sewer tile as well as roof tiles. I have posted some detailed photos here https://bigbluetrains.com/showthread.php...historical. These should be of some help to you. Locally most of the raw materials were mined close to the factory. I know from working briefly in the ceramic industry that some mixes used sodium silicate to hold the raw pieces together until they were fired and we added lard oil to the clays to prevent sticking to the stamping dies and molds. So inbound could be these as well as wood for pallets. Outbound brick went by box car. The brick company in Darlington, Pa also gave the broken brick to the railroad to use for shoring up the creek banks along the line. They would load them into an old Koppel side dump car and the crew would take them and dump them where needed.
Charlie
Charlie