matching cars to industries
#1
I am going to a train show/swap meet this Sunday, and plan to hunt around for some bargain hoppers. My problem is that I don't really know what I should be looking for as it relates to my layout. I have a Glacier gravel plant that I will locate on the layout, and am not really sure what kinds of hoppers would have been brought in and out of this plant. Time frame is 70's or so. Would these hoppers be covered or uncovered. I saw a really good deal on some 34' covered hoppers online (see pic below), that would work great (as I want to predominantly model Rock Island), but I don't know if these are the types of hoppers used to transport gravel.

So, can anyone tell me what hoppers were used in the 70's to transport gravel?

Thanks.


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Mike

"Trust everyone, and always cut the cards".
W.C. Fields
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#2
Hi Mike, gravel is carried and transported in open top hoppers, not covered. The hopper you posted would work well for cement....

Athearn makes some 40' quad hoppers in the Blue Box series, as does Walthers. Im not sure if they used them in the 70's but i would assume they did
Josh Mader

Maders Trains
Offering everyday low prices for the Model Railroad World
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#3
40 foot open hoppers would work for gravel. Be careful of the Athearn quad hopper, they were one of the first freight cars Athearn built and are famous for having warped frames out of the box. Gravel is heavier than coal, but lighter than iron ore. Iron ore would be hauled in the shorty MDC ore cars, coal would be hauled in the longer coal hoppers, although in the 1950s they they might have been using shorter 40 or 50 foot hoppers for coal. Because of the weight, sand and gravel is probably still hauled in 40 r 50 foot cars today.
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#4
Don't just think hoppers gravel was also transported in gons. Also box cars or flats would have been used to bring in machinery and other supplies, may be a tank car for fuel oil for the boiler.
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#5
Gravel in boxcars? Did they build a wooden wall across the open door like in old grain loading days for boxcars?

By the way Mike I really like that covered hopper in the photo!
Ralph
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#6
Thanks for the replies everyone. Logic was telling me that gravel would not be transported in a covered hopper, but it just got me thinking as to what type of car would be most prototypical for a layout based in the 70's. With your answers, I will look for some good 40' open hoppers for my gravel plant operation. But I also think I might still try to acquire those covered hoppers, as I am intending on having a concrete plant somewhere on the layout as well!
Mike

"Trust everyone, and always cut the cards".
W.C. Fields
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#7
Don't they have a car flipper oper thingy for emptying the cars that are full of gravel coal and stuff like that?
Lynn

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Ontario,Canada
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#8
wgrider Wrote:Don't they have a car flipper oper thingy for emptying the cars that are full of gravel coal and stuff like that?

Only with hoppers, I believe and only at a facility that takes multiple train loads of cars like a power plant or coal dock for train to ship transfer. Most gravel operations would either use a bottom dump from a hopper onto a conveyor system in a pit, or would use a front loader riding on top of the side of a gondola. Rotary car dumpers are expensive and require special rotary couplers or uncoupling each car individually to dump. It is much more efficient to do a bottom dump with a standard hopper for less than train load shipments.
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#9
Gravel, 70's, I recall seeing some 40' cars, used by a local "materials" company to haul sand and gravel, when I was driving past the Waukegan yard of the CNW. I can't remember the company, but...Walthers has the same car, the 40' 100 ton Ortner open aggregate hopper in road names CSX, FEC, WC (restenciled Algoma Central), Golden West Service, Algoma Central, SSAM / WC, Blue Circle Cement, and undec.
Page 180 in the 2008 catalog. Check the web site for current availability, or keep your eyes open at the swap meet. The cars are distinctive in that they have a platform at each end, and the hopper itself runs from bolster to bolster. There are three sets of quick discharge doors under. 100 ton two bay hoppers can also be used.
The Ortner cars may have been late 70's-early 80's, I can't remember exactly when I saw them....I wasn't really into that era at the time. They may have appeared at about the same time as the SD60's, on the CNW.
The Athearn 34' rib side hoppers could also be used.
We always learn far more from our own mistakes, than we will ever learn from another's advice.
The greatest place to live life, is on the sharp leading edge of a learning curve.
Lead me not into temptation.....I can find it myself!
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#10
Big 1, The versatility of open hoppers is legendary, and gravel (from "pea" through ballast, to what'll fit through the doors !) was often hauled in standard hoppers. The thing to remember is density - 100 tons of stone is much less volume than a like weight of coal or coke - so don't load all the way to the top chord with product. Consider also, getting some side-dump (Difco ?) cars, for ballast, rip-rap, or stone fill around the track. Bob C.
James Thurber - "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."
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#11
Here's some interesting freight car information that takes the guess work out of the freight car lading...

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Larry
Engineman

Summerset Ry

Make Safety your first thought, Not your last!  Safety First!
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