Clay Slurry Tank Cars
#1
Hi!

I'm actually wondering what was a typical clay slurry (kaolin) tank car in Canada during the 70s and 80s. I've found a lot of infos about the 90s and 00s and I remember seeing many JM Huber and Omya cars back then, however, my childhood memories of train in the 80s are devoid of any tank cars.

What was common company offering that service back then. Were funnel-type cars already that popular in that service to paper mills? I'm curious.

Matt
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#2
I have a pretty good collection of Guilford DVDs from the 80s onward, as well as some B&M/D&H/MEC from the 70s. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if there were a lot of slurry cars visible during that time. Certainly the traditional raw material was kaolin clay shipped either bagged, in boxcars with roof hatches, or in covered hoppers. I'll have to look into this more carefully.
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#3
I really wasn't paying much attention to tank cars until somewhere in the early 80's when I suffered a bout of "disieseization", when I started scratchbuilding / kit bashing some CNW diesels ( SD-60,SD-70, GP-15 ). Saw a lot of Kaolin cars in the Waukegan yard, but that was...early-mid 80's. As I understand it, Kaolin, was originally processed and shipped in boxcars, as a clay. It wasn't until the Kaolin clay got mixed with water and made into Kaolin Slurry, that tank cars were used to transport it.
I found one reference to Kaolin slurry, and ships: A business for transportation of Kaolin slurry in ships was founded in 1978.
This was the earliest mention of the subject I could find on my s l o w computer so there may be earlier references to shipping the product, but I have a feeling that it won't be much earlier.
You might try searching "patents" for the manufacturing process / shipping process.
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.
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#4
Thanks guys!

You confirm what I thought. When looking at JM Huber car's built date, the oldest in service were dating back to the mid-80s. As a kid in the 80s growing near a track serving a paper mill, I never saw tank cars until the early 90s, when JM Huber & Omya cars appeared.

Bagged clay in boxcars... I'm always amazed how every bulk commodities ended up bagged in boxcars in the old days.

Matt
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#5
sailormatlac Wrote:Bagged clay in boxcars... I'm always amazed how every bulk commodities ended up bagged in boxcars in the old days.
Matt

2285_ 357 .....and, before reinforced paper/plastic bags ? Burlap sacks ! were " modern technology " :o Wink 357
Now we see "bulk commodities" shipped in covered hoppers.

Oh I cannot resist:
When looking at "Bulk commodities" today, .......you don't get "bags" under your eyes ! Icon_twisted :o 357 357 Icon_lol
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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#6
It is interesting that clay with a lot of water (that is slurry) and therefor more volume and weight is more cost effective shipped in tank cars than clay only in boxcars. I assume the loading and unloading process is also more efficient with tank cars. That demonstrates how expensive boxcar shipping is.
Reinhard
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#7
Might try Bing once in a while...I found several images immediately. Too much trouble to post them here.
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#8
The Lennox China plant in Galloway Twp, NJ used to receive kaolin in boxcars. They were shipped in one ton bags and the car would be spotted inside the plant.

Bruce
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#9
@Sumpter: well said!

@Reinhard: It also prooves how much labor cost increased too. The guy who helped me design the cement plant told me they loaded by hand boxcars with bagged cement in the 60s. It would take them many day while covered hopper were loaded by dozen each day on the adjacent siding.

@Mountaingreg: We probably don't use the same key words. 357 If you look specifically for older kaolin slurry tank car, there's almost nothing that pop up. I did find an old picture of a GATX 10,000 gallon tank car used in kaolin service in the days. But no funnel tank cars that are nowadays standards. Quebec National Archives had nice pictures from the 60s of my local paper mill, however, I'm no longer able to find them and don't remember if there was cars depicted on them... I'll try again.

Matt
Proudly modelling Quebec Railway Light & Power Company since 1997.

Hedley-Junction Club Layout: http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com/

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com/
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#10
Sumpter your "Dad jokes" are evil, pure evil. Icon_lol
Fake It till you Make It, then Fake It some More
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#11
By the way I did look up kaolin, and that stuff has a habit of ending up in all sorts of things including our stomachs and concrete slabs.
I think it may well be the precursor to our mighty GERN.

Ah GERN it'll fix anything that ails ya.
Mark
Fake It till you Make It, then Fake It some More
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#12
faraway Wrote:It is interesting that clay with a lot of water (that is slurry) and therefor more volume and weight is more cost effective shipped in tank cars than clay only in boxcars. I assume the loading and unloading process is also more efficient with tank cars. That demonstrates how expensive boxcar shipping is.

From what I seen it takes longer to unload a tank car if the slurry is going into the production tank rather then a storage tank-a lot of companies doesn't use a storage tank since they use JIT shipments for other material.
Larry
Engineman

Summerset Ry

Make Safety your first thought, Not your last!  Safety First!
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#13
Hi Matt,

I sent you a PM on info sources for papermaking & RR cartypes, before finding this thread.

Doug C
Salem, Oregon.
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#14
sailormatlac Wrote:Thanks guys!

You confirm what I thought. When looking at JM Huber car's built date, the oldest in service were dating back to the mid-80s. As a kid in the 80s growing near a track serving a paper mill, I never saw tank cars until the early 90s, when JM Huber & Omya cars appeared.

Bagged clay in boxcars... I'm always amazed how every bulk commodities ended up bagged in boxcars in the old days.

Matt

Matt,There's still a lot of bagged goods being shipped in boxcars including clay.Back in the spring I saw a boxcar of bagged fertilizer being unloaded in Mansfield(Oh)..
Larry
Engineman

Summerset Ry

Make Safety your first thought, Not your last!  Safety First!
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#15
Well, I can't say I'm much of an expert, but the Atlas Kaolin Tank cars might be a good match. I have one with a build date on the side of 7-76.

though I couldn't tell you which cars would specifically show up in Canada, these are modern looking cars so they might be a good fit.
Modeling New Jersey Under the Wire 1978-1979.  
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