Bill,

Dring that era, covered hoppers were not used for grain... In fact that didn't happen until the "Big John" covered hoppers of the Southern in the early 60's. lading like flour wasn't shipped in covered hoppers until the advent of Airslide technology about 10 years after the date of your cars. It was most likely that these cars carried cement.

As for specific hardware, I don't know that any specific hardware could be viewed that would allow you to determine what lading was carried.

Bill Daniels

Sent from my iPad

On Mar 16, 2013, at 1:21 PM, "BillM" <fecbill@...> wrote:

How do you tell (or can you tell) if a covered hopper is used for cement, or grain, or other loading. I am asking concerning physical/mechanical devices on the car such as top hatches and hopper unloading equipment as opposed to lettering, stencils or weathering.

Specifically I have three Kato HO scale 2 bay covered hoppers lettered for Milwaukee Road. The lettering indicates blt date of 1949.

Thank you
Bill Michael