Re: [EXTERNAL] The History of Shipping Bulk Cement
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Gatwood, Elden J SAD
Jim;
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I have some records of loads in the area of the country I grew up (w PA), for various users of cement and sand, and the conversion of cement being hauled in covered hoppers was underway in the mid-forties, with large numbers of covered hoppers being purchased by most local roads to serve that traffic. Correspondence I have read indicated that shippers wanted something impervious to weather, and the RRs and private manufacturers did their best to provide "tight" cars with nicely sealed hatches and hoppers. The peak of purchases came in the mid-fifties, by which time many other commodities were switching over to covered hopper. In that timeframe, they did not generally travel far afield. The few distant road cars I saw were carrying commodities you could not get in the region, like fluorspar or gypsum or such. Cement was produced all over the country, as far as I have been able to tell. Elden Gatwood
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From: STMFC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com] Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2016 2:03 PM To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com Subject: [EXTERNAL] [STMFC] The History of Shipping Bulk Cement Hi all, This thread was born as "Covered Hoppers - for Cement". Although there have been a few posts on the referenced thread this part of my question has gone essentially unanswered ... What I'm looking for is the kind of -general- historical information that covers questions such as 1) When were cement hoppers commonly in use (as opposed to the earliest experiments - which I know about )? 2) Was I wrong in my general statements about how far -most- bulk cement was moved in covered hoppers? All - I am not talking about concrete - I'm interested in the bulk cement hauls (before, during, and after the transition to using 'dedicated service' covered hoppers). At least one thing I learned from the prior thread was about the use of "bulk containers in gons" in the early days. Thanks for that detail/piece of information. - Jim B.
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