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  2. Diatomite, talc and cement.. in boxcars or covered hoppers?

Re: Diatomite, talc and cement.. in boxcars or covered hoppers?

stevelucas3 <stevelucas3@...>
 

I'm modelling an 87-mile-long stretch of railway line from Lindsay to Belleville in Eastern Ontario as part of a proto-freelanced system (as if the GTR had never taken the Midland Railway of Canada in in 1883) circa Sept./Oct., 1956.

This line saw mostly through grain traffic in boxcars, but branchlines connecting with this line originated talc, marble, and dolomite. I've also kept a cement plant on another connecting branchline in business for modelling purposes.

Steve Lucas.

--- In STMFC@..., "bierglaeser" <bierglaeser@...> wrote:

--- In STMFC@..., "stevelucas3" <stevelucas3@> wrote:

I was looking for a new STMFC project last night, when I happened upon an excellent HO Intermountain ACF covered hopper car kit that I'd squirreled away. Just a nice model, though one has to follow the instructions Very Carefully. Very Carefully!

In 1956, I'm assuming that the most common usage of these cars would have been for bulk cement. But how about bulk loading diatomite or talc as well? Could a car be loaded with either cement, talc, or diatomite without needing to be cleaned extensively between loads? And can anyone reference an on-line photo of a weathered talc or diatomite-service covered hopper?

Thanks in advance,

Steve Lucas.





Steve,
Don't know which road you are modeling but perhaps the CGW's experience might be useful to you.

The CGW had 210 covered hoppers but only 82 were assigned to cement service - 31 to Des Moines and 51 to Mason City, Iowa. Other covered hoppers were assigned to haul fertilizer, lime and livestock feed among other commodities. No cleaning was necessary for carrying different commodities because the cars always carried the same thing.

Gene Green
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