So I've been doing research on car movements on the Yakima Valley
Transportation Co. in Washington State. The largest inbound shipments
on the YVT was coal to about half a dozen coal retailers in Yakima and
the surounding communities. Predominately the coal came from Bear
Creek, MT, Kleenburn & Kirby, WY, and from Ronald & Roslyn, WA. Most of
the shipments were in drop bottom gondolas but some are showing as
loads in boxcars.

So how common was it to ship coal in boxcars?

Thanks,

Richard Wilkens

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "railsnw1" <railsnw@...> wrote:

So I've been doing research on car movements on the Yakima Valley
Transportation Co. in Washington State. The largest inbound shipments
on the YVT was coal to about half a dozen coal retailers in Yakima

and

the surounding communities. Predominately the coal came from Bear
Creek, MT, Kleenburn & Kirby, WY, and from Ronald & Roslyn, WA. Most

of

the shipments were in drop bottom gondolas but some are showing as
loads in boxcars.

So how common was it to ship coal in boxcars?

Thanks,

Richard Wilkens

Very common, at least in my chosen modeling era and location. I will be
modeling a GN branchline in ND circa 1949, and almost every small town
had a "coal shed" sitting next to the grain elevators. These were long,
low sheds with several rail height doors facing the tracks, and lower
height doors on the opposite side of the building, which was where the
customer would pull up their truck and buy the coal. The coal would be
shipped in older boxcars and would be unloaded by hand into the shed, a
task which was usually subcontracted to teenaged boys. The boxcars were
equipped with "coal doors", which were nothing more than worn out or
damaged grain doors, to retain the coal. As discussed earlier, much of
the coal sold in MN and ND in my timeframe was transported to Duluth by
freighter. Much of the lignite coal mined in ND was also shipped in
boxcars, and the tipples had special chutes that were able to load
either boxcars or hoppers. Seems strange to see strings of boxcars
under a coal tipple, but the photos don't lie.According to my research,
even if the coal came in a gon, it was still unloaded by manpower and a
shovel. There was a GN Historical Society Reference sheet published on
this topic in 1989. It was entitled "The Andrew Kolb coal shed". Hope
this helps. The sheet has a scale drawing of the shed, which is fairly
typical of their appearance.

Sincerely,
Robert D. Heninger
Stanley, ND

Thanks for the reply Robert. One of the coal yards was Independent
Ice & Fuel and a photo probably from the 1920's can be found here
http://www.yakimamemory.org/u?/memory,9549 The unloading track didn't
have a trestle and coal was just dumped on the ground and carted off
in wheelbarrows. So shovelling out of a boxcar would be more work but
labor was cheap.

Richard Wilkens

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "gn3397" <heninger@...> wrote:

--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "railsnw1" <railsnw@> wrote:

So I've been doing research on car movements on the Yakima Valley
Transportation Co. in Washington State. The largest inbound

shipments

on the YVT was coal to about half a dozen coal retailers in

Yakima

and

the surounding communities. Predominately the coal came from Bear
Creek, MT, Kleenburn & Kirby, WY, and from Ronald & Roslyn, WA.

Most

of

the shipments were in drop bottom gondolas but some are showing

as

loads in boxcars.

So how common was it to ship coal in boxcars?

Thanks,

Richard Wilkens

Very common, at least in my chosen modeling era and location. I

will be

modeling a GN branchline in ND circa 1949, and almost every small

town

had a "coal shed" sitting next to the grain elevators. These were

long,

low sheds with several rail height doors facing the tracks, and

lower

height doors on the opposite side of the building, which was where

the

customer would pull up their truck and buy the coal. The coal would

be

shipped in older boxcars and would be unloaded by hand into the

shed, a

task which was usually subcontracted to teenaged boys. The boxcars

were

equipped with "coal doors", which were nothing more than worn out

or

damaged grain doors, to retain the coal. As discussed earlier, much

of

the coal sold in MN and ND in my timeframe was transported to

Duluth by

freighter. Much of the lignite coal mined in ND was also shipped in
boxcars, and the tipples had special chutes that were able to load
either boxcars or hoppers. Seems strange to see strings of boxcars
under a coal tipple, but the photos don't lie.According to my

research,

even if the coal came in a gon, it was still unloaded by manpower

and a

shovel. There was a GN Historical Society Reference sheet published

on

this topic in 1989. It was entitled "The Andrew Kolb coal shed".

Hope

this helps. The sheet has a scale drawing of the shed, which is

fairly

typical of their appearance.

Sincerely,
Robert D. Heninger
Stanley, ND

Very common, at least in my chosen modeling era and location. I will

be

modeling a GN branchline in ND circa 1949, and almost every small

town

had a "coal shed" sitting next to the grain elevators. These were

long,

low sheds with several rail height doors facing the tracks, and lower
height doors on the opposite side of the building, which was where

the

customer would pull up their truck and buy the coal. The coal would

be

shipped in older boxcars and would be unloaded by hand into the shed,

a

task which was usually subcontracted to teenaged boys. The boxcars

were

equipped with "coal doors", which were nothing more than worn out or
damaged grain doors, to retain the coal.

I have read of these boxcar coal shipments which were mostly due to
avoid the coal freezing in the open hoppers, which made them very hard
to unload.
Just how much coal would be loaded into an average 40' boxcar?
Bill Williams

Just how much coal would be loaded into an average 40' boxcar?
Bill Williams

In message 55767 in the archives, a loader is described that tilts the car
so it can be pretty much filled with coal. I seem to recall that there may
be a picture in the files/photo section as well - no time to search for it
just now. I do know that this subject is well-represented in the archives.

Dave Smith
--
David L. Smith
Da Vinci Science Center
Allentown, PA
http://www.davinci-center.org

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Hi Richard,

I have plans for a Indian coal mine being built new in the late 1950's and it was having a boxcar loader installed and one track with clearance for boxcars.

I have observed early photos of GN coaling trestles full of boxcars and gons for steam coal.

In a severe winter weather a boxcar would keep the coal dry (if it was loaded dry).

ted

At 10:29 AM 4/7/2008, you wrote:

So I've been doing research on car movements on the Yakima Valley
Transportation Co. in Washington State. The largest inbound shipments
on the YVT was coal to about half a dozen coal retailers in Yakima and
the surounding communities. Predominately the coal came from Bear
Creek, MT, Kleenburn & Kirby, WY, and from Ronald & Roslyn, WA. Most of
the shipments were in drop bottom gondolas but some are showing as
loads in boxcars.

So how common was it to ship coal in boxcars?

Thanks,

Richard Wilkens

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