This image is from the Columbus Railroads website (www.ColumbusRailroads.com) and shows an unusual (to me, anyway) car roof:

http://www.columbusrailroads.com/new/images/photos-ralston/d6-RSCCO-148-ICE%20CAR%20ROOF-1200.jpg

A similar roof appears on a car in the upper right portion of the photo.

Can anyone identify what type of car this is?

Thanks.

Bob Chaparro
Hemet, CA

Bob it appears to be an enclosed tank car. The open hatch and T handle would
indicate a valve or hatch just below the roof that needs to opened or
closed. It certainly is not an ice car, as the photo caption indicates. The
car in the upper right with the same roof carries the reporting marks
"T.S.P.Co." While no such marks exist in any list I consulted, nor the 1917
ORER, I did find TSPX, which stood for Service Oil Refining Co. in 1920 and
years later for Texas Sulphur Products Co. in 1977. Service Oil Refining Co.
had operations in Indiana in 1920.



Other cars in the background are wood truss rod cars, mostly gons, ie early
1900's. The Kanawha and Michigan Railroad was a West Virginia & Ohio road
that was purchased by the C&O in 1920, then became part of the NYC in 1922.
The photo may have been taken at coal cleaning or washing facility. The car
with the funny roof may been used to transport chemicals of use in the
process.



Doug Harding

www.iowacentralrr.org

Douglas Harding wrote: excerpt

Other cars in the background are wood truss rod cars, mostly gons, ie

early

1900's. The Kanawha and Michigan Railroad was a West Virginia & Ohio

road

that was purchased by the C&O in 1920, then became part of the NYC in

1922.

The photo may have been taken at coal cleaning or washing facility ...

A very interesting photo and "tank car".

FWIW, it looks like a car shop to me. Both the gondolas in the middle
ground have raw unpainted wood side sills. I am not sure why the bodies
of the gondolas are already painted and stenciled. Also men appear to be
unloading wood in the background.

Regards,

Bob Witt

Bob,
Along with al the other "I don't really know" answers, my guess would
be some form of pickle tank car, hence TSPX, ... .... pickle. All the
hatches and walkway width.
Chuck Hladik

Bob Witt wrote:

Douglas Harding wrote: excerpt

Other cars in the background are wood truss rod cars, mostly gons,

ie

early

1900's. The Kanawha and Michigan Railroad was a West Virginia & Ohio

road

that was purchased by the C&O in 1920, then became part of the NYC

in

1922.

The photo may have been taken at coal cleaning or washing facility

...

A very interesting photo and "tank car".

FWIW, it looks like a car shop to me. Both the gondolas in the middle
ground have raw unpainted wood side sills. I am not sure why the

bodies

of the gondolas are already painted and stenciled. Also men appear to

be

unloading wood in the background.

I finally found the photo and the caption. It was taken at the Ralston
Steel Car plant. The caption is below.

" A view of the track work on the east end of the new Punch, Shear
Fitting and Erection shop. The train with the Kanawha and Michigan RR
and T&OC RR freight cars is on the PRR/B&O RR tracks. The Kanawha and
Michigan RR, Toledo and Ohio Central RR and Hocking Valley RR were all
big customers of Ralston Steel Car gondolas. The photo is estimated to
be from 1907-1909 period. The camera is pointing southwest."

The information still doesn't identify these "tank cars".

Bob Witt

Dear Bob,

I believe that these might be soda ash cars built in 1909 by Ralston Steel Car Co. for The Solvay Process Co. That same website has some other photos showing what look to be the same type of car:

http://columbusrailroads.com/Ralston%20photos/ralston-014-1909-SOLVAY%20PROCESS%20CO-.JPG
http://columbusrailroads.com/Ralston%20photos/ralston-174-1909-SOLVAY%20PROCESS%20CO.JPG


The end of the second photo is overexposed so we can't compare it to that of the car in the background of the photo you referenced, but T.S.P.Co. as an abbreviation would agree with The Solvay Process Co.

What the purpose of the T wrench is, I am not sure. Seems an odd way to get at the unloading mechanism.

All the best,

James McDonald
Greenbelt, MD.

James and Group:



From the pictures, one can see sloping and horizontal rivet lines indicating
slope sheets for (up-side down pyramid shaped) muitiple hoppers, and the
hopper bottom outlets, which likely were operated from the top of the car
via the "T" handle tool. I'd suspect the lading may have been an easy
flowing granular or powdered product.



An interesting 1906 all steel car, on Arch Bar type trucks.



Joe Bower



_____

From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
James McDonald
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2013 10:04 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: Re: [STMFC] What Kind Of Car Is This?





Dear Bob,

I believe that these might be soda ash cars built in 1909 by Ralston
Steel Car Co. for The Solvay Process Co. That same website has some
other photos showing what look to be the same type of car:

http://columbusrailroads.com/Ralston%20photos/ralston-014-1909-SOLVAY%20PROC
ESS%20CO-.JPG
http://columbusrailroads.com/Ralston%20photos/ralston-174-1909-SOLVAY%20PROC
ESS%20CO.JPG

The end of the second photo is overexposed so we can't compare it to
that of the car in the background of the photo you referenced, but
T.S.P.Co. as an abbreviation would agree with The Solvay Process Co.

What the purpose of the T wrench is, I am not sure. Seems an odd way to
get at the unloading mechanism.

All the best,

James McDonald
Greenbelt, MD.

On 6/20/13 4:57 PM, STMFC@... <mailto:STMFC%40yahoogroups.com>
wrote:

4a. What Kind Of Car Is This?
Posted by: "Bob Chaparro"thecitrusbelt@...

<mailto:thecitrusbelt%40yahoo.com> thecitrusbelt

Date: Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:12 am ((PDT))

This image is from the Columbus Railroads website

(www.ColumbusRailroads.com) and shows an unusual (to me, anyway) car roof:

http://www.columbusrailroads.com/new/images/photos-ralston/d6-RSCCO-148-ICE%
20CAR%20ROOF-1200.jpg

A similar roof appears on a car in the upper right portion of the photo.

Can anyone identify what type of car this is?

Thanks.

Bob Chaparro
Hemet, CA

On Jun 20, 2013, at 7:04 PM, James McDonald <james@...> wrote:

Dear Bob,

I believe that these might be soda ash cars built in 1909 by Ralston
Steel Car Co. for The Solvay Process Co. That same website has some
other photos showing what look to be the same type of car:

http://columbusrailroads.com/Ralston%20photos/ralston-014-1909-SOLVAY%20PROCESS%20CO-.JPG
http://columbusrailroads.com/Ralston%20photos/ralston-174-1909-SOLVAY%20PROCESS%20CO.JPG

I was about to weigh in on this subject, as the speculation about box-tank cars, pickle cases, etc. struck me as too clever by half, and say that the cars appeared to be early covered hoppers when James produced the evidence that they were exactly that.

What the purpose of the T wrench is, I am not sure. Seems an odd way to
get at the unloading mechanism.

On the contrary, a worm and gear mechanism operated from the roof of the car would have been an efficient and reliable way to open and close the drop bottom doors.

Richard Hendrickson

So this is likely to be the fist type of covered hopper car?
 
Cyril Durrenberger

--- In STMFC@..., Richard Hendrickson <rhendrickson@...> wrote:

What the purpose of the T wrench is, I am not sure. Seems an odd way to
get at the unloading mechanism.

On the contrary, a worm and gear mechanism operated from the roof of the car would have been an efficient and reliable way to open and close the drop bottom doors.

Richard Hendrickson

Apparently soda ash made by the Solvay process is a fine granulated powder, the kind of material that railroads didn't have much experience with in 1909. The small size of the laoding hatches confirms that this was a very free flowing material. Outlet gates based on a standard coal car weren't going to work, so it looks like they took their inspiration from tank car outlets, which at that time typically had their operating mechanism inside the tank, accessible through the dome.

Dennis