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Early GS gons
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Although I have not seen many photos I imagine that practically all
types of GS gondolas were used for sugar beets before the side-extended cars came into use. I do have a picture of a UP GS gondola loaded with sugar beets. Beets were a seasonal commodity and didn't merit a fleet of dedicated cars until the composite cars become more or less surplus to SP's regular traffic requirements. Tim O'Connor |
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Tony Thompson
Tim O'Connor wrote:
Assuming we are still talking about SP here, I believe Tim is entirely wrong. The composite cars were not "surplus," they were bought for the beet traffic, and immediately superseded the Blackburn racks (probably to the relief of crews who had to install and remove racks every season, not to mention maintaining them). Side extensions did not come until ten years after delivery of the first composite cars. There was also some use of composite cars for wood chips prior to the era of the side extensions, but that was before wood chips became the commodity that they are today. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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"Bought for the beet traffic"? Whatever. The 1965 ORER lists the following 41'6" composite GS gondolas equipped as 1,637 cars with side extensions in sugar beet service 975 cars with side extensions in wood chip service 349 cars from G-50-20 and G-50-23 classes, unmodified 2,961 41'6" composite GS cars total SP started buying brand new high capacity gondolas in the 1950's for wood chips. By 1965 wood chip gondolas of all classes outnumbered sugar beet gondolas by a large margin. A number of box cars were de-roofed as used for wood chips too. They number 272 cars in the 1959 ORER -- about 80% of them are 50 foot composite cars, and the others are 40 foot composite cars. Tim O' Although I have not seen many photos I imagine that practically all types of GS gondolas were used for sugar beets before the side-extended cars came into use. I do have a picture of a UP GS gondola loaded with sugar beets. Beets were a seasonal commodity and didn't merit a fleet of dedicated cars until the composite cars become more or less surplus to SP's regular traffic requirements. |
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Tony Thompson
Tim O'Connor wrote:
Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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Tony, ok, but I thought you were talking about the "sugar beet" gondolas with side extensions, and there are 611 of those listed in 1959 -- Still outnumbered by wood chip cars and also outnumbered by unmodified composite gondolas in general service. Tim O' Sure, but 1965 is well off the end of this list. Let's stick to 1960. In that year, there were 901 wood chip cars, only 327 of them the new all-steel, higher capacity cars of Class G-70-15, built in 1957. In 1960, there were about the same number of sugar beet cars with extensions. You are right to mention the de-roofed box and auto cars, though in 1960 there were only 187 of them, and they were being scrapped in substantial numbers every year. |
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arved_grass
Tim,
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You might want to take a look at Southern Pacific Freight Car Specification Sheets 23 and 24. They (and the rest of the Specification Sheets) are available here: http://espee.railfan.net/sp_fcss-index.html You can match up the car numbers with the associated classes with other information you have. I believe you'll find all the composite GS cars on sheet 22, and no others. Once the extensions were added, they didn't need all the G-50-20 and G-50-23s they had for sugar beet service. That is true. I thought this thread was specifically about the early steel GS gondolas (G-50-9/-10/-11/-12) being used in sugar beet service. That's a good question, and much more appropriate for this list than a discussion of what cars were used in 1965. Arved Grass Arved_Grass@... or Arved@... Fleming Island, Florida -------------------------------------------- On Thu, 12/18/14, Tim O'Connor timboconnor@... [STMFC] <STMFC@...> wrote:
Subject: Re: [STMFC] Early GS gons To: STMFC@... Date: Thursday, December 18, 2014, 3:28 PM "Bought for the beet traffic"? Whatever. The 1965 ORER lists the following 41'6" composite GS gondolas equipped as 1,637 cars with side extensions in sugar beet service 975 cars with side extensions in wood chip service 349 cars from G-50-20 and G-50-23 classes, unmodified 2,961 41'6" composite GS cars total SP started buying brand new high capacity gondolas in the 1950's for wood chips. By 1965 wood chip gondolas of all classes outnumbered sugar beet gondolas by a large margin. A number of box cars were de-roofed as used for wood chips too. They number 272 cars in the 1959 ORER -- about 80% of them are 50 foot composite cars, and the others are 40 foot composite cars. Tim O' Although I have not seen many photos I imagine that practically all types of GS gondolas were used for sugar beets before the side-extended cars came into use. I do have a picture of a UP GS gondola loaded with sugar beets. Beets were a seasonal commodity and didn't merit a fleet of dedicated cars until the composite cars become more or less surplus to SP's regular traffic requirements. Assuming we are still talking about SP here, I believe Tim is entirely wrong. The composite cars were not "surplus," they were bought for the beet traffic, and immediately superseded the Blackburn racks (probably to the relief of crews who had to install and remove racks every season, not to mention maintaining them). Side extensions did not come until ten years after delivery of the first composite cars. There was also some use of composite cars for wood chips prior to the era of the side extensions, but that was before wood chips became the commodity that they are today. Tony Thompson |
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