USA Grain hoppers.

[robbostrains]

Need some info on American hopper wagons,what type is used for the transportation of grain?Cheers Rob

[davknigh]

Rob,

 

You can find some good info here; http://www.cnrphotos.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=16452 granted they will be Canadian grain cars but at least you are on the right side of the pond

 

HTH

 

David

[pH]

Most grain is carried in covered hoppers. Generalising, the larger gravity-unloading cars are used for grain. Smaller cars or pressure-unloading cars are used for more specialised loads.

[Glorious NSE]

Hiya Rob, you haven't said what era are you modelling in, and what scale?

 

On US railroads they have got very good at specialising freight car sizes to commodities - so for low-density loads like grain in the modern era (1970+) it's virtually all in high-ish capacity 3 and 4 bay covered hoppers, there's lots of freight car manufacturers been involved and lots of styles of car within that, and many of those cars have RTR models available in HO scale for example. Most grain cars will have trough hatches at the top and gravity outlets at the bottom.

 

Before 1960 however most railroads were using boxcars to load grain.

 

Just off the top of my head here's a few models that have been on sale in HO over the past couple of years - the numbers usually relate to cubic capacity of the car, the letters are the builder, PS = Pullman Standard and ACF = American Car & Foundry for example. All those below are to a decent standard with most having etched roofwalks, those that aren't (like the cheap & cheerful Trainman car) are easily upgradeable.

 

Walthers:

PS 4427 (late) http://www.walthers....tinfo/932-41253 (model formerly sold by Proto 2000)

 

Atlas:

ACF 4650 http://www.atlasrr.c...ght/ho46504.htm

ACF 5701 http://www.atlasrr.c...ho5701grain.htm

ACF Cylindrical http://www.atlasrr.c...ht/hocylin4.htm

 

Atlas Trainman:

Thrall 4750 http://www.atlastrai...othrall4750.htm

 

Exactrail:

Evans 4780 http://www.exactrail...per-up-mkt.html

PS 4427 (early) http://www.exactrail...per-milw-2.html

 

Intermountain: http://www.imrcmodel...o/hohoppers.htm

"Canadian" 4 bay

PS 4750

ACF 4650 (Atlas's probably has the edge in build quality but there's little in it)

 

Tangent Scale models:

PS 4000 http://tangentscalem...00replicas.aspx

PS 4740 http://tangentscalem...40replicas.aspx

 

Athearn:

FMC 4700 http://www.athearn.c...ProdID=ATH73855

Trinity 5125 http://www.athearn.c...ProdID=ATH89251

 

As you can see, lots of variety out there! Various other types are either available as kits, upgradeable from lower quality models or kitbasheable from some of the above as well, so plenty of scope for variation.

[robbostrains]

Thanks,that's been a great help.

[dave1905]

Grain trains can be either railroad owned or private owned cars, either mixed or solid sets. Most grain trains with railroad cars will have home road cars or interchange carrier cars. So the Missouri Pacific in the 1980's would handle trains with MP home road cars or UP/CNW interchange cars.

[Oldddudders]

 

Before 1960 however most railroads were using boxcars to load grain.

 

As Martyn says, boxcars. A moment's thought about the nature of boxcars - we'd call them vans in the UK - will reveal that they have sliding doors the full height of the vehicle - so how was the grain loaded? Well apparently there were special "one use" doors provided, which blocked the door aperture almost to full height, enabling the spout on the grain elevator to poke inside and fill the car. At destination, these doors were broken open and the grain poured out. Some grain must have been lost every time, I imagine. Is it any wonder that there was a big market for the specialist covered hoppers that Martyn has described?

[shortliner]

I believe that wooden boards were also used, placed internally across the doorway, or planks stacked horizontally on top of each other also, to keep the grain in

 

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxcar "usage"

 

Modelling? http://www.gatewaynmra.org/articles/boxcar-grain-loads.htm

[robbostrains]

Thanks again,any one got any HO scale for sale?Rob.

[dave1905]

As Martyn says, boxcars. A moment's thought about the nature of boxcars - we'd call them vans in the UK - will reveal that they have sliding doors the full height of the vehicle - so how was the grain loaded?

 

Actually they only went up about 2/3 the way on the door. Most boxcars "weighted out" before they 'cubed out". Some cars had load lines painted on the inside to mark how high they could be loaded with various grains (based on their densities). Very early cars often had folding grain doors that were part of the car. Then there were wooden grain doors, made of wood plank nailed across the door opening. Elevators even had tilted tracks to make unloading cars easier. Finally paper grain doors were developed. It was a heavy brown paper with metal strapping imbedded in it. The strapping would be nailed across the door opening. the wooden doors were reused, the paper doors were disposable.

 

Normally you would not see a grain door unless the car was being loaded or unloaded, except for the paper ones. Often paper door cars would be released empty with the doors open and the metal bands still nailed to one door post or the other and hanging out of the door opeing, along with shreds of brown paper. They were very dangerous at night.

[dave1905]

Quick grain boxcar story. It was 1980 and the only boxcar grain moves we had were going to Mexico. Its 2am and a 40 ft boxcar of car burns off a journal traveling south through eastern Kansas. When the sideframe of the truck drops, the wheel punches a hole in the wood floor of the car and the entire truck is buried in leaking corn. When we got there we had to dig through the corn to get to wheel.

 

We knew we were getting close to the burnt off journal when we started hitting popcorn.

[JWB]

Rob, if you mean grain doors, Walthers has the Jaeger paper style grain doors in stock. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/347-2000

[BR60103]

Grain shipping in Canada has always been a political hot issue. The CPR received legislated rates (Crowsnest Pass rates) to pay for a new line; a hundred years later the farmers were insisting that the rates were sacred and the price the railways had to pay for being allowed to exist.

The railways retaliated by not owning enough cars for the traffic. So various governments (Canada, Alberta and Saskatchewan) bought fleets of dedicated grain hoppers.

 

There is a bit of poetry that probably came from an eastern Canada MP:

 

The little birdies in the spring sing "tweet, tweet, tweet";

The little lambies in the field go "bleat, bleat, bleat";

But the damnedest words

I ever heard

Were "Wheat, wheat, wheat!"

[Brisbane King]

There was an article or workshop piece in a model railroader issue a few months ago or so, which looked at modelling grain movements with boxcars. I can't reference it, sorry.