Grain transport in the 1950s

[Paul M.]

How was grain transported by rail in the '50s? I know covered hoppers weren't widely used yet, so they used boxcars. Was the grain bagged before it was loaded onto the boxcar? If so, would the grain have been bagged at the site of the grain elevator, or would they ship it to a large plant to be bagged? I seem to remember reading something about them sometimes loading unbagged grain onto boxcars.... How did they pull that off?

Thanks in advance for an explanation of how the shipped grain by rail in the 1950s.

[SteamGene]

One method was to take a boxcar and staple a heavy paper dam across the door sills on the inside and then load grain into the boxcar through a large diameter pipe.  When the car was full, they'd close the door and send it off,  I asume they unloaded it by punching a hole in the paper at the bottom, sticking a hose in, and applying suction to draw the grain out of the car. 
Gene

[RAM]

As Gene said, it was by box cars” These were 40' cars.  Some of the newer cars had grain doors. 
This was a door that you could close the bottom and than fill the car about half full, and close the
top half of the door.  Cars were emptied in different ways.  One way was to spot the car over a
conveyer belt and after most of the grain poured out men would go in with big shovels and shovel
the rest of it out.  Large operators had a device that would dump the car.  In the early 60s a large
overseas sale of grain was sold.  A shortage of cars cause railroads to use what every they could
find.  At the time I was working in Kansas City Kansas.  Our office was across the street from
Mop, U.P. and C. & G.W..  They were using coal hoppers, Gons and Cattle cars.  The open top
cars had blue plastic to cover the grain. 

[Orsonroy]

How was grain transported by rail in the '50s? I know covered hoppers weren't widely used yet, so they used boxcars. Was the grain bagged before it was loaded onto the boxcar? If so, would the grain have been bagged at the site of the grain elevator, or would they ship it to a large plant to be bagged? I seem to remember reading something about them sometimes loading unbagged grain onto boxcars.... How did they pull that off?

I'll assume that you're interested in bulk grain, not "finished" grain like flour.

In the early to mid 1950s, ALL bulk grain was shipped by boxcar, except for the few rare cases of extreme car shortages where OPEN hoppers were used in grain service, with canvas covers temporarily added to keep the grain (mostly) dry. The first bulk grain service airslides weren't built until 1957, and it took until about 1970 before there was MORE grain being moved by covered hopper than by boxcar.

Adding bulk grain to a boxcar is very simple. First, the railroad would ensure that they were delivering a CLEAN boxcar to an elevator. This would include removing any trash, fixing car liners if necessary (all boxcars at the time had wood interiors), and steam cleaning the interior if necessary. The railroad would deliver the car to the elevator, along with two grain doors per car. A grain door was usually two sets of three 2x12s, marked with the railroad's name (they were the property of the railroad, not the elevator). It was the responsibility of the elevator to attach the doors, by nailing them to the car liner. Once the doors were on the car, the elevator would fill the car with grain via a long pipe running out of the side of the elevator. (most boxcars had lines indicating the fill line for various types of grain). Once the car was full, the elevator would call the railroad, which would pick up the car, weigh it at the nearest scale, and bill the elevator.

Unloading boxcars full of bulk grain depended on where it was going. At very small facilities the cars were emptied by hand - two guys and shovels. Sometimes, the grain doors were knocked out of the car and the grain allowed to spill onto the ground, from there to be shovelled into waiting trucks or bins. At larger facilities (mills, etc) there were generally three types of unloaders: grates in the floor leading to a conveyor belt, large vacuum hoses to suck the grain out of a car, and car shakers, which would elther vibrate the grain out of a car or literally lift it off the rails and wiggle it around until it was empty. These types of unloaders were ONLY found at large plants however; remember, before 1960 a man was MUCH cheaper than any sort of machinery. Once the car was cleaned of grain, the customer had to return the railroad's grain doors to them or be charged a penalty (which was kept very high, to encourage the return of the road's doors).

Kraft paper and banding doors didn't show up until the 1970s.

[taz-of-boyds]

Orsonroy,

Thanks, great info (and everyone else too!).  I hate to ask what might be obvious questions, but I learn a lot by asking dumb questions.  So the 2x12's were nailed across the lower three feet of the door opening?  And then the max fill with the grain would be three feet or so?  After filling I guess the regular doors would be closed?

This would make a nice bit of detail modeling with the boxcars that have operating doors.

Thanks,
Charles

[Orsonroy]

Orsonroy,

Thanks, great info (and everyone else too!).  I hate to ask what might be obvious questions, but I learn a lot by asking dumb questions.  So the 2x12's were nailed across the lower three feet of the door opening?  And then the max fill with the grain would be three feet or so?  After filling I guess the regular doors would be closed?

Actually, six feet. Reread my post: "...two grain doors per car. A grain door was usually two sets of three 2x12s, marked with the railroad's name." (I suppose I could have made that a little clearer!)

Since boxcar doors were at least 8'6" tall, there was still some room for a (thin) elevator employee to wiggle his way out of the car with the doors in place.

I'm not actually sure just how high the various grain fill lines were on boxcars. Of course, it partially depends on whether the car has a 40 or 50 ton capacity, and what the specific grain was. IIRC, the corn fill line on a 50 ton car is about 5 feet off the floor.

[taz-of-boyds]

Orsonroy,

Thanks again.  I did miss that fine point about two for two.

humm, so an N scale 2x12 is about 0.0125" x 0.075" ...   

Thanks,
Charles

[AlanM]

As a kid growing up in central Kansas in late 40's and early 50's, I had a lot to do with these grain doors.  Our elevator had an inclined track just past it and the full cars would be allowed to drift down to join the larger bunch; they even let me ride the cars.  Perhaps trying to get rid of me?
   In any case the boards would be stacked outside near where they would be used, rather like stacks of railroad ties, except more loosely, with each course at right angles to the last and leaving holes between, a detail that would be good to model.  I remember a young friend once, having got into his dad's whisky supply and getting very drunk and very sick, using one of the holes as a privy.  Still don't know if they used the boards afterwards.  Enjoy your bread.
  Alan Miller

[taz-of-boyds]

Well, since we were just discussing grain doors.

Here is a guy that makes assorted goodies with resin castings, he even has N scale grain doors (scroll down about half way), you buy from dealers from a link from the home page:

- http://mocalova.tripod.com/nscalecatalog.htm

He has a couple other scales too.
Charles

[Paul M.]

Thanks, eveybody! I appreciate the information.