Milwaukee Road had similar hatches on one end of they're Ribsides for loading long lumber like 2x4's.
Them newfangled covered hopper things will never catch on. Mark my words. What the hell are they good for when it's not harvest time? Where you going to park them all while you wait for next year?
They loaded grain into any box car and even stock cars. A temporary "Grain Door" was placed inside the regular door. It was usually cheap wood or card board that had a gap at the top to blow the grain in. The grain doors were held in place by the pressure of the grain on the inside and were broken open prior to unloading. Stock cars were steam cleaned and totally lined with card board to keep the grain from leaking out. This image shows a grain door in place.
4-8-4 Northern # 2908 is charging through Alva, Oklahoma on November 17, 1953. One of a 30 unit order from Baldwin in 1943-44. Rodney Peterson photo.
The "Madam Queen" number 5000, shown earlier, was not the first Texas type owned by the Santa Fe. Locomotive 3829 was delivered from Baldwin right after WWI and was basically a 2-10-2 in the 3800 class with a Commonwealth 4 wheel truck wedged under the firebox. The 5000 came along a decade later and was much larger, sporting 69 in drivers and was designed as a true Texas type. The depression intervened and no more of the type were ordered until 1936. The newer 5001 class were delivered with 74 in drivers and higher boiler pressure. These photos are from Rodney Peterson. Mountainair, New Mexico on November 14, 1953. Yeso, New Mexico on April 5, 1953 Clovis, New Mexico on November 16, 1953
Back in about 1993, when I was researching the Imperial Sugar Refinery in order to model it on my NTRAK modules, I wrangled a personal guided tour of the plant from one of the managers. They were still transporting raw sugar in old box cars with grain doors from the port of Galveston to Sugar Land. I asked why they did not use covered hoppers. The manager explained how they took care of their employees and did not want to put anyone out of work and the fact that they would have to rebuild the off-loading facilities chutes and conveyors to handle hoppers. A few years later the guy calls me and said to come by as he had something to show me. Parked in the yard were a string of covered hoppers loaded with raw sugar. They had cobbled together a wedged shape ramp out of plywood that could be shoved under the hopper bays to divert the sugar to the sides where the openings to the conveyor were. The first car was spotted and the ramp slid underneath. The bay doors were opened and a flow of sugar poured out but then stopped. Nowhere near what was contained in that hopper bay. What the hey? I showed them the brackets on the side of the hopper bays and explained they needed a "shaker" that should be available from most railroad supply outfits. They had one "Hot-Shotted" out, hung it on the side of the car, plugged it in and voila, all the load came pouring out. They rebuilt the off-loading setup soon after. Here is an old photo showing the old way.
That train served San Francisco Bay, but on the Richmond/Oakland side. I don't know that it ever made it to San Francisco. But the year before that photo, the second streamlined Super Chief did, before it entered service.
An A-B-B set of Santa Fe FT diesels rolls a 127-car freight extra west at Galesburg, Ill., in June 1953. R. R. Malinoski photo.
Wow! Robert R. Malinoski was a resident of NJ and worked for the Erie, E-L and CR. He was a prolific photographer of the region. This is one of the few of his I've seen outside of the east.
By Santa Fe standards, that's about as east as it gets. Which is nice, as so many ATSF pics neglect that region. A Santa Fe Santa Fe in color.
Loving all these old Santa Fe pics. It makes me feel the same way Homer Simpson feels when he sees a donut! It's just my opinion but nothing says class like a set of PA's in the classic red and silver!
They certainly said it eloquently well. But class was not invented in 1946. When they rebuilt the 3400 class Pacifics with 79" Universal drivers, as far as I'm concerned they became magicians.
