Tichy has a kit for a modified boxcar that has bottom hopper doors and roof hatches. I am considering using these on my streamline transition era layout, supplying a redi mix plant. My question is how were these emptied, and into what? after the initial gravity flow were they shoveled out by hand? Did the pit have a simple rubber belt conveyor or something else? These days most use air to push the powder through pipes. I'm hoping to model a correct, small redi mix plant on a siding for the mid 1950's. i saw such a plant today, not on rail, that looked perfect for the other details.
I'm not expert on this kind of thing, but if this is the car you asked about, I'm thinking it you might be okay, but would be on the ragged edge of use by the mid-1950s when Pullman Standard's PS-2 steel covered hoppers were beginning to appear. Cement was also shipped in your mid-50s era using pneumatic containers set within gondolas as seen in the second photo.
Thank you for posting the photos.This is the first time I have seen containers to transport cement other than the models in my collection. I have asked a couple of times what the containers were used for and nobody could answer, you cleared that up. Joe
thanks for the info and i apologize for my typo carsom i like the tichy kits for their detail and price i was thinking about a pneumatic emptied two bay hopper but these cars are so detailed Seems like a ton of labor to actually empty it though
Thanks for the tank in gon pic. I have this type in my old lionel set. Until this minute I did not know what they were!
Yes, with choking clouds of cement dust, that must have been nasty work for someone. In a Lehigh Valley Railroad book, the author notes that some cement plants also loaded bagged cement outbound in boxcars, so you can add that element to your operations too if you wish.
