MILW Milwaukee Road woodchip cars

Greetings! I am looking for any information on the 40-42’? drop-bottom gondolas that the MILW converted over the woodchip cars. The conversion was accomplished by adding 2x10”-2x12” boards on top of the side and end sills. The boards were stacked horizontally on top of each other. They were secured to stakes on the inside of the car. A reinforcing board ran on the outside of the long dimension from the lower ends to the upper center. The cars were painted red with yellow THE MILWAUKEE ROAD speed heralds on both the sides and the ends.

I am building a set of these cars out of some cheap 40’ gondolas. I need to get reporting marks and series numbers. Any information or imagery that anyone can provide will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

 

Hi Mark,

Do you happen to know what years these cars operated (roughly) ? If so, I can do a little digging through my ORER's to get number series and other data.

 

Dear Paul & BoxcabE50,

Thank you for the replies. Any information that you can supply would be greatly appreciated. I have never seen a rib-side with a pop-top. I'll have to keep my eyes open for a photo. I have seen rib-sides with wooden posts impailed throught the door opening, used for verneer transport. Can't quite bring myself to do that to one of the MDC three cars I own. When I have 30 in the yard, I'll think about it.

I live in SE Michigan. I get out to Illinois, Wisconsin and Da' U.P once or twice a year. if there is anything out here you want a photo of, let me know. It may take a while to get to it, but I can get there. I was in Milwaukee last year. Some of the old yard remains. Few bulidings. I recognized one from a book I have. Bud's probably knocked it down by now . There were a few late 50' MILW boxcars used as tool sheds and a number of SOO and CP deisels. The one good thing was a Milwaukee snowplow still in its yellow color. A tree and security prevented a real good shot.


Now where'd I park the 265?
Mark

 

I intend to take a look at some of the ORER's at work tomorrow. I think we have some of the right years that would show these cars. I'll let you know if I find anything!

 

Hi Mark and welcome to the Trainboard. I am a Milwaukee Nut too. My Grandfather and Uncle worked for them. Here is a link for pictures of both Locomotives and rolling stock, maybe you can find a picture of what you are seeking.

http://gelwood.railfan.net/milw/milw.html

 

Thank you everyone! The help is appreciated. I did get a good look at one of the images I have. The car number is 93048. Build date is MS-12-53/8?. I assume that that means MILWAUKEE SHOPS December of 1953 or 1958. Capacity is 100,000. Load limit is 00. Lt WT is also 00.

Racing the 265 and 261 from Milwaukee to Chicago. Helluva commute. Of course. I would be sadistic and mount an Omaha Snow plow in front of each engine to greet any unwanted sojourners at grade crossings. Kiss that SUV and yer a** goodbye. Maybe paint a big Deaths head on the plow.

Mom said I had issues,
Mark.

 

Ok, I'm looking at an April 1967 ORER as I type. Mark, the car number you mentioned, 93048, is part of number series 93007 to 93206. The cars in the series are mixed; apparently MILW had three different versions of extensions, thus the varied listings for each sub-class. Dimensions for the cars noted as being assigned to woodchip loading are as follows:

Length - 45', 5''
Height (extreme) - 15'
4,226 cu. ft.

Length - 45', 5"
Height (extreme) - 14', 9"
4,173 cu. ft.

Length - 45', 5"
Height (extreme) - 14', 9"
4,173 cu. ft.

I'll have to get back with you on the car number breakdowns, since there are a lot to sort through. I hafta head home now; I'll try to post some more info tomorrow.

 

Hi Greg, I have that SP&S book, yep they had a bunch of 40' gon based woodchip cars that lasted into BN days (most of the pics in the SP&S book are taken in early BN days, say 1971-74), theirs were a real mix, with extensions mounted on composite and steel drop-bottom gons, as well as on fixed floor gons. (Presumably these were rotary dumped, wonder how the wooden extensions stood up to that? )
There's some nice top-down shots in that book as well that are very useful for these!

Northern Pacific had similar cars also, and IIRC they also had boxcars with the roofs removed in woodchip service as well.

Can't help a lot with the Milwaukee versions though.

One idea if you're modelling them, isn't Red Caboose doing the similar SP cars (in HO at least?)

 

Tight-bottom cars could be rotary dumped, but you're right, I wouldn't want to try to rotary one of those composite cars; even if they fit in the unloader, those racks already take a beating as it is! Some plants had vacuum unloaders - basically just a giant vacuum hose to suck the chips from the car!

And yes, Red Caboose has done the SP-style beet racks, with either plywood or board extensions. They are very nice cars...I have a couple of undecs that I've assembled and are waiting for paint and weathering.

 

Thank you all for the input. I really appreciate it.

Pictures--EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!
I spent the weekend going over everything on the car with a fine tooth comb. I had a bit of sloppy CA work on the stryrene to sand off(Note to self-Sam Adams and kitbashing do not mix ) and a few more details to install. Once I get another coat of paint on the car I'll post some shots.

 

Thanks for the questions, sorry for the delay. Actually, it’s one of those strange twists of fate things that led me to research and model the Milwaukee Road. I got my first train set on Christmas of ’75. I was 6 years old. The set was an HO Lima kit with 3 cars, a caboose and an MDC style switch engine and the ubiquitous circular rail line of infinity. It was very entertaining for several years. My good friend’s dad had a large HO layout in the basement that I was able to use. He modeled the GTW and a freelance road of his own. The amount of track and rolling stock he had was awe-inspiring. I was eventually able to build my own 4x8 oval, with a switchyard in the middle. My engine and three cars spent many a weekend going around and around. Then the MDC went poof. My friend’s dad inspected it and gave me my first lecture on proper oiling and what causes a motor magnet to split. Live and learn. Needless to say, no rolling stock moved for a while. There was a good thing that came out of this tragedy. My friend’s dad took pity on me and presented me with a wrapped box the following Christmas. It’s weight immediately told me that it was an engine of some sort. I hauled home to put the package under the tree. When Christmas morning came I opened one end to find the initials AHM staring back at me. At last, I had a quality locomotive (for 1980) to put on the track. It turned out to be an Alco C424 in Milwaukee Road colors. At the time I had no idea what an Alco or the Milwaukee Road was. More rolling stock was added over the next few years and I spent many a day on my layout, or on the Christmas extension. Then we moved and everything, except the table went into two boxes. It stayed in the boxes from 1984 until 1998.

I finally broke open the boxes around Christmas of ’98. I finally had a place of my own and Christmas tree, so a train was required. I was without a functioning caboose. My folks had store that they rented from a family that owned a hobby store adjacent to them. I stopped in the hobby store to look for a caboose and found an Athearn copula caboose in Milwaukee colors. I though it would be nice to have a matched set, engine and caboose, so I bought it. They also had a GP9 and Train master in Milwaukee colors. I didn’t buy them but it did rouse some curiosity in me as to what THE MILWAUKEE ROAD was. I went to the local library and get a few books on diesel engines (what is an ALCO?) and one on the Milwaukee Road. When I found out that the Road ran into the UP, and up into the Keewenaw, I was really interested. My family originates from up in Copper Country, and I have always been interested in researching the UP.

In the years since I have researched the CMSt.P&P. I have followed the line from Milwaukee up to Houghton and Hancock. I have photographed several of the still standing depots and storage sheds. I have poured over maps on the Internet looking for existing rail lines and am planning on visiting several of the more remote areas. I also plan on swinging through Wisconsin next month and stopping at some of the old sites. I also plan on stopping at the museums in North Freedom and Green Bay.

As far as my modeling goes, I now have to of the AHM C424’s (yeah, I know, they should be GBW but oh well), I have a P1000 C-liner set, a couple of Athearn locomotives (U-30C, FP-45, and a Geep-9, which I am kitbashing into passenger form). In steam I have a Spectrum 2-8-2 and a 4-8-4 NYC engine that I am converting into an S3 Milwaukee class. Rolling stock consists of rib sides, 50’ autocarriers and other misc. Milwaukee stock. I also have some stock from the Burlington and Great Northern. The time frame I like is from 1910-1970. I plan on modeling the line from Milwaukee to Hancock, perhaps creating my own freelance extension from Channing/Champion into Marquette, complete with an ore dock. I may actually designate certain areas as operating in certain time frames. I don’t know yet. Currently, I have an oval in my apartment, and a switch yard module I am building. Mostly I’m working on getting all of the rolling stock equipped with Kadee’s, steel wheels and proper weights. I am also improving and detailing all of the motive power and rolling stock.

Hope you enjoyed the book. I could write more, as I find the Milwaukee and other things like Fairbanks-Morse, ALCO and other lost bits of Americana fascinating. In the mega-corporate world we live in now, it's nice to look back and remember these quirky monuments to American individuality and resourcefulness. Unfortunately, as Ernie Harwell says, they're longgg goneee.

Time will make history of us all,
Mark