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General Category => General Forums => Topic started by: Gordon Ferguson on March 13, 2012, 03:26:35 PM

Title: Help or Information
Post by: Gordon Ferguson on March 13, 2012, 03:26:35 PM
I am getting way, way ahead of myself but I will need some information on the ore car shown in the attached .......... circa 19932, Baltimore,

(https://www.finescalerr.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi232.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee275%2Fgfadvance%2FOreCar1932Baltimore.jpg&hash=906f5d79f5cc83e0e6710d23aae88e5e5ceba9a5)

I know nothing about American railways, and very little about UK one either  ;) so if anybody could give me some idea of general dimensions or a lead to a drawing of this sort of car it would be great ............. I am not looking to produce a rivet perfect model so any drawing of something close to this would be great.

Thanks for any assistance  
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: shropshire lad on March 13, 2012, 04:35:54 PM
Looks like they had to alter the doorway to get the damn thing in .

  Can't help you any further . Sorry ,

   ?
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: NORCALLOGGER on March 13, 2012, 06:37:39 PM


hmmmm, strange looking ore car.  Looks more like a rolling dumpster. 
Are they taking ore in or taking rubble out?
Rick
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: Ray Dunakin on March 13, 2012, 07:11:25 PM
Sure is an interesting ore car, or whatever it is.
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: granitechops on March 14, 2012, 02:08:13 AM
Interesting, looks like it would need a robust track to run on, could be carrying around 12 tons?  
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: Gordon Ferguson on March 14, 2012, 03:11:02 AM
Don, caption says its is loaded with 70,000 lbs of "chrome" ore
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: marklayton on March 14, 2012, 06:17:46 PM
The Baltimore Chrome Works sat along the Patapsco River, between today's Inner Harbor and Fells Point.  It was owned by Allied Chemical when it shut down in the mid '70s.  It's been an EPA Superfund clean-up site, loaded with nasty heavy metal residue, sitting empty and capped for years.  There's now talk of developing the prime waterfront land for office space for the newly-formed power utility megacorporation.

You might try the Maryland Historical Society site for more pictures - no guarantees, but they do have an on-line collection that has some industrial photos from the '30s-'50s.  I once found a picture taken inside the building where my old blacksmith shop was located, showing men grinding flash from railroad car truck bearing boxes.

Of course this car is not a railroad car as such.  More likely used to haul ore from crusher to smelter within the works.  You can approximate the dimensions from the man standing beside it.  Wonder what they pushed it with?

Mark Layton
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: granitechops on March 15, 2012, 02:02:30 AM
Quote from: gfadvance on March 14, 2012, 03:11:02 AM
Don, caption says its is loaded with 70,000 lbs of "chrome" ore

Wow, 31 tons? without the weight of the wagon
which is possibly pushing 10 tons empty
probably a special heavy rail profile
as it looks like its ony got 2 axles 20 tons per axle
IIRC 'standard' gauge loadings are not much more than 10 tons per axle
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: granitechops on March 15, 2012, 02:06:07 AM
Mark, they may have possibly used cables to winch them?
like used in some Cornish China clay facilities
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: marklayton on April 08, 2012, 08:33:26 AM
Doesn't shed any new light on the ore car, but I found a photo that I took c. 1980 from Lancaster Street in Baltimore, looking towards the Allied Chrome Works.  Gives a sense of the scale of the place.  Didn't record the same of the vessel sitting in the mud.  Not a well-exposed image.  If I recall, made those shots right after getting my first SLR, a Canon A-1.

Mark Layton
Title: Re: Help or Information
Post by: Gordon Ferguson on April 08, 2012, 10:48:46 AM
Thanks Mark, it is always good to get some additional info even of a general nature for a project ........ And that boat looks interesting