Pete,
Yes, have seen those devices. Last one I can remember as to
location was at Gibson City IL. Must been really dusty. While
it was much older it was built on the lines of the rotary coal
dumpers they use today. In a building all by itself and could be
operated out of another room. Some elevators kept their locomotive
in there when it was not being used. Right now a Cargill facility
in Dalhart actually uses a rotary dumper to empty Sweetbran that
is loaded in obsolete coal gons that have been modified with roof
tarps for that service. Moved in unit trains that originate at
Eddyville IA.
Most grain I saw unloaded from boxcars was done the less expensive
way with a electric power scoop. In the covered hopper to box car
era the elevator or whatever had to be able to do either type of car.
On the outside of the building was a little lean-to type of extension
that was just a shed with no wall on the building and track sides.
Your "leg" was in a pit between the tracks with the opening extending
out to the field side where the unloading station was. There was a
metal grate about 6' x 2' that would swing down to create a platform
right to the car door. As the grain came out of the box car it fell thru
the grate into the pit. Covered hoppers were unloaded at the gauge
area of the pit. It ended at the outside rail. The same pit could unload
trucks by driving them lengthwise right down the track.
When the hole was punched in the paper doors or the unloader started
removing wooden doors from the top the doorway area of the car
would just flow out and fall thru the grate. If the unloader saw fit he
could also just beat a hole in the bottom wooden door with a "Monday"
and the process would go quicker but it was hard work and one door
did get ruined.
After the doorway is emptied and the grain doors were gotten out of
the way it's time for the power scoop. Have seen two kinds. One
looks like a small "Bobcat" but electric powered of course. The other
was a metal scoop about the size of four standard grain shovels that
was mounted on wheels and tethered to a steel cable and a motor up
near the roof of the lean-to. Both types had an overhead electric cord
that was attached to some kind of extension pulley that kept it up in the
air and out of the way. The operation of the "Bobcat" type was rather
obvious, just get the grain pulled towards the doorway. The scoop
had handle controls just like a garden tiller. If you squeezed one side
the steel cable would release and the unloader could just push the scoop
into the grain. The other handle would put tension on the steel cable and
provide the muscle to pull the grain to the doorway.
Both methods required a fair amount of hand shoveling but they did work.
During the 70's BN used a great many other car types to handle grain,
including reefers, stock cars, and ballast cars. They all had to be modified
in some way and in the case of swinging door reefers it meant removing
the doors completely. But I talk too much and that's another story.
Russ
----- Original Message -----
From: <PSHedgpeth@aol.com>
To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, 17 October, 2003 08:02
Subject: Re: [BRHSlist] re: grain doors
> John and list
>
> Yes indeed...it even had a big "ram" device that literally smashed in the
> grain doors so the grain could flow out.
>
> Was a little hard on the wood doors...Gave the WWIB something else to
> do...."Grain door reclamation"...more paperwork to fill out and file.
>
> Pete
>
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