On most railroads hide cars were commonly wood sheathed cars near the
ends of their lives. In my experience green hides were most commonly
piled in loose interleaved with layers of salt to keep the hides from
spoiling. As you might expect, the hides made the cars unsuitable
for other uses, and the salt did nothing good for the car structure
(hence the preference for wood cars).
On the cars I have been familiar with, none seemed to have any other
special attributes or appliances beyond "For Hide Service Only".
I spent summers years ago working in an Iowa meat packing plant, and
as the "lowest of the low", I often inherited the job of working in
and around these cars (in this case RI single sheathed beaters).
This subject has been discussed extensively on the Steam Era Freight
Car List several times, I believe most recently in about 2003. If I
recall correctly, even some retired wood ice reefers were
occasionally drafted into hide (or salt) service at the ends of their
lives.
Denny
--
Denny S. Anspach, MD
Sacramento, California
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page
http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/8ZCslB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|