Creating Your Own Slag Car Loads

Hi TRAINMASTERMARK, The only answer I can offer you is a personal perspective.

I lived in Pittsburgh during my childhood (1940's - 50s) so I have had occasion to see some slag cars. Also, I worked in a steel mill for a short, very hot and sweaty Summer, as an adolescent.

Thus, when I saw slag cars available in O Gauge, I wanted a few of them very much. None had loads. I did not expect them to because, as you can see in these photos, this is what I knew such cars to carry and dump....

So, when I wanted them on my layout, I weathered them as empty and crusty... perhaps even on their way to the scrap heap.

Allan Miller, who knew them well in real life, also, can tell you more about them. He advised me that the way I had them on my layout was incorrect because when such cars were moved hot in a train, a gondola or flatcar separate them from the engine, not as I had them on my layout....

Lastly, I do recall, vaguely, seeing a club's HO layout at a train show, at least a decade ago, which had glowing loads in a train of them. How a modeler did that, I do not know, but I must say I did see them with some sort of hot load having been modeled.

FrankM

I would have to say this is where I really like the Lionel slag cars over the MTH cars. Lionel's are realistic with the glowing loads, one year in a public display I had one dumping it's load with lights under the dump site coming on as it dumped.

I remember the many nights that the nighttime sky would light up when they would dump the slag at Bethlehem Steel plant at Sparrows Point. My dad worked for the Patapsco & Back River RR so I remember him talking about his days working for the (as they all called it) Push, Batter & Ram RR. I became very familiar with Sparrows Point especially after our fire dept. took over operations when Bethlehem Steel did away with their fire dept. in the 80's. Now the site is just full of wharehouses since the steel plant was tore down.

But the slag loads done by Lionel are very realistic looking. I have been up close on a few slag spills and submarine car spills in my days while with the fire dept. I even have a 9.25 lb. piece of slag that was blown about a 1/4 of a mile over top of their 5 story main office building that land about 250' from where I was sitting in the fire station doing my reports, which almost blew me out of the chair that I was sitting in when the slag exploded from the steam explosion that occurred. 

Interesting stories and thoughts indeed! I can't really argue against what exactly those cars were carrying in real life in terms of the hot liquid metal nature of their loads. That would definitely be difficult to replicate. Thank you!