Crushed glass by rail

I don't know the answer for sure, but I'm inclined to think not.  Many members of my family worked at Pittsburg Plate Glass company (works #9) from the 30's to the 80's.  The factory had a steady incoming stream of covered hoppers full of raw ingredients (lime, soda ash and silica).  Cullet (broken glass) was remelted and used in glass making, but I think it all originated onsite at the factory from broken glass and bad orders.  I don't remember any family members speaking of the cullet shipping in by rail, especially during the 40-50's.  They are all deceased now, so can't confirm.

The August 1949 Popular Science Magazine has an article about a new glass recycling plant in Southern California. There hand drawn illustration shows the processed glass (cullet) being loaded onto open top hopper cars.  But this material is so fine I would wounded if it would not all blow away in transit. A covered hopper car seems more likely to be the method of transport.  

Thanks for the reply and the background on some of the glass manufacturers. I read somewhere that the formula for European stained glass which adorns many of the centuries old churches and cathedrals has been decoded, and can now be replicated. 
Don

Thanks for the reply. That is encouraging, because that is the era I'm looking for. I have access to a supply of crushed glass and want to make loads for a club car project, and I am looking for prototypical examples of glass being transported by rail, even if it is short line service.
Don

Thanks for the info.
Don

Thank you for this post

 

This would be a good industry to model. Could use covered hoppers inbound and boxcars outbound and trucks.

 

Clem k

These are some pics of the sample load I made. I just may make some of these anyway, even if we don't use them for our gondola project. It could be a commodity transported in today's recycling market.
Don

Thank you for the link on the glass color article. I found it to be interesting.

In the Kalmbach book, More Railroads You Can Model, there's a picture of a Santa Fe hopper (open) outside the Schlitz bottling plant in Milwaukee being used to transport cullet. If I remember correctly, the glass came from broken bottles.

That is encouraging, what era was that? This and the post about 1949 recycling facility in California. That was most likely all brown glass I would surmise at the Schlitz brewery.

Don

The picture wasn't dated, but my guess is that it was in the late '40s or early '50s. The photo isn't crisp enough to read the reporting data.

Thanks, that's a big plus for prototype. I always say that if you look enough you can find a prototype for almost everything. 
A friend was building a roundhouse a few years ago, and due to space constraints on his layout, he put the stall doors very close together to save space. He was a little disappointed that this wasn't prototypical, as the structures he had seen had sizable pilasters between stalls. Shortly after, I visited him in Ohio, and on one of our field trips to the B&O roundhouse in Cleveland, I noticed that the positioning of the stall doors was remarkably similar to that of his model. I pointed it out, and he was pleasantly surprised and no longer had that tinge of disappointment.
Don