Need your opinion: Ore car load questions

George- I can't speak to prototypical loads but I've redone a few of my cars with real loads.

2 Menards cars- I guess iron ore?

MTH LIRR car- sand

I have 4 new RMT cars that will be updated soon too.

Bob

One thing you can try to get a better looking load (for the top two) is to pour a little black ink wash over the load; wait about 30 seconds; and then wipe off the excess on the tops and sides of the raised ore pieces so you're just leaving the ink in the cracks and crevices with just a little light weathering on the ore pieces.

I've always thought cottage cheese for the Lionel load. With coal loads Lionel has always provided a more realistic looking load than MTH but in this case no. For the MTH loads I painted them a satin brown color and then used a textured Floquil paint "dirt" (I think) light spray and was very happy with the effect.

The design and spacing of the ore dock hoppers was established about 170 years ago. The ore dock design drives the design of the ore car. No railroad or shipper would use an ore car if they did not have to. It is an obsolete design driven by the ore dock design. A modern car would be a larger volume if it did not have to unload on a ore dock. The only commodity that would be carried in an ore car is something that was going to be unloaded at an ore dock to be load into an ore ship. I believe that the iron ore products loaded into ore cars runs from reddish brown to almost black. Coal would never be loaded into an ore car as it is fairly light. Coal cars are usually in the 4000 cuft size car.

@David Johnston posted:

The design and spacing of the ore dock hoppers was established about 170 years ago. The ore dock design drives the design of the ore car. No railroad or shipper would use an ore car if they did not have to. It is an obsolete design driven by the ore dock design. A modern car would be a larger volume if it did not have to unload on a ore dock. The only commodity that would be carried in an ore car is something that was going to be unloaded at an ore dock to be load into an ore ship. I believe that the iron ore products loaded into ore cars runs from reddish brown to almost black. Coal would never be loaded into an ore car as it is fairly light. Coal cars are usually in the 4000 cuft size car.

An excellent observation. Also please remember just how REALLY heavy that iron ore, or Taconite, load is. Those "little" ore cars weigh about 100 tons when loaded. Thus, loading iron ore or Taconite into a "normal" two bay, three bay, or four bay coal caring hopper car would seriously exceed the weight capacity of such a car.

I would say reddish brown is a good pick for iron ore. This ore was load a few years back in Marquette.

The absolute BEST iron ore car loads for those short iron ore cars was offered by St.Charles Model Works. I don't know if they are still in business but, if you can find them, go for it! One of my friends in the Independent Hi-Railers, Mid West Division, had/has a Very long DM&IR iron ore train, hauled by an MTH DM&IR Yellowstone 2-8-8-4. It is truly a spectacular train!

@Hot Water posted:

An excellent observation. Also please remember just how REALLY heavy that iron ore, or Taconite, load is. Those "little" ore cars weigh about 100 tons when loaded. Thus, loading iron ore or Taconite into a "normal" two bay, three bay, or four bay coal caring hopper car would seriously exceed the weight capacity of such a car.

Agreed!  Years ago, my father (born in 1916) told me about seeing ore trains as a boy growing up in North Weirton.  He recalled that the ore was transported in half empty gondolas (due to the weight).  He also remembered watching triple-headed steamers (my guess is they were PRR I1s Decapods) struggle to start a 100 car ore train.

George

@Hot Water posted:

The absolute BEST iron ore car loads for those short iron ore cars was offered by St.Charles Model Works.

Or you could go the John Armstrong route and use actual iron ore....still have one (somewhere....) and it's not only plenty heavy but the load is loose in the car.

@G3750 posted:

All:

Below is a photo of ore car loads.  The top is from a Lionel ore car.  The middle is from a RailKing ore car, and the last is a coal load for that size of car.   My questions:

1. What does this load most resemble?  Is it iron ore in an unprocessed state or taconite or something else?
2. Same question for the middle load.
3. Does anyone know of a source for more representative ore loads for the early 1950s?

Many thanks,

George

The top ore load looks like baked beans. The middle one looks like baby food.

St Charles Modelworks is no longer in business but they made some realistic train loads. I have a few (coiled wire, baled/shredded scrap metal) for several 52' gondolas.

Iron ore is very dense. Most photos/videos I've seen of ore trains shows the ore transported in open hoppers about half full or side dump cars.

George.

Since you are modeling the PRR in the 50's. The eastern Ore trains running from Lake Erie to Bethlehem, used mostly G class and H class hoppers that appeared to be empty to the laymen, but they all had a scoop of Iron Ore as close to each truck as they could.  As David said above the a railroad would prefer to not use a dedicated car if possible. So the PRR used regular hoppers if they could use them for a back haul. I don't know what the PRR did on the Panhandle, but I would assume up until the development of the G39 they would have used a regular hopper.

In the latest release of GLA's from Lionel they made their own interpretation of the scoop of Ore in the GLA.https://www.lionelsupport.com/...-ORE-LOAD-GLA-HOPPER

Their load isn't the greatest but it is something that represents the way it was done prior to the PRR having their own Ore jenny's.

When I get home this evening I can provide a picture of one of the GLA's with the load installed.

FWIW. Here's one of the loads I did with Satin brown paint (probably Krylon) and then dusted with the Floquil Dirt textured paint. Not great for fidelity but easy to do and I like the look. It fools the eye well enough as the cars go by.

My suggestion is stop your search and try making your own.   I never liked the look of the ore loads that came with ore jennies.   I make my own loads using sifted beach wash gathered on the shores of Lake Superior.  I also have a supply of chipped stone fragments collected from a well drilling that went through a few 100 ft of solid rock.   Really any source of sifted gravel would work.

I model raw iron ore from northern Minnesota.    Raw Iron ore varies in color, size and texture, therefore, I try to duplicate that using a variety of natural material and colors.   I make a base out of styrofoam sized to fit the car.   I add relief using modeling plaster, Sculptamold and or Paper Mache.   I seal the base with paint before adding the natural stone which is glued in place using methods similar to ballasting the road bed.    I sprayed the loads with acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby - American DecoArt Heritage Brick.   I then use various colors of chalk and other color washes to break the uniformity of color.   It's still an ongoing process as I continue to play with coloration.   Kind of like weathering!  

Good Luck with your search/or project!

Cheers, Dave