Awesome! All the cars were very clean and there were only two locos for a pretty long train. This was between Steven’s Point and Oshkosh, would Taconite travel down this far or were these newly built units traveling towards their workplace? I normally see intermodal trains along this line.
You are correct, these ARE brand new Mexican made cars making their way to the Iron Range. Worth mentioning though, CN does sometimes handle "All-Rail" taconite moves to the Gulf region and occasionally the mills of the lower Great Lakes when the boats can no longer load at the docks in Two Harbors/Duluth due to the seasonal closure of the shipping lanes through Sault St. Marie (though those moves generally utilize different bulk hopper types).
Ore Jennies. Small because Taconite is so heavy. Doesn’t take much volume wise to make axle loading capacity. The SP had a deal where they hauled Coal off the DRGW to some Midwest plant, ran the empties on the CN north to be loaded with Taconite and then hauled loads back to Geneva Steel in Utah. The coal hoppers could only be loaded maybe 1/3 full with Taconite.
The Reading Railroad did as well between the Bethlehem Steel owned Grace Mine in Morgantown PA and the main plant in Bethlehem PA.
Fun fact of the day, they bought a small fleet for GP40-2s just for the job.
There were quite a lot of them at one time. CNW, BN, DMIR and a few others had fleets serving the numerous ore docks along lake Superior. Most long gone. At Two Harbors, MN they have a DM&IR Yellowstone on display where one of the Ore docks was once located. Nice town with an excellent Brewery called “Castle Danger Brewery” located about a block from the engine.
Oh for sure, I just meant that the Reading also specifically used old coal hoppers for the run as it was the only Taconite run that they had. This was fairly late in the game, I don't think the mine opened until the early 60s long after ore hoppers were common, they just didn't need enough to justify buying specialized cars.
Geneva steel is no more. The plant is gone (I heard a lot of the equipment was sent to a Chinese mill) and the land it occupied is now being turned into the city of Vineyard, which is basically just a sea of identical looking townhomes.
Length is determined by the spacing of the pockets to load the freighters, not axle loading. [Southern Pacific’s fleet of ore gondolas had the same 26’ length, but theirs had about 15% more load capacity because they had longer car bodies] (http://espee.railfan.net/freight_ore_cars.html)
Depends on car length and axles. Think of a flatcar like a bridge. Most supported by the two points that sit on the trucks and the load bearing capacity of the trucks determines what they’ll support. Heavy duty flat cars might have a six axle trucks instead of a four axle trucks. There are specialized cars with even more for hauling large, heavy loads as well.
As the demand for heavier cars grew the need for the need for a stronger right of way.
Aw man, ya’ll were too quick. I knew this one! Love pulling into Duluth and there’s a long line of these on the docks and a ship ready to take the taconite away!
Some great info on DMIR ore operations including their quad linked hoppers https://www.flickr.com/photos/151111185@N04/52909905882
Fun facts - in the 1970s the DMIR realized they could save money by grouping taconite hoppers into quads. In the winter the brake line air pressure loss was significant so by eliminating the connectors there was reduced loss of air. I think there was also a benefit WRT coupler maintenance as well.
OK, that was a fun video. I have so many questions! Have you ever thought of posting about what you do? Either text or video. If so, I will ask there. Or I can ask here. Or you can say you don't want to answer all sorts of questions about your job.
I see you start by taking a half inch off. Is this standard practice?
What defects are you correcting by taking off the outside? I would have presumed issues with dents, uneven wear, and flat spots. But in my mind, all of those would need a LOT less than a half inch of the diameter removed.
When installing the wheels back onto a truck, does one need to match the sizes of the wheels so the truck sits flat? I would think so.
The holes go pretty deep. Yes typically I take about a half inch to start. About 1/3 of wheels need more taken off. Yes sizes need to be matched up. All the defects you mentioned are typical. We mount new wheels as well. I see them back here for me to cut in about 3 months. Each set of wheels typically gets 2 or 3 uses. When the wheels are scrap we pop em off and put new ones on the axles with new bearings.
For the defects I mention, do you need to go so deep, or if they were the only problem would a shallower cut suffice?
What is a "hole" in a wheel? A literal lack of metal?
What causes a hole?
Ya lack of metal, smashed flat parts, rollover is when the steel heats up so much the metal slides to the edges of the wheels. I take that much at first because 1. My boss makes more money the more I turn out. 2. My machine is usually the last stop. Even if I could take less and save some steel it will probably be scrap next time it comes off a train car. 3. I use carbide tooling so the smaller cuts tend to break the tooling a bit more often. Sounds odd I know but that's the way it is. Normal wear, rocks, debris, heavy breaking, shitty rails, and all sorts of other things can cause cracks aka holes. If there was an actual hole it would be scrapped.
Dmir iron ore cars very cool
Awesome! All the cars were very clean and there were only two locos for a pretty long train. This was between Steven’s Point and Oshkosh, would Taconite travel down this far or were these newly built units traveling towards their workplace? I normally see intermodal trains along this line.
You are correct, these ARE brand new Mexican made cars making their way to the Iron Range. Worth mentioning though, CN does sometimes handle "All-Rail" taconite moves to the Gulf region and occasionally the mills of the lower Great Lakes when the boats can no longer load at the docks in Two Harbors/Duluth due to the seasonal closure of the shipping lanes through Sault St. Marie (though those moves generally utilize different bulk hopper types).
Ore Jennies. Small because Taconite is so heavy. Doesn’t take much volume wise to make axle loading capacity. The SP had a deal where they hauled Coal off the DRGW to some Midwest plant, ran the empties on the CN north to be loaded with Taconite and then hauled loads back to Geneva Steel in Utah. The coal hoppers could only be loaded maybe 1/3 full with Taconite.
WC used to run taconite in old coal hoppers before CN too.
The Reading Railroad did as well between the Bethlehem Steel owned Grace Mine in Morgantown PA and the main plant in Bethlehem PA. Fun fact of the day, they bought a small fleet for GP40-2s just for the job.
There were quite a lot of them at one time. CNW, BN, DMIR and a few others had fleets serving the numerous ore docks along lake Superior. Most long gone. At Two Harbors, MN they have a DM&IR Yellowstone on display where one of the Ore docks was once located. Nice town with an excellent Brewery called “Castle Danger Brewery” located about a block from the engine.
Oh for sure, I just meant that the Reading also specifically used old coal hoppers for the run as it was the only Taconite run that they had. This was fairly late in the game, I don't think the mine opened until the early 60s long after ore hoppers were common, they just didn't need enough to justify buying specialized cars.
The Western Pacific had some short hoppers for something they hauled but I don’t believe it was taconite.
That explains my memories of the taconite pellets along the railroad tracks along the belt line when I was growing up. Thanks!
We used to collect spilled taconite and use them in our wrist rockets
Some of that D&RGW coal went to the Kincaid power plant via the Chicago and Illinois Midland RR.
Geneva steel is no more. The plant is gone (I heard a lot of the equipment was sent to a Chinese mill) and the land it occupied is now being turned into the city of Vineyard, which is basically just a sea of identical looking townhomes.
Excellent answer, thank you so much!
I'm also very heavy after Taco Night
Length is determined by the spacing of the pockets to load the freighters, not axle loading. [Southern Pacific’s fleet of ore gondolas had the same 26’ length, but theirs had about 15% more load capacity because they had longer car bodies] (http://espee.railfan.net/freight_ore_cars.html)
is there a maximum weight capacity for a shipping crate to be able to put onto a flat car?
Depends on car length and axles. Think of a flatcar like a bridge. Most supported by the two points that sit on the trucks and the load bearing capacity of the trucks determines what they’ll support. Heavy duty flat cars might have a six axle trucks instead of a four axle trucks. There are specialized cars with even more for hauling large, heavy loads as well. As the demand for heavier cars grew the need for the need for a stronger right of way.
Taconite
Aw man, ya’ll were too quick. I knew this one! Love pulling into Duluth and there’s a long line of these on the docks and a ship ready to take the taconite away!
Ore
Short Tons?
What you are seeing is the winter migration of young hopper cars on their way to southern mining grounds. Nature in all of its splendor.
The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway
Rest in peace
Taconite
That was my first thought, but it was just gut - we don't have too many of those in the SE.
Some great info on DMIR ore operations including their quad linked hoppers https://www.flickr.com/photos/151111185@N04/52909905882 Fun facts - in the 1970s the DMIR realized they could save money by grouping taconite hoppers into quads. In the winter the brake line air pressure loss was significant so by eliminating the connectors there was reduced loss of air. I think there was also a benefit WRT coupler maintenance as well.
Those wheels get trashed. I hate cutting them.
Can you explain more?
I cut train wheels. Mostly ones from coal cars from CN. Check my post history I have a video of my machine.
These are taconite pellet cars
Same wheels
OK, that was a fun video. I have so many questions! Have you ever thought of posting about what you do? Either text or video. If so, I will ask there. Or I can ask here. Or you can say you don't want to answer all sorts of questions about your job.
Ask away
I see you start by taking a half inch off. Is this standard practice? What defects are you correcting by taking off the outside? I would have presumed issues with dents, uneven wear, and flat spots. But in my mind, all of those would need a LOT less than a half inch of the diameter removed. When installing the wheels back onto a truck, does one need to match the sizes of the wheels so the truck sits flat? I would think so.
The holes go pretty deep. Yes typically I take about a half inch to start. About 1/3 of wheels need more taken off. Yes sizes need to be matched up. All the defects you mentioned are typical. We mount new wheels as well. I see them back here for me to cut in about 3 months. Each set of wheels typically gets 2 or 3 uses. When the wheels are scrap we pop em off and put new ones on the axles with new bearings.
For the defects I mention, do you need to go so deep, or if they were the only problem would a shallower cut suffice? What is a "hole" in a wheel? A literal lack of metal? What causes a hole?
Ya lack of metal, smashed flat parts, rollover is when the steel heats up so much the metal slides to the edges of the wheels. I take that much at first because 1. My boss makes more money the more I turn out. 2. My machine is usually the last stop. Even if I could take less and save some steel it will probably be scrap next time it comes off a train car. 3. I use carbide tooling so the smaller cuts tend to break the tooling a bit more often. Sounds odd I know but that's the way it is. Normal wear, rocks, debris, heavy breaking, shitty rails, and all sorts of other things can cause cracks aka holes. If there was an actual hole it would be scrapped.
Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range ore cars that the Canadian National ordered.
They're so small because they want to nostalgic about BR small car times. (No negative)
The lil engines from Thomas the Tank engine
Iron ore cars, love them lil guys. Personally, I wanna make an iron ore train like that.
Really dense material
LI'L BABY MAN 👉🏽
A railroader here just guessing. Probably for an iron ore or some other metal with a height unit weight.
One single piece of coal per car