Help or Information

[Gordon Ferguson]

I am getting way, way ahead of myself but I will need some information on the ore car shown in the attached .......... circa 19932, Baltimore,



I know nothing about American railways, and very little about UK one either   so if anybody could give me some idea of general dimensions or a lead to a drawing of this sort of car it would be great ............. I am not looking to produce a rivet perfect model so any drawing of something close to this would be great.

Thanks for any assistance  

[shropshire lad]

Looks like they had to alter the doorway to get the damn thing in .

  Can't help you any further . Sorry ,

   ?

[NORCALLOGGER]

hmmmm, strange looking ore car.  Looks more like a rolling dumpster. 
Are they taking ore in or taking rubble out?
Rick

[Ray Dunakin]

Sure is an interesting ore car, or whatever it is.

[granitechops]

Interesting, looks like it would need a robust track to run on, could be carrying around 12 tons?  

[Gordon Ferguson]

Don, caption says its is loaded with 70,000 lbs of "chrome" ore

[marklayton]

The Baltimore Chrome Works sat along the Patapsco River, between today's Inner Harbor and Fells Point.  It was owned by Allied Chemical when it shut down in the mid '70s.  It's been an EPA Superfund clean-up site, loaded with nasty heavy metal residue, sitting empty and capped for years.  There's now talk of developing the prime waterfront land for office space for the newly-formed power utility megacorporation.

You might try the Maryland Historical Society site for more pictures - no guarantees, but they do have an on-line collection that has some industrial photos from the '30s-'50s.  I once found a picture taken inside the building where my old blacksmith shop was located, showing men grinding flash from railroad car truck bearing boxes.

Of course this car is not a railroad car as such.  More likely used to haul ore from crusher to smelter within the works.  You can approximate the dimensions from the man standing beside it.  Wonder what they pushed it with?

Mark Layton

[granitechops]

Don, caption says its is loaded with 70,000 lbs of "chrome" ore

Wow, 31 tons? without the weight of the wagon
which is possibly pushing 10 tons empty
probably a special heavy rail profile
as it looks like its ony got 2 axles 20 tons per axle
IIRC 'standard' gauge loadings are not much more than 10 tons per axle

[granitechops]

Mark, they may have possibly used cables to winch them?
like used in some Cornish China clay facilities

[marklayton]

Doesn't shed any new light on the ore car, but I found a photo that I took c. 1980 from Lancaster Street in Baltimore, looking towards the Allied Chrome Works.  Gives a sense of the scale of the place.  Didn't record the same of the vessel sitting in the mud.  Not a well-exposed image.  If I recall, made those shots right after getting my first SLR, a Canon A-1.

Mark Layton

[Gordon Ferguson]

Thanks Mark, it is always good to get some additional info even of a general nature for a project ........ And that boat looks interesting