Montana Hi-Line: 1950s/60s Version

[AmericanSteam]

The system file fixed the numbers and the red classification light delete fixed the issues. Thank you all.

[erdnay]

How would Great Northern have loaded and shipped grain during the 1950's? Boxcars?

[buzz456]

How would Great Northern have loaded and shipped grain during the 1950's? Boxcars?

In the early to mid 1950s, ALL bulk grain was shipped by boxcar, except for the few rare cases of extreme car shortages where OPEN hoppers were used in grain service, with canvas covers temporarily added to keep the grain (mostly) dry. The first bulk grain service airslides weren't built until 1957, and it took until about 1970 before there was MORE grain being moved by covered hopper than by boxcar.

Adding bulk grain to a boxcar is very simple. First, the railroad would ensure that they were delivering a CLEAN boxcar to an elevator. This would include removing any trash, fixing car liners if necessary (all boxcars at the time had wood interiors), and steam cleaning the interior if necessary. The railroad would deliver the car to the elevator, along with two grain doors per car. A grain door was usually two sets of three 2x12s, marked with the railroad's name (they were the property of the railroad, not the elevator). It was the responsibility of the elevator to attach the doors, by nailing them to the car liner. Once the doors were on the car, the elevator would fill the car with grain via a long pipe running out of the side of the elevator. (most boxcars had lines indicating the fill line for various types of grain). Once the car was full, the elevator would call the railroad, which would pick up the car, weigh it at the nearest scale, and bill the elevator.

Unloading boxcars full of bulk grain depended on where it was going. At very small facilities the cars were emptied by hand - two guys and shovels. Sometimes, the grain doors were knocked out of the car and the grain allowed to spill onto the ground, from there to be shovelled into waiting trucks or bins. At larger facilities (mills, etc) there were generally three types of unloaders: grates in the floor leading to a conveyor belt, large vacuum hoses to suck the grain out of a car, and car shakers, which would elther vibrate the grain out of a car or literally lift it off the rails and wiggle it around until it was empty. These types of unloaders were ONLY found at large plants however; remember, before 1960 a man was MUCH cheaper than any sort of machinery. Once the car was cleaned of grain, the customer had to return the railroad's grain doors to them or be charged a penalty (which was kept very high, to encourage the return of the road's doors).

Additionally:https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiumejftabnAhVtqlkKHUgtCYAQFjABegQIBhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fkalmbachhobbystore.com%2F-%2Fmedia%2Ffiles%2Fbooks%2Fmodel-trains%2F12481spread.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2UgX2y-mPLET-qL9_IUajS

[GreatNortherner]

Buzz, thanks for this most fascinating link!

In other news, I have now updated the F7 numbers patch on my website and also uploaded the scenario scenery template. You'll need this if you want to create your own scenarios, or you'll have missing depots and signs. Sorry that this is a bit complicated, it is due to this backdating originally being planned for the release version of the Hi-Line. The cloned route was an afterthought and I didn't want to place the scenery all over again.

You can download the scenery template scenario here (including setup instructions):
http://golden-age-rails.com/rwscnrio.html#hiltemplate

Cheers
Michael

[MaineLines]

Screenshot_Montana Hi-Line (GN 1950s)_48.56943--110.00916_12-53-05.jpg

[MaineLines]

Screenshot_Montana Hi-Line (GN 1950s)_48.57357--110.07810_12-56-25.jpg

[cnbalasub]

Nice Photo of GN Empire Builder Passenger Train above.

John

[dr1980]

I'm having a lot of fun with this route! Two questions:

1) I see lots of smaller stations along the route, I assume these were not all served by the Empire Builder. What kind of local service ran along this route? I think GN had RDC's?
2) I see signs leaving towns that say 50 cars, 100 cars etc. What were these used for?

Thanks,

Dave

[GreatNortherner]

Hi,

1) I see lots of smaller stations along the route, I assume these were not all served by the Empire Builder. What kind of local service ran along this route? I think GN had RDC's?

The Builder stopped only at Havre and Shelby and on passenger request also at Chester. Most of the smaller stations were served as flagstops by the Fast Mail.

The sole RDC of the GN operated as the Shelby-Great Falls local for most or maybe even all of its life on the GN. There used to be plenty more local trains and even express services on the Butte Division (Havre - Great Falls - Helena - Butte, Shelby - Great Falls, plus branch line services), several of which started being replaced by bus service in the 1950s.

You can find public and employee timetables for possibly every GN subdivision throughout most of its years of existence on this wonderful website by the GN and NP historical societies: http://www.gn-npjointarchive.org/_layou ... fault.aspx

2) I see signs leaving towns that say 50 cars, 100 cars etc. What were these used for?

They indicate the distance from the siding turnout. A very practical rule that the GN had there in my opinion, it eases the burden of having to calculate speed and distance when leaving a siding before one can resume track speed.

You can find detailed information about the route's signage in the manual (standard RW manuals folder).

Cheers
Michael

[dr1980]

Thanks! I didn’t realize the route came with a manual, time to educate myself

[GreatNortherner]

Hi all,

Here's a possibly somewhat strange sounding request: could a few more of you who have subscribed to the GN Hi-Line on the Workshop add a rating for it on the Workshop? I'm not really that interested in how many "stars" the route gets, but I did just find out that I can only make it "final" (which will allow others to upload scenarios for it to the Workshop if they want) if it has more ratings than it currently has (I think the magic number is 30 ratings).

In other words: Your Hi-Line Needs You!

Sorry to bother you with such nonsense.

Michael

[AmericanSteam]

More than happy to. I sometimes forget to do this for the routes that I really like.

[mindenjohn]

Done, thanks for the reminder.

[GreatNortherner]

Thank you!

The route is at 29 ratings now -- one more and I can press the "finalize" button.

Cheers
Michael

[RudiJaeger]

Reading "30" now

...of course a few more won't hurt ...Michael, I just noticed we have "dueling avatars"