Re: Brick in Box Cars

They could be strapped down on a bulkhead flat just like lumber is, with spacers under the block of bricks to allow the forks to get under.

They would come falling off the skid. The car vibrates.

Jim Stewart

You're right, and often times, when we've delivered cars the people at the industry break the seals and start unloading before we've left the industry, and many times I've seen where bricks have fallen off the pallets inside the cars as soon as the doors are open.

I've also seen the same in cars full of can goods, bails of flour, meal and bags of other powdery or granular products.

All of the above.

Captain Handbrake

Believe it or not, there are people who have the wherewithall to steal that sort of thing. The atomic weight of iron is about 58. The atomic weight of copper is about

1. One square foot of iron one inch thick weight about 68 pounds. One square foot of copper one inch thick will weigh about 73 pounds. These are not exact figures, but rough estimates. Never underestimate the cunning and ability of a true professional thief. We are not talking about some stupid, high school reject who can't think well enough to hold a real job here. Not talking about your typical convenience store robber. Thefts of this sort occur frequently. They are very profitable to the prepetrators. I think that often they are "inside" jobs as well. Sometimes using the owning company's equipment to commit the deed.

Captain Handbrake

Write me a paper on economically securing such a load for transport. Be specific about how you make all attachments and what materials and devices you use. Do a cost analysis on flat car shipment, including liability and loss prevention studies, versus shipping by boxcar. You will answer your own question.

want to use a

much quicker and

front end loader in a gon?

This presupposes that you have an overhead with the capacity to lift pallets of bricks. There is a big difference between what can be done and what is realistic, reasonable and practical. I do not wish to get into a philisophical discussion or debate about what is possible VS the way I have observed the real world operate. Putting bricks in gondola cars makes them more difficult, hence more expensive, to both load and unload. If you want to argue about all the ways that bricks can possibly be shipped then I will elect to opt out of the discussion. I have outlined how I have observed it done and that will have to do coming from me.

Captain Handbrake

A couple of teenagers doing something just for the kicks.... Now you a pallet with a few bricks missing... A couple of locomotives with windows broken...

And then father down the line you have bricks falling off the train..... Hitting what.....

Donald

"Paul Welsh" wrote

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I shouldn't be laughing but can't help it. After reading all your anecdotes about your co-workers, I'm a little less surprised that they're so many model railroader eBay sellers, who will try to screw their customers out of an extra couple bucks whenever they can.

I guess I'll have to quit leaving my keys in the truck and lock my doors at night from now on.

I recall that both doors were open. For a sunny summer day, it helps let the hot air out and lets light in. Even with lights on the lift truck, going from bright sun to inside the car is a huge change in brightness, possibly enought that having the opposite door shut was more of a hazard than being open.

I don't know it that is the norm. I usually on go by there once or twice a month on Saturdays when the brick distributor is closed. Many times, the track is empty. I rarely am able to go by during the week.

Electrical grades of copper are about 1/3 pound per cubic inch. The described sheet is 144 cubic inches for a weigh of 48 pounds. Even in the harder grades, I doubt a single sheet of 0.020" copper would be shipped without some support. It would bend excessively from it's own weight. It would also be subject to damage. Several sheets may be secured together by tape or banding. This may make the group rigid enough to handled. Damage protection would still be needed.

"Raildavid" wrote

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"...industrial users who bought copper sheet by the spool..."

Previous conversation was about rail yard thieves utilizing sheet metal snips to help themselves to some of the copper sheet carried in boxcars. (and why it couldn't be transported in the open)