Pickle Car

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

Greetings,

Any train fan over the age of 50 should remember the Revell HO model of a Heinz pickle car – you know, about five big vats on a long flat car with a long common roof. (We should do a poll in here on who had one and who still has one). In any case, did these really exist and does anyone have any info on them? Is there a website with pictures of the real thing?

Thanks,

Rod

2

Yes, they existed. There was a thread on the subject here not too long ago. What did you want to know? Cheers, Mark.

3

Not only did the pickle car exist, but so did the pickle factory that it loaded from. Paul Larson (boy, am I dating myself!) had an article on building both, with prototype photos, in MRR back in 1954 or so.

I seriously doubt that the Squire Dingee Co. (the pickle factory) would win the approval of today’s health authorities. Cukes were pickled in open wooden vats covered by wooden disc covers that wouldn’t keep out anything much smaller than a cat. The platform they were set in had no sides, and only a partial roof, so the vats were effectively outdoors.

Hope this helps,

Chuck

4

There are a few photos of pickle vat cars (several varieties) and a brief description of their history and use at the NEB&W website:

http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/

5

Since you have never been to a real pickle factory, the ones by me have very large wooden vats with removable covers. They are not in a building. They are now plastic lined, but not in the old days.The pickles come in in open semi trailers loaded to the top.

6

Whitfeild used to have a pickle factury here in Montgomery, where they made the Alga syrup and Whitfeild pickle’s.,now they just make syrup, but it used to be that if you went by thier plant, nobody had to tell you that it was a pickle factury, they had big huge open vats, full of cudes and vinegar, and everone, who lived or worked less than a half mile didn’t cry when they stopped and tore the vats down.

7

Reference:

HJHCo.73 H J Heize Co. pickle car, ARA mechanical designation TW rectangular tank. Picture in Train Shed Cyclopedia#12 p.1928-308; p.1931-319. Not listed in 1954 Equipment Register. Lowest number HJHeinz car there is HJHX 74.

Somewhat related is the VINEGAR tank car. Standard Brands car SBIX 1634 is preserved at the National Museum of Transport in Saint Louis. It has a 32 foot long horizontal wooden tank. Car was built in 1938, current tank built in 1950, car retired 1963. I photographed it on a trip to St. Louis in 1994 but do not have picture scanned or posted on a website.

8

Thanks for your replies. I just always found it such an improbable thing – using a car of vats to ship pickles by rail. And let’s face it, there are more than a few fanciful models out there (how many of you had the Lionel exploding box car?). But I guess that’s the way things were done before packaging advanced to greater standards.

Thanks again,

Rod

9

My Grandfather would tell about riding the train to Lawrance Kansas, and spending most of the trip in the pickle (tavern) Car.[}:)][|)]