This particular bottle train has been operating since the mid-1960’s. It first originated at Interlake (Acme) Steel’s now-closed blast furnace at 108th & Burley in Chicago. I have seen it operate with up to six bottle cars per train although the earliest cars were smaller and on two six-wheel Buckeye trucks only. The gondolas are for weight distribution on bridges since the bottles load very heavy.
The bottle cars are distinctly different from slag thimbles, although both handle molten liquids. In my youth, I can remember slag thimbles from Wisconsin Steel being moved on the CWP to the dumping area, where the dumping was quite impressive at night.
That wouldn’t be Steel being carried, rather Molten Pig Iron as tapped from the Blast Furnace, and would be on its way to the Converter Plant.
Having a much higher melting point, if steel were to be moved around in this way, there would be a danger that it would solidify well before arrival at its destination.
Pig iron, on the other hand, can remain a liquid for quite a few hours if given decent insulation.
…Didn’t the “older journal boxes” contain oil soaked “waste” for lube and bearings of Babbitt material for bearing surfaces.
I looked at the picture again after I made the post. I saw the air resevoirs and wondered if I was wrong. I clearly remember reading an article about these cars (mabee not the same ones) and the article stated that they did not have brakes and that the gondolas were definatly used for braking. So it looks like the article was on someone elses bottle train. Sorry about the misinformation.
Sounds about right. I was trying to keep it simple.
I saw the train through Dolton, IL . If my memory is good on a Monday…it had a single GP-38 from Indian Harbor Belt 4 idler open end gons and three bottle cars and an ex Conrail bay window caboose. If I can FIND it I will post a digital image of it.
I remember that it was a hot August day, and I could feel the heat from the car. It was pretty cool for a boy from Massachusetts to see!
If you want a real treat…watch the efforts required to rerail a loaded bottle car when it has been derailed…I had that opportunity many years ago when the Erie-Lackawanna’s Haselton-Warren bottle run derailed through the crossovers at Haselton. A great show!