Does anyone know how steel coils were transported by the railroads in the 30’s and 40’s? Coil cars didn’t appear till the 60’s. Thanks for the help.
I cant vouch for how they shipped them in the 30s, but previous to coil cars they shipped them in gondolas. Some of the gons had hoods to cover the load, some were shipped open air. Some of them, especially the hooded ones had permanant fixtures(cradels?) permanatly attached to the floor of the car.
I can remember as far back as the late 50s, but any earlier than that and I would be lying.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River RR
Try gondolas.
99% sure gondolas, but check into that. Search on google image searches and see what comes up. I can’t think of what else they would use.
MadSinger
I saw a pic recently that showed coils in a gondola,With two coils on each end over the trucks. No cover. The coils were longitudinally parrallel to the length of the car. BILL
I recall some guys at the steel mill saying coils were once shipped “eye to the sky” meaning with one flat side up (and one flat side down, too) in gondolas. I am not sure when they did that.