Re: Freight car ratios

Posted by Keith Hayes on Jan 18, 2015; 9:58pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Freight-car-ratios-tp205p289.html

John, don't forget stock cars were also pressed into coal service during shortages. It goes without saying that the cars used were not sheep cars.

Derrell has shared that C&S refers ran in blocks of two (good to know). Generally two narrow gauge cars equals one standard gauge load.

Consulting the work of Dr. Sloan, I developed my rosters and the proportion of cars based on rosters of my era (1939). The factor I have not taken into account is wrecks. I forget which rosters I consulted, but what is interesting is how different the C&S and D&RGW were.
Here is my roster list:

Note that the C&S favored boxcars to coals, indicative of the need to ship lading securely over high passes. In contrast the D&RG has twice as many gons as boxcars reflecting the importance of coal and limestone traffic on the 3rd Division. Note that in the totals, refers, flats, and tank car numbers are very small, with only stock cars approaching double digits.

What this does not account for is the number of each C&S car by phase (we will see if this works):

                 Phase
             I      II     III
Box      1      2      9
Coal     6      3      2
Stock    -      1      2

So...if you have a roster of 26 cars, 9 of them would most likely be Phase III boxcars in a pre-1937 period. After 1937, most all the cars assigned to Leadville were Phase III cars and none of them were stock cars, and we know the numbers thanks to a C. C. Whitman memo. What is interesting about the ratio is the need for the C&S to replace old boxcars with new SUF cars early on. On the other had, the existing coal fleet soldiered on to the end.

On the Leadville layout, this is informing my purchasing decisions. I need more Phase III boxcars, and a way to build Phase I coals (Mike McKenzie how is that 3d printed stake coming?)