Location of Hand car shed

[Brakie]

These businesses might not be able to unload completely during a station stop,
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Andrew,There is no way a fully 40' boxcar could be unloaded during a normal station stop..Having unloaded boxcars by hand it can take up to 5-6 hours-lumber even longer.Even with a forklift it takes about 45 minutes to unload a boxcar..

Even a half loaded boxcar with 2-3 men unloading would still take about 2-2 1/2 hours..

Here's why.

First when you open the door you must start the unloading process there and if the load has been jammed by slack action or hard coupling during switching it makes the work that much harder since you have to work each box loose starting with the top box and that is usually above your head..Then you need to stack the boxes on to pallets,have that pallet move once its loaded,throw down another pallet and continue the unloading.

Its not a speed job either..It is back breaking work that pays good.

As a 15 year old(I lied about my age) I average $150.00 a week during the summer unloading boxcars. The pay was $30.00 per car.That was in '65.There was three of us unloaders and a forklift operator.

[MasonJar]

These businesses might not be able to unload completely during a station stop,
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Andrew,There is no way a fully 40' boxcar could be unloaded during a normal station stop..Having unloaded boxcars by hand it can take up to 5-6 hours-lumber even longer.Even with a forklift it takes about 45 minutes to unload a boxcar..

Even a half loaded boxcar with 2-3 men unloading would still take about 2-2 1/2 hours..

Here's why.

First when you open the door you must start the unloading process there and if the load has been jammed by slack action or hard coupling during switching it makes the work that much harder since you have to work each box loose starting with the top box and that is usually above your head..Then you need to stack the boxes on to pallets,have that pallet move once its loaded,throw down another pallet and continue the unloading.

Its not a speed job either..It is back breaking work that pays good.

As a 15 year old(I lied about my age) I average $150.00 a week during the summer unloading boxcars. The pay was $30.00 per car.That was in '65.There was three of us unloaders and a forklift operator.

Absolutely... At best, the agent might be able to get a small amount of LCL or the express parcels out. Hence the need for a siding where the boxcar could be left. But I am still not sure why some were called team tracks, and others house tracks... And why some were sidings next to the main, and others ran around the back of the station.

Andrew

[Brakie]

At best, the agent might be able to get a small amount of LCL or the express parcels out. Hence the need for a siding where the boxcar could be left.
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Express and LCL isn't the same thing..

REA express was for packages and small boxed items that could be unloaded and loaded during a normal 10-30 minute station stop..Larger cities had a REA building where REA cars was unloaded for car load shipments for a large city.

LCL was when a shipper shipped less then a car load to a receiver..These was usually unloaded at the freight house since the car could be split loaded for several receivers in the same town or city..Much like today's split trailer loads where the trailer is loaded with several shipments bound for the same city or town.

A team track was a designated for off line shippers/receivers whereas a house track was the track or tracks for the freight house..

[MasonJar]

A team track was a designated for off line shippers/receivers whereas a house track was the track or tracks for the freight house..

Ah ha! Now I get it. In hindsight, that's a bit of a moment. House - freight house.

Thanks.


Andrew

[Lester Perry]

To the original question about hand car sheds. The town where I spent a portion of my childhood had one. This was an extremely busy track. It had at least an average of one train per hour. These were C&O coal trains so this was a very heavy traffic area. I would say they were probably located where needed keeping in mind access to roadways and supplies. There was also a team track water tower and coal dock there.

[up_x3985]

Ok folks, right now, I have found the time to up-date this thread. Below you see the last work I have done on my hand car shed.

[up_x3985]

The walls I have painted silver gray with a drop of ocher. This is a simple acrylic paint from the hardware store. After painting and drying the surface of the wall I have sanded the walls to give the a weathered finish. The tarpaper is made of blackened fine sanding paper. And real dust found outdoor on my backyard gave the real used finish. Now, the shed is ready for the display. And the costs of this shed were approx 4 hours of work and 3 US-$ for the material.