Nostalgia & History > Reading Anthracite

The coal dumpers at Port Reading, NJ served by the Reading RR on its Port Reading branch.
Ed K. cp Laurel Run

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Did those dumpers lift the entire car to the level of the chute, then tip it?

If so, how did they prevent dumping out the journal oil???

Or, did they simply drop coal into a pit with an elevator conveyor to raise it to the level of the chute?  If that were the case, you wouldn't think they'd need a chute a full carlength long, though.

-John

   There was no mention of 'tipping the cars' . This was long before rotary dumps most likely and the reason for the elevated track was of course, to get the car above the equipment the coal was going into.   . . . . . gravity. 

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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> Did those dumpers lift the entire car to the level
> of the chute, then tip it?
>
> If so, how did they prevent dumping out the
> journal oil???
>
> Or, did they simply drop coal into a pit with an
> elevator conveyor to raise it to the level of the
> chute?  If that were the case, you wouldn't think
> they'd need a chute a full carlength long,
> though.
>
> -John

yes they were called McMyler Dumpers that lifted the car to height of the loading chute then rolled the car 65° and dumped the load ... besides the one for the Reading in Port Reading, McMyler Dumpers were also in Port Richmond in Philly for the Reading, 2 in Perth Amboy for the PRR and LV, and Jersey City for the CNJ...

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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>    There was no mention of 'tipping the cars' .
> This was long before rotary dumps most likely and
> the reason for the elevated track was of course,
> to get the car above the equipment the coal
> was going into.   . . . . . gravity. 

There was a rotary car dumper in 1897.  Same question applies - how did they prevent loss of journal oil.

http://www.loc.gov/item/00694215/

-John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/15 15:47 by LarryDoyle.

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
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> yes they were called McMyler Dumpers that lifted
> the car to height of the loading chute then rolled
> the car 65° and dumped the load ... besides the
> one for the Reading in Port Reading, McMyler
> Dumpers were also in Port Richmond in Philly for
> the Reading, 2 in Perth Amboy for the PRR and LV,
> and Jersey City for the CNJ...

Thank you for that information.

After tipping the car 65 degrees, how did they empty the rest?  Hand shoveling perhaps?

-John

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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> dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:

>  - how did they prevent loss of
> journal oil.

They didn't.  The wool waste in the boxes held most of the oil in place and the excess dripped out.  When the cars were back in the yard the car Knockers checked the boxes before sending the cars out.  The cars were held down to the rails so the brasses would not come loose.

MW4man Wrote:
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> LarryDoyle Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
>
> >  - how did they prevent loss of
> > journal oil.
>
> They didn't.  The wool waste in the boxes held
> most of the oil in place and the excess dripped
> out.  When the cars were back in the yard the car
> Knockers checked the boxes before sending the cars
> out.  The cars were held down to the rails so
> the brasses would not come loose.

That's always been my suspicion as well, as this was also done to some extent with grain boxes.  Makes one wonder what all went into my Wheaties, Cheerios, and Wonder Bread.

I have an operating model car dumper, and wonder if an ancillary shed nearby to house carmen's supplies would be appropriate.

-John

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yes they were called McMyler Dumpers that lifted
> the car to height of the loading chute then rolled
> the car 65° and dumped the load ... besides the
> one for the Reading in Port Reading, McMyler
> Dumpers were also in Port Richmond in Philly for
> the Reading, 2 in Perth Amboy for the PRR and LV,
> and Jersey City for the CNJ...

Add Lorain, Ohio on the B&O to that list please. (Not sure it was a McMyler, but sure worked the same way.) As a kid I loved to watch the "rabbit" push the loaded car up the ramp and bump the empty out of the way, and I just knew if I waited and watched, one day an empty would sail off the ramp and into the Black River...never happened. Can close my eyes and still hear a dip blue GP7 spotting loads for the Atlas car movers.
Thanks,
—Mac

Surprisingly, this one still exists, abandoned and forgotten, but if you look at Port Reading, NJ in your favorite mapping program you can find it.

cv the civil e in NJ

cjvrr Wrote:
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> Surprisingly, this one still exists, abandoned and
> forgotten, but if you look at Port Reading, NJ in
> your favorite mapping program you can find it.

That's the one in Ed's photo in the first post.

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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> Out_Of_Service Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > yes they were called McMyler Dumpers that
> lifted
> > the car to height of the loading chute then
> rolled
> > the car 65° and dumped the load ... besides
> the
> > one for the Reading in Port Reading, McMyler
> > Dumpers were also in Port Richmond in Philly
> for
> > the Reading, 2 in Perth Amboy for the PRR and
> LV,
> > and Jersey City for the CNJ...
>
> Thank you for that information.
>
> After tipping the car 65 degrees, how did they
> empty the rest?  Hand shoveling perhaps?
>
> -John

John i'm no expert ... i just happened to have watched in the past week a video on the workings of the McMylers, i believe a PRR vid and it showed the McMyler at Perth Amboy ... the car seemed to have emptied at 65° from the video ...

Was this the unloader that the Reading bought from the Susquehanna?

J.