Western Railroad Discussion > Old side dump car

I've driven by this car many times over the years and finally decided to photograph it. I should have brought a step-ladder with me. It's on Pacific Rail property near M. St in Colton,Ca southeast of the crossing. I think it's a side dump car.

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Difco "Air dump" car. Yes, it side dumps, using air pressure. Lots of them in m/w service. Plenty of pix around of them in use on UP.
Here is pic of one on the SP lompoc branch.

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I think the first car is an Austin-Western car. Would have started life with solid journal bearing trucks. Difco cars had a different body style, the newer one in the second image may be a Difco, or a Difco design built by another firm.

What's the number on it?

Posted from Android

It takes a lot of MR air to dump those. I was on a work train with eight of those for a week, on several occasions. Usually had two GP-20's, and you had to keep them in R-8 all the time when they were dumping.

Posted from Android

funny story about those cars ... in the late 80's when Amtrak was rehabbing the AC Line in NJ to Atlantic City these cars were used to move material ... the work train brought the cars to Atlantic City ... they were full and needed to be dumped ... the cars were operated by pulling a lever and that action dispensed the air into the cylinders to lift ...

Teddy an old head conductor was on the work train down in Atlantic City ... Teddy worked with my dad on the PRSL/Conrail before my dad retired ... they use to ride together and he was a really good guy but gullible ... on this day Teddy was pretty close to the car and was standing on the east side of the dump car ... it had just rained and the area all around was puddles of water and mud ... it was night time in the spring and the temp was pretty chilly

Tony one of the MW guys was on the other side ready to pull the lever to dump the car but before Tony pulled it he noticed how close Teddy was to the car and yelled "WATCH THE DUMP" ... Teddy in all his nervousness panics and turns and starts to run only to step almost knee deep in a puddle of mud and water ... well needless to say everyone around and there were about 15 people broke out in hysterics ... Dennis one of the supervisors was in a hi-rail truck parked on the dirt road about 100 ft away ... Teddy went over to the hi rail truck car and went to get in and Dennis(who was a major ball breaker) had locked the door rolled down the window a crack and said to Teddy ... paraphrasing "you aint gettin in here with all that mud and dirt all over you ... look at you ... you look like one big mud slime ball" ... with that Teddy was like a little kid walking and sulking while we're all laughing ... he finally went up on the engine and didn't speak to nobody the rest of the night

The last time I seen one of those side dump cars work was when they were building the wet lands area at Terra Cotta, Siding on the KP in KS.It wouldn't dump on it's own, so they had to use 2 backhoes to reach over and pick up the far side and raise it up in order to dump the rip-rap. upkpfan

On 10-12-11 I posted a video of this type of car in action.
UP dumping rock next to the Salt Lake in Utah.

On a shortline such as ours, we consider them a "insurance policy"...you hope you don't need them but when a washout or other emergency strikes...they're worth their weight in gold!

Had to call ours to "active service" last month to fill in a washout...www.oregonpacificrr.com to see her in action!

Dick Samuels

riorita Wrote:
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> I've driven by this car many times over the years
> and finally decided to photograph it. I should
> have brought a step-ladder with me. It's on
> Pacific Rail property near M. St in Colton,Ca
> southeast of the crossing. I think it's a side
> dump car.

This is a photo of a 40 yard capacity Western Air Side dump car.
The Sp used three types, The 40 yd westerns and the 40 yard Megor car. both were activated with air and could be unloaded with the train line or with an aux compressor.
The SP in the middle 70.s or there about purchased over a hundred of the 60 yd Difcos and were all captured by the Great Salt Lake Survival crews to same the Causeway.
These air dumps rebuild the NWP, The Sacramento River Canyon in 1974, the Great Salt Lake and where ever fill material was needed. They were used on the GSL in over 30 car cuts with an sux dumping compressor.

Here are a couple dump car ads:

1.1948 Differential Steel Car Company
2.1972 Differential Steel Car Company - Featuring SP's Salt Lake Causeway.

More than 5,000 RR ads here:
http://waidephoto.smugmug.com/Other/Waide-Collection-of-Vintage/21901032_GcvgtF#!i=1436802479&k=TCSNDKr

To search for more dump car related ads type "dump" in the search box.

Enjoy!

JMW

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They are now made by JK Co, who I think uses the old Difco building.

http://www.jk-co.com/

I suspect you mean 50 cubic yard for the Difcos - I don't think there were 60s. BN did extend the sides on some of their Difco cars but I'm not sure what the new capacity was. Difco also built 40 cu yd cars that looked the same, just shorter.

Doug Stark

JLY Wrote:
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> This is a photo of a 40 yard capacity Western Air
> Side dump car.
> The Sp used three types, The 40 yd westerns and
> the 40 yard Megor car. both were activated with
> air and could be unloaded with the train line or
> with an aux compressor.
> The SP in the middle 70.s or there about purchased
> over a hundred of the 60 yd Difcos and were all
> captured by the Great Salt Lake Survival crews to
> same the Causeway.
> These air dumps rebuild the NWP, The Sacramento
> River Canyon in 1974, the Great Salt Lake and
> where ever fill material was needed. They were
> used on the GSL in over 30 car cuts with an sux
> dumping compressor.

On the CP line behind my house in the northern suburbs of St. Paul, I see various designs of side dump cars almost daily (along with the usual hopper bottom ballast cars) carrying rip-rap from a quarry in Wisconsin.

-LD