Nostalgia & History > Very odd rolling stock Mancelona, Mi Sawmill yard

Rail Yard on the G.R.&I. Serving the A. T. Company mill. Interesting rolling stock.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/12 19:21 by ngfan.

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Those are some of the strangest freight cars I've ever seen.

Does anyone have any information on them?

ngfan Wrote:
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> Rail Yard on the G.R.&I. Serving the A. T. Company
> mill. Interesting rolling stock.

Could it be this - Antrim Iron Company? :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antrim_Iron_Company

If so, those funny cars were probably used in making charcoal.

http://genealogytrails.com/mich/antrim/citymancelona.html

Use this link to read more details of Mancelona and the industries located there. A great article.

Larry

greyhounds Wrote:
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> Those are some of the strangest freight cars I've
> ever seen.
>
> Does anyone have any information on them?

This came my way...ngfan

These are charcoal cars for interplant operation. These cars could be found at a number of furnaces and chemical plants around the State that operated toward the end of the chemical wood/iron furnace era. They would be used at the facilities that completed the charcoal process at the same site as end product use; examples of other locals where I have seen similar cars in use are Grayling, Cadillac, East Jordan, and Wells. The wooden “shacks” in the background are actually stacks of cut lumber – note the tramway down the center. Antrim Iron Company like other successful furnaces in the state (such as Elk Rapids, Newberry or Wells) did not limit themselves to only iron production but made full use of their harvested forest products making charcoal, lumber, specialty wood products [such as mattress frames at Elk Rapids or CCI’s Munising Woodenware], and chemicals. Lee where did you get the image—its great—I would say it dates from circa 1915 and the large structure is the sawmill.