Notes on the Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo Railway 1800-1850 series gondolas

These cars first appeared on TH&B equipment registers in 1917, numbered 1800-1850 [1849?]. These were to replace wood gondolas purchased secondhand from the T&OC Railroad in 1901. These secondhand cars were downgraded, finally leaving the roster in the 1930's
They had the following classifications and dimensions:

AAA Designation: GB
Class: Wood Gondola
Series: 1800-1850
Number of Cars in Series: 50

Inside Dimensions
  - Length 35' 0"
  - Width 9' 5"
  - Height 3' 6"
Outside Dimensions
  - Length 36' 2"
  - Width at Top of Sides 9' 8"
  - Extreme Width 10' 0"
Height From Rail
  - To Extreme Width 4' 0"
  - To Top of Sides 7' 7"
  - To Extreme Height 8' 4"
Capacity
  - 1153 CUFT, 80,000 Pounds

Trucks
  - Kind: Arch Bar
  - Wheels: Cast Iron
  - Size: 33"
  - Journal Size: 5 x 9"
  - Truck Bolster: Simpler

Brakes
  - Triple: K1
  - Brk Cyl Size: 8 x 12"
  - Hand Brake: Old AAR Not Geared

Body
  - Type: Wood
  - Sides: Wood
  - Ends: Wood
  - Couplers: AAR Standard
  - Draft Gear: Tandem Spring

These cars were used by the TH&B in coal, coke and stone service.

Excerpts from various TH&B Mechanical Department Files make the following notations about this series:
January 1929: All cars in service. General repairs amounting to rebuilding on all these cars will be completed by July 1929.

January 1930: Seven cars held for heavy repairs account not rebuilt in 1929.

January 1931: All cars overhauled in 1930.

January 1932: 30 cars due for overhauling.

January 1933: All in service. All due for general shopping.

January 1934: All in service. All due for general repairs. Some of these cars will be retired and dismantled during the present year.

February 1934: Some of these cars will be retired and dismantled when the Coke shipments are over. They are in bad shape and cannot handle heavy commodities. The majority of these cars will no doubt be retired during the current year.

December 1941: 17 cars in service. All are in need of general repairs. They are in only fair condition and cost of repairs will average $200.00 per car.

September 1945: 17 cars in service. These cars should be overhauled at an approximate cost of $350.00 per car to make usable for use as cinder cars to replace the current 16 cars in cinder service in the X-600 series.
In 1941, 19 cars from this series were placed in cinder service and renumbered X-600 to X-618. They were all retired in 1945 when replaced by the remaining 17 cars that were renumbered X-650 to X-666 in 1945. The remaining 17 were all retired in 1954.

The above information courtesy of Lance Brown.

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Last modified on: Monday, 26 August 2002
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