Saint Paul, October 21, 1938

Mr. Bernard Blum:

Referring to your notation on Mr. Cauley’s letter of October seventh in regard to using center dump Hart cars at the coaling stations.

In 1928 there was considerable complaint about unloading Hart center dump coal cars at the bucket type coaling stations… At that time it was proposed to overcome this objection by remodeling the pit……which was done in a number of cases.

The 70 ton coal cars can be used at stations which are of sufficient strength and since they were purchased we have had few requests to remodel pits for center dump cars.

According to the standard plan all of the Link Belt type coaling stations are O.K. for the center dump cars.

All plans available indicate  that the trestle type coaling

station is O.K. for unloading center dump cars, although there may be some exceptions.

The following bucket type coaling stations are O.K. for the center dump cars:

Livingston                              Glenullen

Benz                                      Yakima-Roundhouse

Dickinson                              Bozeman

Paradise                                Whitehall

Logan                                    Toppenish

The following coaling stations have pits………not entirely satisfactory for center dump cars:

East Grand Forks                      Laurel

Wahpeton                                 Lamoure

Pembina                                   Hazen

Townsend                                 Tacoma

Bromart                                    Easton

Gibbon                                      Hinckley

Fertile                                       Seattle

Carrington                                Pullman

Sartell                                       Arlington

Rice’s Point                               Yakima – Main Line

Mississippi Street                      Koldok

West Duluth                              Glendive

Bearmouth                                Greycliff

Center Dump cars can be unloaded with difficulty as follows: Open the side doors and allow most of the coal to come out the sides. Then open the center dumps and allow the remainder to drop between the rails. This means if there are any lumps it is necessary for the men to get into the cars and break them up to permit the coal to go through the breaker bars.

Mr. McCauley’s letter returned.

Bridge Engineer