Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Class FM-14D 92477 and Q100 at Havelock, Nebraska on an unknown day in November 1965, photographer unknown, duplicate slide, Chuck Zeiler collection. The following is from the Burlington Route Historical Society Bulletin 25, Stock Cars and Livestock Traffic, edited by Hol Wagner: Burlington's final development in the transportation of livestock came in November 1965 with the completion at Havelock of Q (not CB&Q) 100, a double-deck livestock container patterned after the SM-19C stock cars and designed to be carried on one of the railroad's numerous 53 foot six inch flatcars. The reasoning: Livestock was handled mostly in the fall and winter months, so the container could be mounted on the flat during just those months, then removed and stored during the spring and summer when the flat was needed to haul agricultural implements. As built, the innovative container featured a diagonal panel roof and 3/4 improved Dreadnaught ends. The diagonal braces nearest the five foot door sloped away from the top of the door, and where that diagonal met a vertical post and another diagonal brace, a lifting eye was welded into place to facilitate placement and removal of the container by an overhead crane.The container was bolted to the flat through four stake pockets on each end, and the deck of the flatcar served as the floor of the container's lower deck. Total weight of the container was 22,800 pounds, with the flat weighing and additional 52,800 pounds. The container's height immediately proved too great for some of the loading/unloading facilities where it was employed, so it was returned to Havelock in early 1966, and one foot and seven inches was removed from the container at the bottom of the upper deck. This eliminated the top rib from the bottom portion of each end, giving the ends a 3/3 configuration, and created an offset gap in the diagonal side braces just below the floor level of the upper deck. It also reduced the container's weight by 4,900 pounds. Grab irons and short ladders were added to both ends, and the modified container was then mounted on FM-14A flat 92598, where it spent the rest of its days until being scrapped in the mid-1970's. |