Nevada Northern & Railroads of White Pine County

 

Ore Hoppers at the East Ely Yards

 

~Based on the original research of
Steve Swanson, Al Clemens, and Richard Wilkens~

 

Contributed by Al Clemens

 
 
Table of Contents

The Nevada Ingoldsby Series of Ore Cars

   

Chapter 1

 Ore Hoppers at the East Ely Yards — Introduction

Chapter 2

 Ingoldsby 500, 600, and 700 Series Ore Cars
Chapter 3
 Ingoldsby 800 and 900 Series Ore Cars
Chapter 4
 Ingoldsby 1000 and 1200 Series Ore Cars
Chapter 5
 Photo gallery — 1000 Series Cars at the NNRy Museum
Chapter 6
 Photo gallery — 1200 Series Cars at the NNRy Museum
Appendix
 Ingoldsby Automatic Car Company Patents

 

Chapter 1
Introduction
 
Ingoldsby Patented Dump Cars - The Beginning
The long list of patents for the Ingoldsby side dump ore cars began in the late 1800's. Frank S. Ingoldsby (In'-guls-be), a resident of Denver, Colorado, applied for a patent on an "Ore-Box" on April Fools day in 1895. The patent was granted on December 10th of the same year, the first of many granted to Mr. Ingoldsby.
Patent No. 551,319 for the "Ore-Box" is described as, "related to the certain improvements in the construction of wagon-boxes especially adapted for securely carrying and quickly dumping loads of ore or other material". Mr. Ingoldsby's patent for his "Ore-Box" also incorporated the fundamental but simple external door latches that readily identify the Ingoldsby dump cars.
Sometime after the granting of the patent for his "Ore-Box" he moved to Cripple Creek, Colorado and started the Ingoldsby Wagon Manufacturing Co. It was here in Cripple Creek that a second patent was applied for on October 7, 1897. This time the patent application pertained to an entire "Freight-Car" and patent No. 613,279 was granted on November 1, 1898. This patent employed the unique feature of moveable slope sheets, the angle of which could be increased to aid in the unloading of ore.
On January 4th, 1899, a third patent was applied for and patent No. 632,650 was granted on September 5th, 1899. At this time Frank Ingoldsby was a resident of St. Louis, Missouri and had either established a new business or changed the name of his former business to the Ingoldsby Automatic Car Company. This patent was for a "Dump-Car" that also incorporated two air actuators that were connected to the door releasing levers and permitted the automatic dumping of one or a series of cars. These cars were fitted with a second, isolated air line running the entire length of the car.
It was in St. Louis where Frank Ingoldsby hired fellow mechanical engineer Joseph Robert Bowling into the company. During the following 12 years, Mr. Bowling was singularly granted six patents. Mr. Bowling and Frank Ingoldsby are co-inventor's on eleven additional patents. Other Ingoldsby engineers were Vinton E. Sisson, Henry T. Gillard, John E. Lombard, and Charles E. Gossett. The company was incorporated sometime between 1899 and 1900.
Typically, the Ingoldsby patents pertained to engineering design changes and improvements but it was also common for Frank Ingoldsby to file for a patent on the entire ore car. As of 1916 there were over fifty patents filed in the U.S. and over forty-five patents filed in Canada and Mexico for Ingoldsby dump cars and their improvements.

 

"My door raising mechanism, as shown in the drawings, comprises shafts 21 carrying raising arms 22, there being operating arms 23 on these shafts from which lead chains 24 winding around the shaft 25. This shaft carries a gear 26 with which meshes a pinion 27 on the crank Shaft 28. The inner end of the shaft 25 is supported by a suitable bracket 34 carried by the under side of the end floor, while the other end of this shaft is journaled (sic) in a block 29 which is supported by a latch 30. This latch 30 and the crank (shaft) 28 are both carried by a vertical plate 35, the upper end of which is bent over and bolted to the web of the cross channel 15."

Figure 2 from U.S. Patent No. 973,788
Applicable to the 800 series cars, probably the 500-600-700 series and the 1000 series minus the air actuators.
From the collection of Al Clemens
As shown, the dumping doors 39 are adapted to be held in closed position by side hooks 40 which are connected by links 44 with releasing levers 41. When either (releasing) lever 41 is thrown it operates a corresponding rock shaft 42 which, through a short rock arm 43, raises a link 45 and withdraws the latch 30 from beneath the block 29. This causes disengagement between the gear 26 and pinion 27 just preceding the dropping of the doors. A ratchet 48 is carried by the crank shaft 28 and a pawl 49 by the plate 35 to hold the gain made by the crank (shaft) in raising the doors."

— Frank Ingoldsby

 

Although appearing as a car builder, Ingoldsby Automatic Car Company only designed the cars, then solicited the most reputable freight car builders of their time for prices or bids on a certain number of cars to be built. Two of the most notable were American Car & Foundry Co. and The Pullman Company. It is also believed that the Ingoldsby Automatic Car Company utilized cars of their most current designs for rolling advertisements and demonstration to perspective customers.
It is partially due to the advent of the rotary dump facilities that the majority of these dump cars assigned to the Kennecott Copper Co. properties fell victim to the cutting torch and subsequently to the scrap furnace. A "sealing" process was sometimes their only salvation, but this process also took away their true identity as Ingoldsby bottom dump ore cars. This "sealing" process entailed the welding of a solid bottom to the cars, and removal of the door operating mechanism and latches among other changes. (See below for further information on the "sealing" process.)
Their mechanical complexities and the fact that Ingoldsby dump cars were used mainly on industrial tracks may be the main reasons that these cars did not share the same popularity or notoriety as other types of hoppers or gondolas.

 

Information on Ingoldsby Patented Dump Cars
Little has been written about Ingoldsby cars over the years excepting, to this writer's knowledge, the older wooden type Ingoldsby cars.
Two articles in the Railroad Gazette (4 April 1902, pg. 252; 11 April 1902, pg. 263) detail the testing of a wooden Colorado & Wyoming car of 100,000-lb. capacity. Both articles are extracts from a report by Mr. Joseph R. Bowling, one of the head mechanical engineers for the Ingoldsby Co. There is also an article in the Railroad Gazette (4 July 1902, pg. 540) that details the testing of a 100,000-LB capacity, steel Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. car. Although manufactured from steel, these cars were based on the dimensions of the wooden cars mentioned above and unlike those purchased by the Nevada Northern Railway Co. This article is also based on extracts from a report by Mr. Joseph R. Bowling.
Crystal River Pictorial by Dell McCoy and Russ Collman provides numbering and operating information on the wooden type ore cars. A drawing of an Ingoldsby wooden, 24-latch standard gauge car is illustrated in this book. The Crystal River Railroad cars were narrow gauge, 20 latch cars. These wooden cars of the Crystal River Railroad, then a subsidiary of Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. in Pueblo, Colorado, were later sold to the Denver & Rio Grande.

 

The Ingoldsby Dump Cars of Kennecott Consolidated Copper Co.
Nevada Northern Railway Museum, East Ely, NV
The seven series of cars described herein originated from four different manufacturers, different lots, and different areas of the mining community. The majority came from copper country in and around Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona. One series, the 800's, originally came from the Colorado & Southern Railroad's iron mining community of Sunrise, Wyoming.

 
American Car & Foundry builders photo of Colorado & Southern Ingoldsby ore car No. 20150.
Subsequently sold to NCCCo. & renumbered to their 800 series. Visually nearly identical to the NCCCo. 500, 600, and 700 series.
Courtesy of A.C.F. Industries, St. Charles, MO. Frank M. Ellington Collection
 

 

 

500, 600, 700, and 900 Series "Sealing" Process
The "sealing" process was performed on a number of 500, 600, 700, & 900 series cars and was done primarily so the car could be used in the rotary dumper and to increase the capacity of the car. The process involved the removal of latches and door operating equipment, modification of the slope sheets, and welding in a solid floor.
Steve Swanson's two photos of KCC #670 (side view & end view) and the single photo of KCC #612 show the results of this "sealing" process. The 6-inch extension top on this car was constructed and probably added around 1950. Two types of these 6-inch extension tops can be found on these type cars. The other type can be seen on cars in the video Ore To Copper and on the partial photo of an 800 series car. On the corner of this ex-C&S car the original C&S reporting number 20233 can be seen over the top of the "Burlington Route" logo. The words "Nevada Mines", stenciled in white, can also be discerned. It should be noted that car #670 is riding on an original Arch Bar truck on one end (left) and an early version of a Vulcan truck at the other (right). This type of truck configuration and operation on these cars was not uncommon on KCC properties.

 

 

The Nevada Ingoldsby Series of Ore Cars

Chapter 1

 Ore Hoppers at the East Ely Yards — Introduction

Chapter 2

 Ingoldsby 500, 600, and 700 Series Ore Cars
Chapter 3 Ingoldsby 800 and 900 Series Ore Cars
Chapter 4 Ingoldsby 1000 and 1200 Series Ore Cars
Chapter 5 Photo gallery — 1000 Series Cars at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum
Chapter 6 Photo gallery — 1200 Series Cars at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum
Appendix Ingoldsby Automatic Car Company Patents

 

References

1. Clemens, Albert "Al". Research notes and prints collection.

2. Interstate Commerce Commission. 22 August 1917. Division of Valuation Form No. 310, 53--Freight-Train Cars. Nevada Northern Railway, Car No. 540.

3. Interstate Commerce Commission. 23 August 1917. Division of Valuation Form No. 310, 53--Freight-Train Cars. Nevada Northern Railway, Car No. 702.

4. Interstate Commerce Commission. 24 August 1917. Division of Valuation Form No. 310, 53--Freight-Train Cars. Nevada Northern Railway, Car No. 662.

5. Kaminski, Edward S. 2000. The Magor Car Corporation. Wilton, CA: Signature Press. [ISBN 1-930013-04-3]

6. McCoy, Dell A. and Russ Collman. 1972. The Crystal River Pictorial. Denver, CO: Sundance Publications Ltd., p. 82.

7. Ore to Copper. 30 min. Produced by Take One Inc., Las Vegas, NV. Videocasette.

8. Swanson, Steve. Research notes and prints collection.

9. "Test of an Ingoldsby 100,000 lbs Capacity Wooden Dump Car." 04 April 1902. Railroad Gazette 34 (14), 252.

10. "Test of an Ingoldsby 100,000 lbs Capacity Wooden Dump Car." 11 April 1902. Railroad Gazette 34 (15), 263.

11. "Test of an Ingoldsby 100,000 lbs Capacity All-Steel Dump Car." 04 July 1902. Railroad Gazette 34 (27), 540.

12. Wilkens, Richard. 08 July 1990. "Roster of Equipment: Nevada Consolidated Copper / Kennecott Copper Corporation." Unpublished. Issue 2.

13. Wilkens, Richard. 17 September 1990. "Roster of Equipment: Nevada Northern Railway Company." Unpublished. Issue 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last modified 18 August, 2001 -/-