Bedding

Some have reported that stock cars were thoroughly steam cleaned between shipments of cattle or anything else. However this does not seem to be the case. Gordon Lock reported that Lometa, TX, was a bedding location for cars on the San Saba District. Dirty cars were dropped at Lometa's clean-out track where a crew would clean them out with shovels and brooms. They were not washed or otherwise treated. Once clean, the local would move them to the bedding track. A tractor with front loader would bring a load of sand from the nearby Colorado River and dump it in the car door on the floor. Crews would then shovel it around the inside of the car completing the bedding process. The cars were now ready to go down the branch for their next load. As for the dirty sand, local gardeners use it to fertilize their plants.

At the stockyards the railway furnished bedding for the cars and had to ship bedding to meet the anticipated needs of stock movements. Bedding was usually sand. During cold weather, a layer of hay was added. If hogs were being shipped, straw or hay was piled about a foot high around the sides and ends of the car to act as a windbreak. During periods of stormy or severely cold weather, the sides of cars were papered or battened in order to provide addition protection. If shipping hogs during hot weather, the bedding was wetted down and several chunks of ice were place on each deck or hung in burlap bags from the ceiling. Al Richardson reported that ranchers used volcanic cinders for bedding on the Grand Canyon line.

A Santa Fe pamphlet, 1945, stated, "Approximately 2 inches of sand, evenly distributed makes ideal bedding. Cinders are very undesirable. An accumulation of old bedding soon becomes slick allowing the live stock to get down and be trampled. Straw in liberal quantities should be used for bedding cars for hog shipments in cold weather. This prevents them from piling and smothering trying to keep warm. Bedding should be wet down before loading hogs in warm weather and kept wet in transit." John Moore has supplied a circular regarding the bedding needs for various feeding stations in Oklahoma, 1937. Records from the Pawhuska Distict (Oklahoma) from 1958 show sand being shipped in GA-40, 42, and 98 20 yard air dump cars.

Southern Railway Circular No. 144, Rules and Regulations Governing the Handling of Live Stock, effective January 1, 1947, stated, "Cars properly bedded must have at least four inches of sand or fine cinders, or not less than six inches of sawdust, tanbark, shaving, or other suitable bedding. In hot weather, cars for hogs must be bedded with not less than four inches of sand, clay, or earth, thoroughly soaked with water before loading."

Sometimes sand was delivered to stock pens in advance of shipments as bedding. Reports also exist of gondolas of sand traveling with the empty stock cars to loading chutes. John B. Moore has calculated that each 40' stock car required 3.2 yards of sand, so the standard gondola used for sand could service 10-12 stock cars.

Sand for bedding on the Plains Division came from the Cimarron River bottoms near Waynoka, OK. Reports from the late 50s show bedding sand being delivered to loading pens in on the Pawhuska District of Oklahoma in GA-40, 42, and 98 air dump cars.

Gordon Lock, GC&SF conductor on the Lampasas District, related the following information.

"Back in the 1960's there was a stock car bedding spur at Lometa. This track was at the West end of the yard coming off the Branch Main and going downhill to a creekbed.This track was about 30 cars long. During the early sixties the mainline local 171-172 operated Temple to Brownwood Mon. Wed. Fri. and Eastbound Tue. Thur. and Sat. Back then one geep was the power. To pull the bedding spur one unit would not pull 30 cars out because of the grade. The cars had to be doubled out which was a pain for us brakeman.

"Lometa bedding track was used mainly for cleaning and bedding cars for local use on Lampasas, Sweetwater, San Saba and Menard Districts. This operation had no steam cleaning like the bedding tracks did in larger terminals. This was a contract operation that a yardmaster named Murrey in Brownwood operated. (He also iced cars at Brownwood). Dirty cars were swept clean by his contract workers. A front end loader dumped sand in the door after cars were swept clean. Then the workers spread the sand in the car.

"In those days every freight train through Lometa set out and picked up. (Eastbound BTX and CTX, and Westbound GCF and TSF). So empty cars to be cleaned were set out by nearly all trains. Two locals the mainline local and #53 the branch local worked the spur every day.Most of the clean cars were used on #53-54 going out on the San Saba and Menard Districts.

"Usually #54 brought about 30 to 40 loads of stock (sheep and cattle) into Lometa. This was picked up by TSF (TSF if early waited for #54) and handled to Brownwood. Most put right on a Dublin District train to Fort Worth. Pretty good service cattle from Menard one morning into Ft.Worth stock yards the next morning.

"My wife and I would drive to Lometa and shovel a load of composted material from where the stock cars were cleaned and fertlize our garden with it. I grew the best tomatoes in Bell County. Those were truly the good ole days."

From Gordon Locke
GCSF Retired

Operations

Compiled by J. Stephen Sandifer