In the thread about Vert-a-Pack auto carriers, http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?5069-New-HO-ExactRail-Vert-A-Pac-Autorack&p=34970#post34970 wmrx mentioned, "Those canstock cars are pretty neat, too. I'd like to see a nice HO RTR version from one of the better manufacturers. Does anyone know if these cars ever came to or through Missouri?" There were a couple beverage can plants in the St. Louis area to make cans for a major customer there. One of these was Metal Container Corporation in Arnold, just off the Frisco River Line. Google Maps shows a spur line to the plant, so rail shipping and receiving was possible. Unfortunately, I do not recall how the metal came into the plants, but know that it looked like a big roll of paper. It was fed from the roll to a stamping press to make cups to feed the draw and iron can body forming process. Trucks generally hauled out the finished cans. Some of the aluminum came from Ravenswood, WV (hence the B&O connection) and from places in Kentucky. Some came from Alcan in Canada, too. I do not know whether Frisco had any Can Stock Cars. Roads with on-line rolling mills were more likely to have them. Were there any aluminum rolling mills in Frisco territory?
Thanks for the info, George. I think the canstock cars were unique to the B&O and maybe FGE. Given the info at hand, I would say that it is at least plausible that these cars visited Frisco rails in the St. Louis area, if not elsewhere.
Sping Mills Depot, www.springmillsdepot.com, will release their first signature model in HO of the B&O canstock boxcar shortly! Quality Craft released this car as a craftsman kit back in the 70s. in both HO and O scale. The information given is that they travelled to and fro across the USA so one can be pretty sure that they could be found in Frisco consists as well. I switched for the Cotton Belt and the Santa Fe in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area from August 1976 until December 1976 and don´t ever remember them passing through the yards where I was employed. They probably could be seen on the Mopac (T&P) "thousand leggers" (the long long, long long, long long, long long freights) that crossed the ATSF in Dallas at Tower 19 though. It always held up the Santa Fe/Rock Island interchange but the Mopac had a speed restriction through Dallas Union Terminal and the clatter across the diamond was sheer music to the ear! Sometimes the Frisco/Santa Fe interchange from Irving got caught too. A short train with a single geep was no problem but a train full of Oklahoma coal destined for the L&A (KCS) interchange at the ATSF E. Dallas Yard had a heck of a time restarting a train since they had to climb from the DUT trackage in the Trinity River Bottoms upgrade into E. Dallas Yard. But man `o´ man, the sight of a trio of red and white SD45s was more music to the ear, 645s wide open, sanders making a 1930s Oklahoma dust storm look like a small breeze, was railroading drama at its very best! This high tech modern age railroading just cannot compare to those days even with the gasoline shortages at the pump! Joe Toth The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer
