L&HR 20' HMR hopper cars

Hello,

According to a 1940 L&HR freight car roster, the railroad owned 100 cars that year. 2/3rd of these were 20' HMR hopper cars. An acquaintance of mine and I are not clear what these cars were. Does anyone know anything more about the 20' HMR hopper cars?

An HMR hopper would be your standard, run of the mill, two bay hopper car with a roof (attached or removable). Similar to an LO hopper, but not as dedicated or specialized. Quite possibly Company Sand use? As a non-revenue car, especially considering the timeframe, they certainly wouldn't go whole hog for such usage. Take an old, worn-out hopper, add a roof, use for company sand. Voila! The HM became an HMR.

If I am not mistaken I believe these 20' hopper cars were used for Zinc Ore Service. There were two zinc mines, one in Frankiln, NJ that was directly serviced by the LHR and the other in Ogdensburg, NJ (originally serviced by the Susquehanna - later serviced directly by the LHR) that forwarded cars via the LHR to Palmerton, PA (near Wind Gap, PA) where the zinc ore was smelted. In the early years, the LHR took hopper cars and created their own plywood tops to cover them to keep the zinc ore dry in transit. The 20' size hoppers that you mention are more than likely these cars, with their small size due to the weight (S.G.) of the zinc ore. In later years the LHR had small covered hopper cars custom built for this service and towards the end they were using std covered hoppers.

Below is a link that shows what these open top hoppers looked like.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... PgodFDwI9Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

here is a link showing the custom made cars the LHR had made

http://www.prrh.org/photos/past/lhr/pic017.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers!