This box car was designed to haul grain.  It was built in a time before modern day grain hoppers.  the difference between this box car and the other box cars in our collection is that this car has an all wood interior and the loading doors are only 6 feet wide instead of the standard 8 feet.

The way the grain agent would load these cars is a little different from a modern hopper.  First the agent  would climb into the car with all the materials he would need along with a ladder ( this was very important ).  The agent would nail a large piece of cardboard over the door opening from the inside.  He would leave a few feet of room at the top open to load the car with.  He would then re-enforce the cardboard with metal strapping.  This procedure was repeated for the other door as well.  Then the agent would use the ladder to climb out of the car through the opening he had left at the top of the door.  At the ports a large scoop with a spiked end was rammed through the cardboard door to unload the car.  The job was finished by sweeping the remains out of the car.

In the picture below you can see loading levels painted on the inside of the car to tell the agent how much to load to.  There are different levels for Oats, Barley, and Wheat as these all weighed different amounts and the car could not exceed a set tonnage.