20 or so years back in Trains mag there was a short mention of Canadian covered hoppers modified to run on lighter rail lines. They were like a hopper cut in half and another truck added to the middle. Does anyone have any pictures of them?
Thanks for asking the question.[tup] I had never heard of such a thing but I suspected it might be a CNR project, and I found pictures of the two prototypes on the CNR Historical Association website. They were built for use on the line to Churchill, MB. One was intended for grain and the other for potash. Here is the link.
http://cnlines.ca/CNcyclopedia/hop/hop4.php
Bruce
Thanks, Bruce, for the ink. Pretty interesting history and pictures of the CN articulated hoppers.[tup]
Interesting concept. I had never heard of such a critter, but you woulld have thought the kitbashers and customizers in the Model Railroad hobby area would have done a few of these oddities.
While looking around i found this beastie. Built for the Santa Fe it is a Five section car called the ‘Super Hopper’ . A160 ft long set! Linked here:
http://atsf.railfan.net/ga221a.jpg
As well as a link to the discussion Forum about these cars.
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,148678
It seems like these cars were ordered around 1990 or 19911 and from the dates in the linked in the T/O Forum they lasted into the 2002+ era apparently being utilized out in California(?)
Link to the Railway Age article form 1990: It is a lengthy explanation of ‘How and Why’ in rel
Actually the ATSF never Produced the Through Train they came up with the Articualled TOCF and therefore COFC cars that dominate the Intermodal haulage today. their 10Pack Fuel Foiler was lighter and could haul as many trailers as 5 twin 45’s Flats. Those led to the 53 and later 47 foot models you see today. Those however are restricted to 5 Packs in Length. I wonder what happened to the First 10Pack car.
The “Trough Train” was BN’s roughly similar creation - see:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1148200 and
http://www.nisa.org/Technology.html
- Paul North.
There was a protype Canadian Grain Articulated 2-Unit Covered Hopper that rolled westbound on the Grand Trunk Western CN mainline in Michigan several years ago.
Has anyone been able to track the movements of these prototypes Articulated Covered Hoppers?
Andrew
Does anyone know how many of each were made? Does anyone know what issue of Trains magazine it was mentioned in?
The linked page notes that these were the only two examples built. From the above post it sounds like the grain model made a tour in the US.
EDIT: For the benefit of the US readers, in the time period when the two prototypes were built CN and the Canadian Wheat Board were both government entities, and they would have been working closely on this project.
Bruce
I have a theory that the one red and yellow CN Articulated Hopper was operating in Western Canada for a while, then it was moved East over the CN and GTW lines to Ontario to a railroad museum.
Andrew
Don’t forget the Southern Rwy. experimental articulated aluminum hopper car built by Aeronca - see:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cen-v043n034.p046
http://southern.railfan.net/ties/1965/65-8/s100.html
http://southern.railfan.net/ties/1965/65-8/one.html
From about 2/3 of the way down this webpage, under the heading “SOME UNUSUAL DESIGNS”:
http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/railwhales/a-axles.htm
“In August 1965, aircraft builder Aeronca Manufacturing Co. of Middletown, Ohio built a 260-ton, 8-axle aluminum hopper car for the Southern Railway. This 103-foot car consisted of four permanently-connected 25-foot units, each riding on two axles. Southern 100 was loaded with inovations, including disk brakes, 7x12 bearings, and 38-inch wheels. The latter features gave the car a gross rail load of 630,000 pounds. It had a light weight of 96,000 pounds, a load limit of 534,000 pounds, and a volume of 9,000 cubic feet.”
- Paul North.
Both of the three-unit covered hoppers, CN 398000 (the grain car) and 399000 (the potash car) are still on the active roster.
Besides Southern’s articulated covered hopper, they had an auto rack (or maybe two) that was also a multi-unit car, with two axles per unit. We got one of those in the yard one day in 1974 when I was a yardmaster. I told a crew to take it where it was going through a track that wouldn’t take normal auto racks without derailing them. I recall our know-it-all clerk having a fit when he saw the car headed that way, and a little less of a fit when it stayed on the rails.
Carl:
On this link is a history and description of the three unit auto racks you describe.
From Paul North’s Thread: "…From about 2/3 of the way down this webpage, under the heading “SOME UNUSUAL DESIGNS”:
http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/railwhales/a-axles.htm
“In August 1965, aircraft builder Aeronca Manufacturing Co. of Middletown, Ohio built a 260-ton, 8-axle aluminum hopper car for the Southern Railway. This 103-foot car consisted of four permanently-connected 25-foot units, each riding on two axles. Southern 100 was loaded with inovations, including disk brakes, 7x12 bearings, and 38-inch wheels. The latter features gave the car a gross rail load of 630,000 pounds. It had a light weight of 96,000 pounds, a load limit of 534,000 pounds, and a volume of 9,000 cubic feet.”…"
- Paul North.
Thanks Paul those are some fascinating links! As I recall there was a rail whale that served as the fuel (tank) supply for a truck stop on I-30 West of the Texarkana area, but I haven’t been through there in a number of years,
From the bottom of the same heading at that link:
“The last noteworthy car from this era was Greenville’s fully-enclosed Auto Guard tri-level automobile carrier. The 129-foot car could hold 18 full-size autos. The Auto Guard consisted of three permanently-connected 40-foot units, each riding on two axles. Only two were built, as Southern Railway 599000 and 599001, in September 1973. The cars had a light weight of 84,600 pounds and an indicated load limit of 100,000 pounds. They utilized truck components from hopper car 100, although these were refitted with 6½x12 bearings and 33-inch wheels. The 599001 was retired after an accident when it was only a couple of years old, but the other remained in service for 20 years. Norfolk Southern retired the 599000 in October 1993 and donated it to the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke.”
Link to a 2009 photo (not mine) of the 599000 - note that it’s apparently at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer instead:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=287806
Link to 1998 photos (also not mine) of it in Roanoke, complete with graffiti:
http://www.krunk.org/~joeshaw/pics/sou/autorack/
Sam, thanks for reading through that link and seeing that - glad you enjoyed it !
- Paul North.