I recently purchased an Accurail AAR Triple Hopper (7500 series) and I would like to use it for interchange service as a hopper for off-railroad ballast “purchasing.” It is lettered for the NP with the car number 87569. According to the NP Freight car roster, the car shows as a “Ballast, Hart Selective Service, Steel.” This car would operate as part of the maintenance fleet of a mid to late 70’s era free-lanced second-hand owner. If I understand interchange rules correctly, for the most part, railroads don’t like dealing with “foreign” cars with solid bearing trucks. (If I am in error on this point, please let me know.) My question is this, based on the previous point: did AAR triple hoppers ever ride on Roller Bearing trucks or did they remain on solid bearing trucks throughout their careers?
Up in Canada both CNR and CPR did put roller bearing trucks under some of their older ballast hoppers but the conversion was much more recent than the the 1970s. It was also after that period when plain bearings became unacceptable for interchange, although I don’t know the actual date offhand. Plain bearings lingered on in the OCS fleet but I imagine by now even those have disappeared as the expertise and materials to repack the bearings become a thing of the past.
John
By the mid-70’s, I think roller bearings were required for interchange service.
Jim
Effective January 1, 1972, all cars having journals 6 1/2"x11" or larger must have roller bearings, and effective January 1, 1974, all cars with a gross rail load exceeding 55,000lbs per axle must be equipped with roller bearings. This looks like their compulsory useage was phased in over this time period, although my data only includes up to 1978.
Solid bearings would still be allowed on “company service” cars (non-revenue) and possibly on non-interchange cars, too. I seem to recall reading that the latter ones were eventually banned from use in trains which included roller bearing-equipped interchange cars from other roads, but can’t find the reference.
The Accurail car isn’t a true ballast car, which usually had longitudinal hopper doors, but many roads did use them as such. Don’t forget that such a car, when loaded with ballast, would not be filled to its cubic capacity, as stone is quite a bit denser than coal.
Wayne
The use of plain bearings in interchange service continued into the 1980s, at least in Canada. The Mississauga derailment of November 1979 was caused by a hotbox in a plain bearing on a tankcar. While nothing could be proven, it was suspected that the wrong size packing may have been used when the bearing was repacked in the C&O yard at Sarnia, Ontario. There were 7 plain bearing cars in the block of about 60 cars interchanged to CPR at Chatham. The tankcar was carrying toluene, and the derailment was spectacular. Three propane tanks exploded, which was actually a good thing since the updraft took most of the chlorine from another punctured tankcar high into the atmosphere. Even so, 250,000 people were evacuated from the suburbs west of Toronto, many for more than a week.
The attached photo show what a hotbox looks like, although this was taken five years earlier in October 1974. The chalk marks would suggest there had been earlier issues with the journal and perhaps it too received an incorrect or sloppy repair. In this case it was the rear axle on the tankcar and only the one wheelset derailed. When that happened the end of the car dropped, the couplers parted (pre shelf couplers) and the brakes applied. I watched from a safe distance with some interest as the separated halves of the train slowed to a stop, splinters and rocks flying from the ties and ballast.
John
Hi “kid,”
Before you worry about the trucks, you might want to deal with the fact that the car you have isn’t what you think it is. If NP 87569 is supposed to be a Hart selective service ballast car, it would be more accurately represented by the Atlas model of that car. See http://www.atlasrr.com/hofreight/ho70tonhartballast4.htm.
These Hart ballast cars had lengthwise doors that could be opened selectively (hence the name) to dump either between or outside the rails, or both. The doors could also be opened partially, to spread ballast at a desired rate while in motion (this was done with special work trains). See http://research.nprha.org/NP%20Hopper%20Cars/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=52&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fresearch.nprha.org%2FNP%20Hopper%20Cars%2FForms%2FAllItems.aspx&RootFolder=%2FNP%20Hopper%20Cars for an NP drawing of this type of car.
The Accurail 7500-series model is what many Western roads called a “cross hopper,” with crosswise doors that could open only one way. They would dump their loads either across the rails or, ideally, into a pit or through a trestle below the rails. This kind of hopper car was primarily used in coal service, although of course it could carry any bulk minerals.
Merry Christmas,
Andy
The only thing the car will be used for is for transporting the ballast from the seller to the railroad. (This part of the ballast mix will be coming from “foreign” territory, hence the trucks question.) I already have the type of ballast cars you are referring to in Walthers models.
I figured that all of you who helped me would want to see the “finished” car. (I don’t have the car weathered as I would like.) It is equipped with a set of Accurail RB trucks, an Adair Shops weight kit, and a Cooch Hopper Load covered with real Sioux Quartzite.(I found a company that I was able to get a quantity of the real rock from.) The link follows: http://www.inmemoryofpage.org/MTP-Hopper.jpg
The hopper looks good, but I take it you missed the quoted passage, which I posted earlier. [:-^]
Wayne