Hoppers and covered hoppers

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m not really planning to scale time but something made me wonder…
What sort of time does it take to unload hoppers and covered hoppers?
Does the load drop out with a huge thud or trickle out?

In all my years on track the only hoppers I’ve seen unloaded have been MoW ballast cars which could dump fast or slow as regulated by the men riding them.

Does anyone have pics of the pits hoppers drop into to feed elevators?

Thanks in advance.

2

I have unloaded those cars at a grain elevator.It takes roughly 20 minutes to unload and weigh a car.There might be a slight woosh sound but a lot of dust.Grain used to be shipped in open top hoppers until 1975,I haven’t unloaded anything but grain.I suppose newer grain terminals could easily unload a car in 10 minutes.

3

Then there are rotary dumpers for coal cars and I suspect that its measured in short minutes. However, the actual process may take a bit longer.

Rick

4

I believe the drum of a rotary car dumper takes about a minute to cycle, not including the time required to spot the car(s) in the drum. Early dumpers for loading ships were tall, spindly structures that looked like roller coasters, moved the cars into place with a cable-pulled gadget and released them to return to the outbound yard by gravity. A 100-car train could be unloaded in about two hours.

Modern coal gons have rotary couplers, and are frequently dumped two at a time without uncoupling by modern dumpers.

Assuming that the load was unfrozen and not overly compacted, a standard coal hopper could unload through the drop doors in about five minutes. Coal and gravel hoppers have much larger hopper doors than grain hoppers.

5

Thanks guys!

Anything more anyone else?

Joseph2 … was the dust cleaned away or allowed to build up?

Thanks :slight_smile: