I have rode a couple of these and they seem to ride the same as any other old boxcar so what makes them special?
What do you mean you rode one?
Is ^ a hobo/transit?[B)][V][}:)][?][:(][:O][
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Oh, Lord, I had a college roommate who ‘rode the rails’ back in the mid-1970s, and he said EXACTLY the same thing one night. We laughed at him, but not mockingly, because it was a logical conclusion by an intelligent person… but an uninformed one… (This was the same guy who said he went up over 80mph in his old car with Ford-O-Matic transmission, but couldn’t ‘feel’ it shift into third gear, and could I help troubleshoot it… I replied that it would be simple, but he should change religion if he COULD get it to run in third gear, because Ford-O-Matics only have two speeds like old Powerglides)
Hydra-Cushion refers to a damping of LONGITUDINAL shocks, due to buff, draft, and slack run-in of the couplings between cars in trains. It has nothing to do with the suspension or guiding of the cars, which accordingly ‘feel’ exactly like ordinary old railroad cars in ride quality.
No surprise there!
Correct, refering to the draft gear, this misleads people all the time.
I heard this was invented by Southern Pacific is this true? If so, I guess that would explain the advertisements on the sides of so many of its boxcars.
See this link
Fascinating, thanks.
Isn’t the damping is designed for “loaded” cars, not empties, or does that not make a difference
Obviously it has a more important effect on loaded cars than on empties… more momentum involved. But it works any time. The idea is ‘common sense’ – extend the permitted travel of the coupler relative to the underframe, and then provide hydraulic damping for that longer travel rather than just ‘letting it rattle’.
Interestingly enough, there are drawbars for vehicle trailers that perform the same action (although the ones I’ve seen do it with composite rubber blocks, similar to a Fabreeka spring).
During the first year of service these cars make 1745 loaded trips. On 1425 of these or 82%, no damage to any goods was reported. Of the 445 shipments of canned goods in Hydra-Cushion cars, 70% were without damage. By comparison, of 53,000 shipments of canned goods made during 1957 in standard cars, only 48% were undamaged. Furthermore, the average dollar value of the damage loss was reduced by more than a factor of 25 in the Hydra-Cushion cars.
"That still means that 20 to 25 % of cars had some sort of damage. Which takes me back to my COFC vs. Boxcars less damage do to transit.
At least some of this ‘damage’ can be attributed to road shock or vibration, thanks to bad track, insufficient car damping, overly hard suspension, etc.
More damage might be caused by the loading and unloading process, or by cars sitting in the sun or cold for excessive time, causing damage to the lading.
I would agree with your tacit assumption that canned goods are among the classes of freight least likely to be affected by environmental or travel conditions. They are, however, exquisitely sensitive to being dropped or to having their boxes slid or banged against one another… lots of mass against thin-section metal. This might give us some idea as to what the ‘damage’ reported might have been… cosmetic? Structural?
No question that a combination of poor dunnage – probably typical for most boxcar loading – and strong slack action is going to contribute to case-canned-goods damage. HydraCushion solves the latter, but of course helps the former only insofar as it keeps longitudinal acceleration rates under somewhat more control.
When containers are packed for typical ocean shipping, dunnage becomes CRITICAL (if you’re familiar with the kind of action deck-loaded containers get at sea, including very strong shocks from floating LUMBER, of all things!) Presumably COFC where the containers have any ‘sea time’… e.g., land-bridge trains, etc. … would also share in high dunnage standards, or use crews who understand and practice good dunnage procedures even when not ‘ocean-loading’.
Also, the maximum static load in a typical container should be less than that in a high-cube boxcar, simply because there isn’t as much stacking room to the roof of the container… OUTSIDE dimension of ISO series 1 is what, eight feet? That’s less than a van trailer, let alone a boxcar…