Slurried and transported it a tank car or a dry powder transported in a air slide or covered hopper?
Yes.
Kaolin tank cars are short white with kaolin on the side. Rather distinctive
Not Necessarily White!
Thiele Kaolin Tank Car.
Rick Jesionowski
Both slurried and powder. Kaolin tank cars are short. Some are shaped similar to corn syrup tank cars. Hoppers used in Kaolin powder are often shorter and are downgraded from grain service. Almost all cars are light colored since the white substance tends to cover the car anyway. Clay is heavy so 54 foot hoppers tends to be the maximum length, if even that.
I will have kaolin (at least clay) service to one industry on my new layout. They will receive both tank cars and hopper cars as part of their pet bedding/poultry bedding product. Clay absorbs moisture.
The Dal-Tile plant just outside of Gettysburg gets 3 to 4 two bay ahort hoppers or 3 bay 54 foot hoppers once a week. Various marks such as NS, CSX , Procor and KWT are the most frequent.
Here are a couple of covered hopper kits I did.
Also the Southern and SCL used boxcars with roof hatches to move Kaolin. Here is a SCL car I built.
Rick Jesionowski
Also delivered in 500-pound nylon bags in box cars.
Robert
Sandersville Railroad is a Georgia shortline that exists nearly exclusively for the rail shipment of Kaolin. The internet is full of pictures of the rolling stock and can be searched for a history of the railroad and facts about Kaolin.
Sometimes I need to drive East of Milledgeville, Georgia, around Sandersville. There are at least a couple of Kaolin mines in that area. I don’t know if Kaolin cars are painted white, but from my experience with the stuff, they soon would be. If it is raining in that area, any color my rental car is when I start the day does not matter, it will be white by the time I arrive at my destination.
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-Kevin
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