…Just witnessed at least 60 brand new aluminum {even the ends}, hoppers rolling east through Muncie on CSX…They were brand new, not in service as of yet…Had an unusual bottom rounded type dump doors on them…Not as hoppers sticking down but one {I suppose on each side}, long rounded dump like door…?? Wonder where these were manufactured and just what are they for. Open top units.
Actually they were stopped supposedly waiting for the signal just on the east side of Muncie on the double track. 2 6-axle engines for power.
Quentin, these are gons, and those rounded “tubs” on the bottom are not hoppers–just a way of lowering the car’s center of gravity and increasing the cubic capacity. My guess would be that they were built by Freight Car America (successor to Johnstown America and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation).
It would be interesting to know more about these cars–reporting marks, numbers, color of the rotary-coupler end–with which I might be able to tell you a little more about them. I guess coal trains aren’t too common around Muncie, but you’d get a belly-ful around here!
…Can’t tell you the Reporting Marks Carl…Jean and I came out of the restaurant and headed home…{the street is parallel to that track and we were trying to see any indication to where they were built…
As for coal cars, we are familiar…we come from much coal country. Home is western Pennsylvania…near Johnstown where you mention of one of the FCA facilities. That was one interest to see where they were built because that facilities in Johnstown just layed off upwards {if I remember correctly}, 200 some workers for most of the Summer.
The ends of the cars were aluminum…End caps on the Timken bearings had blue paint on them…The cars had a 2’ square yellow painted spot on each end up at the top and printing which we could not see well enough to read…Several yellow spots…Little squares along the sides with some printing…the Marks were plainly printed high up on the sides but really didn’t take note to remember them…Possibly PBX-something…Can’t really recall. The rounded extended “bottom” was painted black…
Freight Car America coal cars, both gondola and hopper, are very much in demand, but those orders are keeping the Danville (and now Roanoke) plants in business. Johnstown’s production has pretty much been limited to coil cars and whatever else FCA produces–haven’t seen any of those aluminum auto racks ordered this year, but they’d probably be built in Johnstown.
Trinity Industries also produces aluminum coal cars, and their gons have rounded tubs underneath, too. I don’t recall which of their many plants has handled the most recent production.
…Have seen many coal cars…aluminum with steel end structures being built in FCA, Johnstown plant. They {the new builds}, then are put on CSX…the S&C branch that extends from there to Rockwood, Pa…{used to be a major coal hauler 50 years ago from a dozen or so mines along it}, and that branch is the one you may have seen Brian Brant and I discussing {on here}, when they opened up the Shanksville branch off of it this past year. That now brings out strip coal from PBS Coal Co. on their 5 or 7 mi. branch which connects at Coleman, Pa. The CSX branch connects the main east west CSX line at Rockwood.
FCA in Johnstown has built several other types of rail cars but I’m not knowledgeable which ones. We thought when they opened the Roanoke plant it would be a threat to the Johnstown facility…Why that was done we never did see the reasoning. The Johnstown plant goes way back as you mentioned to the Bethlem steel days…Called I believe simply, the car shops then. Bethlem had massive operations along the elongated valley in the Johnstown area years ago. Between them and US Steel…there was about 25,000 employed in the steel industry there in the Johnstown valley. The 1977 flood did major damage to the Bethlem Steel facilities and the operations started faster down hill from then…
Major floods also occured back in 1936 and the worst one…1889…That is the one that gave Johnstown the association with the word…Floods. A massive dam failed up stream and the result was massive damage to Johnstown and over 2,000 killed. The Army Core of Engineers installed river walls and deepening of channels, etc…and it took from 1936 to the 1977 date to ever breech those walls with another flood. But the '77 flood was a bad one and did massive property damage and I believe killed 81 people.