so will try again -
FURX coal cars. About a 3" hole on one end. Looked like a place to stick a cylinder or a rod. Never seen it before on coal cars or any cars for that matter!
Why?
Mookie
For inserting a steam line (or something to that effect) to thaw frozen commodities.
Randy
I thought being a little more mature, you might have known the answer to this…okay …here we go…the way you make more hopper cars is for the male hopper car to stick a rod in the FURX hole. [}:)]
It’s only on FURX and I thought they used radiant heat on coal cars. Have never seen it on any of the other FURX cars before? Now I am going to go poke Dan in the eye!
Looks like the little guy was looking for love in all the wrong places…those FURX things are nothing but trouble.
Well they wouldn’t put it there for no reason. Maybe it has something to do with lifting the car? Hooking onto something?
Exactly…a suger daddy hopper so she can quit carrying coal, have a few little hoppers and watch “As the Turntable Turns” and “General Backshop” and eat Bon Bons all day!
Don’t forget “All My Rollingstock”
I give up!
inspection port?
Maybe - at least that is better than Dan’s answer!
It was right next to the “porch” and down right above the wheels…, so maybe.
It’s part of the RRs response to the Hobo Manifesto. To increase safety and comfort of trainhoppers, they’ve provided a “relief” hole, so they don’t endanger themselves going over the side.
The FURX 925000s are, from a look at the Equipment Register listing (I’ve not seen these cars myself), air-operated quick-dumping hoppers. Is the hole in the vertical portion under the overhang?
How big around is it? It’s just a circular opening in the flat end, right? (As opposed to a cylindrical cavity with walls)
Can’t really picture it, Sis, so I don’t even want to try to answer. I’ll keep an eye on other coal hoppers to see if there’s anything similar. I have a feeling that Mudchicken is on the right track, that this hole opens up an otherwise inaccessible area (for what reason is anyone’s guess).
BC
maybe so they dont fill with water and… maybe destroy the coal… or less profits…
Is it similar to the hole on the end of ACF- and cylindrical-style covered hoppers? Then I’d say it’s an access hole.
But I like dharmon’s answer too. [}:)]
The hole isn’t as big as a manhole cover - it is very cylindrical and can’t tell if it goes all the way thru or not. Yes, it is on the end panel of the car - down low, just above the trucks. Very obvious!
Now - why only on FURX and not on other coal cars. I have looked at a good many coal cars and have never seen this. Even the driver commented on it. And it was on a whole string of the FURX cars - the size was the same, only the end it was on differed. Some on the panel where the # was and some on the other end.
Here I am again - thinking I am going crazy seeing things! Yellow Thingies all over again!
Everyone be on the lookout for FURX Coal Cars - they were headed east!
Mook
Wait a minute–is it on the end of the car, or on the end of the car side? When you mention the “panel with the number”, it sounds like the hole is on the side of the car.
You mentioned that some are on the panel with the number, and others aren’t. It would have been helpful to know whether these were on the end with the hand brake, or the end without (the end without the brake, by the way, will usually be the end with a rotary coupler, even on modern hoppers).
If it’s on that side panel above the truck, it obviously isn’t in the load-carrying portion of the side.
Still sounds like access is needed to something on the inside. And since it’s on one end and not the other, I suspect that it has to do with something pneumatic–either the brake system or the unloading system.
Is this what you’re talking about on the end of the car in the pic?
http://www.johnstownamerica.com/products/fcp_autofloodii.htm
Nice hole Dan! The hole looks to be about that size, but as Brother Carl sez - it is on the side panel - the first or sometimes the last side panel on the car. Don’t remember why the difference - I was watching the cars go by pretty fast and fascinated by the holes!
On your picture - it would be below the BNSF and in the lower left-hand corner of that first panel.
I would take pictures, but by the time I developed them, we would forget what they were for!
Moo