I was hauling some corn today that one of the local elevators. In the doghouse where the elevator crew works out of, there is a poster outlining the basics of loading rail cars. One them stated “bad order any cars with scissor gates”.
So, what are scissor gates? And why are they to be BO’d?
They are a grate that covers the interior of the hatch opening. They can plug up collect moisture and also can cause damage to grain. We also refuse to use any hopper that has them for any food grade plastic.
Are they to prevent people from falling into an open top hatch?
I think the scissor gates in question are on the OUTLET side of the hoppers; here is a patent that shows the basic arrangement on a car.
According to UP at least, they are to be BOed because they have increased tendency to leak and lose product.