Most of the Beth gons and coal porters have a loading capacity of 220,000 pounds. Which comes to be about 110 tons. Now the car itself (no load) will weigh about 45,000 pounds or 23 tons. Allowing the car to hold a maximum of 85 tons of coal per car. Many people assciate that a car can carry 110 tons of coal when you must subtract the tonage of the car itself.
Now here in the Midwest, most coal trains will have 120 to 130 car trains.
Now if you multiply the tonage of each car without a load, the train comes in at about 2500 to 3000 tons. When loaded, the trains will weigh 14000 to 15000 tons. If you don’t believe me, look up a picture of a coal porter and take a look at the load capacity on the side of the car. It will tell you how much each can handle.
Infact I took the time to look up some coal porters
This is the common beth gon or coal gons.
Take a look at the load limit (LD LMT) 219100 pounds or 110 tons loaded[;)]
Those OGEX cars you pictured are older cars, with a gross rail load of 263,000 pounds (add the 219100 to the 43900, and you get 263000–the Gross Rail Load, or GRL). Most cars built in the last ten or twelve years have a GRL of 286,000 pounds, and I believe the “fine print” in white on the orange background near the road number said that this car is designed for a 286K GRL as well. So, in this case, it would be a small matter to add 23,000 pounds to the load limit, without an increase in tare weight–242100 pounds, or over 121 tons. An impressive increase, when it comes to an entire trainload of similar cars.
Including the car is not part of the load. Yes the car weighs 23 tons but it is not part of the coal load. I was pointing out the amount of coal the cars could hold. Simply, I was saying that a train like this, does not weigh 2 million tons. The cars I posted are what are used in the midwest. We do not have any of the new cars up here. For that matter I have never seen any of the new cars. I have seen them in models but never seen them on the rail.
All due respect but you are incorrect. Carl is correct. The standard 100-ton capacity, 263,000 lb. gross weight car holds 100 NET tons of coal. A typical 286,000 lb. gross weight car such as the FreightCar America BethGon II holds 122.15 NET tons of coal. When you see “Load Limit” that is not the gross weight of the car, it is the weight of the load that goes in the car.
A 125-car coal train from the PRB, using BethGon IIs ore equivalent, have a net of approximately 15,275 tons of coal. Some routes and powerplants can handle 135-car trains, an
All due respect but you are incorrect. Carl is correct. The standard 100-ton capacity, 263,000 lb. gross weight car holds 100 NET tons of coal. A typical 286,000 lb. gross weight car such as the FreightCar America BethGon II holds 122.15 NET tons of coal. When you see “Load Limit” that is not the gross weight of the car, it is the weight of the load that goes in the car.
A 125-car coal train from the PRB, using BethGon IIs ore equivalent, have a net of approximately 15,275 tons of coal. Some routes and powerplants can hand
Hi Bob: Thanks for your e-mail. Yes, I accidentally put too many zeros in, it should have been 12,000 to 14,000 tons of coal. Thanks for alerting me to my error. Debbie
