Hello everyone, hope this is the right place to post this question. Need to know if the painted ends on hopper cars indicate that the car is to ONLY be used in unit coal service, as apposed to being placed in with non-painted-ends hopper cars. Obviously the reporting marks on the car of a certain Power company will mean that the car is just used for them, but I wanted to know about back to when the Santa Fe had the hi side gondolas with about 1/3 of the car painted yellow, or with BN 3 bay hoppers painted white on one end. I was also told that white painted end meant that the car could be used in a rotary dump. Thanks for the info.
The painted end on the car not only shows that it can be used in rotary dumping, but it also denotes which end of the car has a rotary coupler on it. You will see the painted ends of the cars all in the same position (either the leading or trailing end of the car) this is because when used in single car rotary dumpers there needs to be at least one rotary coupler at each car joint, if you had two nonrotating couplers coupled together then dumped in a rotary dumper you would have two severely damaged cars.
The rotary ends only need to be aligned if the train is rotary dumped. There are bottom dump hoppers equipped with rotary ends that may be bottom dumped instead of rotary dumped.
Also in the days when cabooses were used, the front portion of the train had the rotaries pointed towards the engine and the rear portion had the rotaries pointed towards the caboose. In between was a double rotary car with a rotary coupler on each end (and each end panel painted).
There are also non-rotary cars that have the end panel painted to indicate special service (ore, rock, sugar beets). So the painted end panel is a handy indicator, but what service the car is in is driven by its reporting marks and the type of car it is.
I believe with iron ore jennies, the ends are painted to make it easier for the operator of a taconite loader to know when to start and stop the flow of pellets.
so I could run hoppers facing any which way as long as their “destination” is a non-rotary dump. If that’s the case, then all the old Thrall high side gondolas would only be used in a rotary dump, correct? And would it be prototypical for the high side gondolas and 3 bay/90 ton ect. to be seen in the same train? Thanks again
Not to seem sarchastic, but will someone please inform the UP of this fact [#oops]
They mix hi-cap rotary gons and rotary-equipped conventional hoppers all the time, usually to shore up unit consists depleted by derailments.
And Mike–Some of the original rotary hi-cap gons have been sold off (supplanted by aluminum cars with higher capacity and lower tare) and are getting used singly for all sorts of stuff. All you need is a crane to empty them.
The reason I bring up the older cars is that I’m modeling somewhere in the late 80’s (haven’t put my finger on a year yet) so the newer cars are not around yet
So… as I’m also planning to “run” in the 80s (Around Chicago - roughly) can I put a string of hoppers on the back of a string of high sided gons if the (not unit) coal train has loads for two seperate facilities… ar two parts of the same facility?
Then again… would casr ever be added on the back of unit trains?
Did the early 80s unit coal trains run with cabooses?
Probably not. Most of the “grocery” trains that went to mixed destinations used conventional bottom dump hoppers.
In the 1980’s the high side rotary gons would be most likely in unit train service. If you have unit train service then you have a single origin, single destination by definition (with very few exceptions). High side gons were very specialized and they wouldn’t have let them stray far from unit trains.
You might have rotary equipped hoppers mixed with rotary gons, making an all rotary set.
Almost never. The only regular move of non-unit train cars on a unit train I’ve seen is a move of fuel to the engine service facilities in the mining region, they would tack on a cut of tank cars at N Platte, NE and cut them off at S Morrill.
Would I be okay running the old steel high sides (rotary) with the later Bethgons (rotary) as a unit train… if so would they be in two lots, blocks or just jumbled up?
I have both BN and CNW Bethgons (Walthers and E&C/LBF) and older High Sides (Roundhouse)… I believe that there was some contract which put BN and CNW cars into the same unit trains when the Powder River traffic first started. Is this correct… and, if so, would it have had a BN or a CNW caboose?
Probably jumbled up. Depends on why they are mixed.
Maybe in the very beginning, but the CNW and UP paired up so it would have quickly went to CNW-UP mix.
The caboose would match whose train it was. If it was a BN train (running to destination on the BN and having mostly BN or private cars) then it would have a BN caboose. If it was a CNW train (running to a CNW destination and having mostly CNW or private cars) it would have a CNW caboose.
The caboose would generally (but not always) match the engines. Some engines ran through. the MP had a 6000 series of SD40-2’s built to BN standards to run on unit coal train, sometimes with MP cabooses.
SD60’s on the UP were very rarely ever used on Powder River coal trains.
They were almost exclusively used on manifest, auto and intermodal trains.
The UP put SD40-2’s, SD50’s, C30-7’s, C36-7’s and C40-8’s on coal . Prior
to the C44AC’s the C40-8’s were the standard coal engine. UP C44-9’s were
also mostly an intermodal and auto train engine. C44AC’s were and still
are the engine of choice for UP unit coal trains (along with the
SD9043’s). After about 2000 it was practically unheard of for a UP unit
coal train to be operated without AC power. The SP C44AC fleet became the
2nd unit on UP coal train consists (UP leader, SP AC, UP remote unit). By
the 2000 the SD70’s were coming on line and the SD60’s were being bumped
to lower priority trains.
MP 6000 series SD40-2’s (those with dynamic brakes) were bought for Powder River coal train service and were seen with BN SD40-2’s. Same with the MKT SD40-2’s with dynamic brakes.
By the time SD60’s were being used the SD40’s would have been bumped from coal train service by C40-8’s. It would be rare to see SD40-2’s on a coal train in that era.
Of course nothing is stopping you from mixing eras or engines as you please.
