Aside from ATSF’s “Super Hopper”, I wasn’t aware that there were any other similar types on the rails. According to this link, CN has an articulated 2-hopper set, which they call Potash cars. With the acquisition of IC and other roads, it’s no surprise that they’re roaming the Midwest too, if you’re lucky enough to find one. This photo was taken on the former IC line at Centralia, IL in 2003.
There were some experimental grain cars built around that time for the Churchill line. It looks like the same plans were used.
…What would be the purpose of an articulated connected car as pictured…? What’s it’s advantage…?
Looks like somebody got carried away with a cutting torch…
I would say more load, if I recall potash is quite heavy.
…Ok, that does give it an additional truck to carry the load.
As the link said, CN 399000 was a one-of-a-kind potash car.
Dale mentioned a similar experimental car for grain service: that would be CN 398000, also the only one of its kind built. Volume of the grain car was slightly larger than that of the potash car.
Dale was also right about the purpose being for use on CN’s line to Churchill. That line was (is? I think it’s no longer CN’s) incapable of handling 100-ton freight cars, yet grain was a major commodity, still being transported in what was left of CN’s 40-foot, 50-ton box cars, with all of the inefficiencies in loading and unloading that such transport represented. This two-unit, three-truck covered hopper was designed to ride on smaller trucks, and keep the axle loading down, but build the volume up (coincidentally to 4750 cubic feet, typical of many American-built covered hoppers).
This grain car was built in 1985; the potash car (similar in design, slightly smaller volume) was built in 1993, presumably for the same reason. So what happened? Did CN rebuild the track that was causing the problems? Or did they sell it off–or abandon it?
My two cents worth says these hoppers would be good on the Churchill, Manitoba line because of the tundra the rail line is laid on. The weight would spread out more therefore less wear and tear on the ground.
CN Rail sold everything north of and including the rail yard at The Pas, Manitoba to Omnitrax who continue to operate the lines as Hudson Bay Railway. I think the only track abandoned by OmniTrax was the line to Lynn Lake, Mb. I beleive all or a portion of that was bought up by a first nations band. I am unsure as to its operational status.
Canadian Wheat Board hoppers are now used to ship grain to Churchill, but I beleive they only use aluminum hoppers. Look for the paint ground off to bare metal on the sides of the hoppers. These are the ones I think they use. No track modifications were made to run hoppers to Churchill.
The old grain boxcars were physically picked up and turned on their sides inside the Churchill elevator unloading shed to “shake” the contents out the side doors. It was quite an operation to see and certainly not efficient by today’s standards.
The Canadian Goverment recently anounced some $60+ million to upgrade the rail line and port of Churchill as part of their strategy to secure Canada’s claim to sovereignity in the high arctic.
Articulated Two-Unit Covered Hoppers were mentioned in CN Annual Reports.
The Articulated Two-Unit Covered Hoppers are mentioned on www.cnlines.com
Mainline Modeler had an article about these experimental hoppers.
Andrew
Watch out if you are modelling this because 399000 has troughs on one side and round hatches on the other. I also think that 398000 is a different style as it seems to sit lower and appears rounder when viewed from the end.
A company in Middletown Ohio called Aeronca (or similar spelling) created one of these with five sections as I recall about 30-40 years ago and built a prototype. There was an article in Trains about it years ago. Unfortunately like many good ideas it was met with a standard railroad response of, “We’ve never done anything like that before” which translated means, “and we aren’t going to do it in the future”.
Looks like a kitbash gone bad…[swg]
On Monday, April 7th, 2008 a CN Grain Hopper Train pulled by a pair of CN SD70M-2s rolled west through Vicksburg, Michigan at about 12:25 p.m.
In this CN Grain Train was the one and only Articulated Potash Hopper: CN 399000. I almost missed this train and the hopper. It is the only time I have ever seen it in person.
Andrew
Years ago I remember seeing something similar stencilled with Union Pacific reporting marks. That series of cars consisted of two, smaller, two-bay covered hoppers each sharing a common solid drawbar. Each “half” had two pairs of 4-wheel trucks and its own brake equipment. On the end of each car that did not share the solid drawbar was a coupler-and-drawbar arrangement.
As single units, perhaps there wasn’t enough demand for that kind of equipment. Perhaps those cars had enough useful economic life such that by pairing them with sold drawbars Union Pacific may have been able to offer some kind of “super jumbo” freight rate. As I recall, those paired cars were in flour service.
I’m thinking too that the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad likewise may have had some paired covered hoppers like those described above.
Can’t vouch for the South Shore, but a lot of other railroads connected pairs of Airslide covered hoppers together. The smaller-capacity Airslide cars were 2600 cubic feet, so a pair made 5200–roughly what you see in a modern-day grain car. I saw UP (including MP), Soo Line, and CNW (which did it with the Airslides it got from the Rock Island), as well as GACX cars,
More recently I’ve seen drawbar-connected GACX Airslide cars of the larger type–4180-cubic-foot and 4566-cubic-foot. They’re being used for fly ash to serve until the end of their careers.