Future coal unloading practices


B

bkpigs

Member
I am sure everyone has heard the despute about coal dust on the Powder Basin line (UP) (hope that is right I have a tendency to mix things in my head). Well last night while I was unloading wheat from the semi I got to thinking that if they were to go with the covers for the top to eliminate the caol dust, would unloading from the bottom become more economical? The cover would keep all the rain and snow out, which I am under the impression that they are what keeps the coal from flowing easily out the bottom. Also with a rotary dump the cover would have to be removed and handeled an extra time.

Just a random thought. For some reason I like seeing coal unloaded from underneath and don't care for rotary dumps.
 
The cars are top loaded, so you would have to remove the tops to load them, then replace the tops. Many plants are set up for rotary dump, so converting to bottom dump would idle maybe half the car fleet and many plants would be difficult to convert to bottom dump.
 
Maybe cars are equipped with the roll over tarp covers now. Some with hard top covers too.
 
You'd also have to uncover the cars to dump them, there's quite a suction created when the hoppers are opened quickly.
Boy I wish they'd have covered the damn things back when I was unloading them, I spent many hours hammering and chipping blocks of ice from the gates before the coal would flow!
 
The roll up tarps (like on trucks) would be nice but I wonder how long they would last.

I just think it would be such a pain to have to remove the tops to unload. They would have to remove them to load obviously but handling them twice would defintely increase chances of damage to them.

Rico,

I didn't think about the suction thing, glad you brought it up. I am sure that they could come up with a simple vent that would keep the top from sucking in.
 
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