What do 3- or 4-bay covered hoppers carry...

[jbaakko]

tomustang Nice photos. They've got a LARGE transfer facility just down the road from me. Some 20+ covered hoppers there.

 

[kenw]

those are the bottom hatches. What I refer to (round-vs-trough/long) is on top, where the material is loaded.

 

[tomustang]

tomustang Nice photos. They've got a LARGE transfer facility just down the road from me. Some 20+ covered hoppers there.

Thanks, but it's a shame I don't have pics from what I use to do.

I was in Size Reduction, which included milling, crushing, grinding, granulation. We usually had about 6 centerflow hoppers outside mostly HPDE and LDPE plastics. We had a 4 pack of silos for material, a several pipelines for the hoppers in many locations

Infact I liked it so much I made 5 centerflow hoppers, most are DOWX

 

[UP2CSX]

Did you have plant switcher or a trackmobile to move the hoppers around? Looks like a real interesting industry for a layout.

 

[tomustang]

Did you have plant switcher or a trackmobile to move the hoppers around? Looks like a real interesting industry for a layout.

No switchers, I believe it was NS local runs

 

[UP2CSX]

Hmm...looks like a few more tracks and I'd have a good excuse to buy a Trackmobile.

 

[Beachbum]

Found another link on CH's:

http://www.gatx.com/wps/wcm/connect...ducts/Equipment+Types/Freight/Covered+Hopper/

Does anybody know of a commercial bakery, etc that unloads flour or sugar via gravity instead of pneumatics? I'd think dumping the sugar into an unloading pit would make contamination a real problem. I've only seen PD / pneumatic hoppers at the local Pepperidge Farm bakery but that's an outside spur.

Don't mean to hijack this thread, should I start a new one? Thanks.

 

[tomustang]

Here's one of my examples, unfinished of course

 

[UP2CSX]

BB, I'm pretty sure any food quality material wouldn't be allowed to unload by gravity into a pit today. That may have been the case 40 or 50 years ago but I imagine the FDA and the myriad of other alphabet agencies would have a fit if it was done today.

 

[Mogul2-6-0]

Nice thread! Ive been trying to figure out what I saw on the sunset route in Arizona with the kids. (Rookie) They were Union Pacific diesels. I think its LA to Tucson/ElPaso "sunset route". (Josh taught me that) The Guy at the train shop said it's likely concrete could be plastic or who knows what. I just bought an Athearn Trinity covered cement hopper UP/CHTT. What does the CHTT mean? (google: Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer?) Not sure if these are the right hoppers but my daughters name is Trinity so Im planning on getting some more. Any sugestions Hopper gurus? I originally was going to get trinity coal hoppers but its not quite what I saw.

 

[jbaakko]

CHTT is in fact Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer, its a UP owned transfer railroad.

 

[Littlefoot14]

CP still owns a bunch of four pocket, and they are still in use in the cement industry being loaded at Glen Falls NY and Jolliet Quebec. But it does seem like the design of the two bays have been exclusively for cement, regardless of ACF or ribside....just my 2 cents worth....

i see them switch iron clad all the time (glens falls cement plant), pretty neat to see them in the train, especially because theres almost always a caboose at the end of the hill train.

 

[railBuilderDhd]

Great info - thanks for the photos.
Dave

 

[UP2CSX]

If the train was eastbound, the hoppers were probably carrying cement from southern California to El Paso, where Jobe Concrete Products is located. They are one of the biggest concrete block and concrete tilt up wall section manufacturers in the US, and are huge consumers of cement.

 

[mikeingeorgia]

Sometimes I switch a Nestle Purina plant that makes petfood and they get 3 bay covered hoppers of powdered "cattle products". They always come in BNSF or predecessor roads cars. How you powder a cow I'm almost afraid to ask but they figured it out.

Another place receives roofing granules for making roofing shingles but they always arrive in 2 bay covered hoppers.

 

[UP2CSX]

Mike, "powdered cattle products" is a nice way of saying ground bones and blood. They are added to pet food as filler and do contain some nutrients. There's not much from a cow that doesn't get used somewhere.

 

[Blacksheep]

I think the show "Dirty Jobs" on Discovery had an episode of the cow grinder thingy. Oooof.

 

[tomustang]

Mike, "powdered cattle products" is a nice way of saying ground bones and blood. They are added to pet food as filler and do contain some nutrients. There's not much from a cow that doesn't get used somewhere.

I think the show "Dirty Jobs" on Discovery had an episode of the cow grinder thingy. Oooof.

Yep, in fact we use to grind cow bone at that plant as well, nice loud hammer mill. The chit stunk

 

[kenw]

drifting OT, but tankcar loads of Beef Tallow roll thru here often. By the stencils, there’s Edible Tallow, Inedible Tallow, and Technical Tallow (from really smart cows). Yes, in tankcars.

FWIW, McDonalds used to use edible tallow in their french fryers. It was a secret ingredient that gave them a better flavor, but it leaked out and some vegetarians squawked…….

 

[UP2CSX]

Ken, McDonalds fries used to taste lots better when they were fried in beef tallow too. It wasn't just vegetarians that caused the change, it was the current health movement that all things should be fried in "healthy" fat.

Technical grade tallow sprang from the Mad Cow disease scare. Only cow carcasses individually inspected by USDA inspectors and certified free from bovine spongiform encephalopathy can be used as "food fats" in animal feeds.