The Hopper Gets Heavier

Hopper cars, the big movers of heavy loads like coal and aggregate have gotten a lot bigger over time. Above is PRR 33164 class G1 hopper built by the Pressed Steel Car Company in 1898. It will carry a load of 50 Tons.

Below, Conrail 477577 was built at the PRR's Samuel Rea Car Shops in 1965. The capacity has doubled to 100 Tons.

Hoppers come in many varieties with closed tops as well as the open top types shown here. Modern hoppers have increased load capacity with both aluminum and stainless steel construction.

Extreme Trains

Appearing on TV's History Channel this season is a great show: Extreme Trains". Episodes shown each Tuesday evening at 10 PM ET. Go to their website for an episode guide and video clips like a look at the Station Inn in Cresson, PA.

Program host Matt Bown (not Brown) is a Maine native and a conductor on Pan Am Railways, formerly the Maine Central. Both a railroader and a rail fan he brings a lot of enthusiasm and hands-on participation to the show.

On episodes seen so far the viewer gets to follow a coal train from Southwestern Pennsylvania around Horseshoe Curve to a Pennsylvania Power & Light power plant in the Northeastern part of that state. On this week's episode "freight train" we go with Matt on a 7,000 foot BNSF double-stack train from Terminal Island in Los Angeles through the "trench", over Cajon Pass, across the deserts, thread through New Mexico's Abo Canyon to Alliance Yard in Fort Worth, Texas. Matt rides the whole 48 hour high-speed trip.

Gondolas Part 5

Gondolas had a very modest appearing beginning. This is Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Ashtabula No. 1818. Built by Barney & Smith in 1895, it is the oldest PRR freight car survivor. Part of the PRR Historic Collection, it can be seen at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania who received the car as a donation from Conrail in 1979.

Gondolas Part 4

Gondolas have been the plainest looking railroad cars for a long time. This is Pennsylvania Railroad class GS #800264 built in 1902 by the Pressed Steel Car Co. Resting in the railyard of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania it doesn't look too different from gondolas you will see in service out on the main line.

Gondolas Part 3

Richland, PA on the Norfolk Southern main line finds this big gondola rolling west. The owner, Brandenburg Industrial Service Company, is a major demolition contractor. Their projects include such as Comiskey Park in Chicago, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia and the Armstrong flooring plant in Lancaster, PA. This high top gondola with additional structural steel for strength is ideal for loads of heavy structural steel scrap, or heavy machine scrap. Gondolas, with their open tops are well suited to loading and unloading with electromagnet cranes.

Gondolas Part 2

Here in Norfolk Southern country, Temple, Pennsylvania is a very typical gondola. The load is rather typical as well: shredded steel scrap. It could be old cars, or appliances, or I just don't know. Gondolas are good for this type of load that can be loaded and unloaded with an electromagent equipped crane.

It's Pronounced Gon-DOH-la

I learned late in life that the word pronounced GON-do-la is a type of Italian boat. If it's an open top railroad freight car it's pronounced as above. The one above is PRR class G39A oar genny, a gondola dedicated to ore service such as Taconite pellets, the raw material for iron-making.

The one below is a gondola for coal with a 120 Ton capacity. Unlike a hooper car that is divided into hoppers each with a bottom dumping door, this gondola will be turned over by a rotary dumper to dump the whole load at once. The one seen here is in Northeast New Mexico, part of a load of empties headed north to the Powder River Basin coal region. The line is the old Fort Worth and Denver City. BNSF runs empties on this line because of the multiple horseshoe curves between Dalhart, Texas and Trinidad, Colorado. They run coal loads south on the former Santa Fe line from Pueblo, Colorado to Amarillo, Texas. The reporting mark TUKX denotes these cars belong to Tuco, a Texas coal supplier to power plants. As seen here the cars are at the end of the train with two SD70MACs pushing.