Need Picture of NS "COALTANER" Cant find it on Internet

[Anonymous]

NS had a idea to ship Coal in Coaltaners to deliver to off rail line power plants.
They might still be out there. I need a photo to show to the Jamestown NY BPU that runs the local power plant here. They want to reduce there unloading costs.
They are too small for a car tipper.

[tatans]

Is it "coaltainer" or "coaltaner" ? I also would like to see some photos.

[tatans]

Type in google "N S Coaltainer" up comes : Railroad Digest 22 nov,1999-----"end use of Coaltainer trains last year, unique train sent north for garbage duty" not a very glorious end eh?

[anb740]

Yes, some of these containers still exist....but most have found their way into trash hauling service as mentioned above. They come by down here all the time on the locals. Here's a pic I shot of one recently. These were originally used by a power plant in AL, but the service didn't last long.

http://anb740.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=88590

[Overmod]

As anb740 notes, the correct spelling is COLTainer (get it, 'colt' as in NS thoroughbred...)

Regret to say that this may not be too good a solution for Jamestown. What you have is essentially a dump-truck body that's placed on a truck chassis with hydraulic end-dumping underframe. I suspect that by the time you got done acquiring the truck chassis, special containers, etc. you could probably have set up a 'Top Gon' style crawler-loader setup to transfer coal into more conventional trucks... and not have to worry about where your special trains of containers were, on the way to and from being loaded.

You can go through here

http://www.robl.w1.com/index.htm

to find some additional information on how these containers worked. I thought it was interesting that they have conventional corner castings so they can be handled with most of the 'standard' ISO intermodal equipment, which would allow them to be stacked for empty moves. (Please, nobody start discussing the "economics" of coal stack trains. Not a good idea, imho, for a rather amazing variety of reasons, ranging from practical to economic...)

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys! Now that I have the pictures I can take them to the next Jamestown Board of Public Utlitys meeting. The Power plant here used to have a coal dump but I believe the plant was dormat and that was taken out.
This could have potential for two way trafffic like coal in and scrap metal and trash out. Further more if they dont like NS (Who runs the Erie RR) they could coltainer in western coal from CSX.

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dunkirkeriestation

Thanks guys! Now that I have the pictures I can take them to the next Jamestown Board of Public Utlitys meeting. The Power plant here used to have a coal dump but I believe the plant was dormat and that was taken out.
This could have potential for two way trafffic like coal in and scrap metal and trash out. Further more if they dont like NS (Who runs the Erie RR) they could coltainer in western coal from CSX.

I would say you have your work cut out for you. While pictures may be a nice addition, what you need to do is show them using these Coltainers will save them money. It probably will be difficult to get the data needed to do this.

[Anonymous]

These would work well in a bi-modal operation using RailRunner chassis. Perhaps the economies would work if the overhead of modal transfer cost was significantly reduced, as it is when switching from conventional lift transfers of containers (from railcar to truck chassis) to bi-modal consist separation.

[Anonymous]

Well they use backhoes mounted on the railroad cars that tranfer the coal to dump trucks which then dump the coal into power plant. Very time consuming.
With the Coltainers they just need to unload the containers and then dump them. Nice idea for Roadrailer dump trucks

[Overmod]

1) The Coltainers won't be of any use on long (typical RailRunner) underframes, as they're short and have rear dump. You'd need a 40' or 53' equivalent to do that job, which for bimodal makes considerable sense. (Much of the construction integrity would match what's needed for hydraulic-compaction garbage bodies in these sizes).

2) You either need a hydraulic-lift attachment on each of the bimodal underframes (with the usual problems, including difficulty in maintaining FRA integrity at low tare weight) or some sort of hinge arrangement to allow manual connection and dumping from specialized tractors. Remember that a RailRunner isn't quite the same thing as a RoadRailer -- it's an underframe, with the same kinds of issues and problems that spine and skeleton underframes for container trains have. I can gin up some sketches showing possible arrangements if there's interest.

You'd almost certainly have to manufacture appropriate containers for this use, and if that happens you'd want to design them to optimize use in other areas,and for other customers... hint: the marketing push starts today...

[Anonymous]

My thoughts of using RailRunner chassis and coal hauling containers is that you wouldn't necessarily need a specialized container like the COLTainer, just use the typical open top garbage container, of which there are plenty around and would be cheaper. As for dumping, I do not know if the power plant in question has a hydraulic trailer dump, but that would be better than having to specialize the RailRunner chassis with their own hydraulics.

[Anonymous]

Today I made a short presentation to the Jamestown BPU. There responce was postive. But they have a new power plant in the planning process and incorperate a car tipper in that. For small plants like Jamestown I dont know how much a car tipper would cost but I normaly see them in steel mills that dump 300 cars a day. Not the 8-10 cars that they have now. Whats the price tag on a car tipper?
They like the idea of a inland conatainer port but with Buffalo so close can they make NS stop there?

[Overmod]

Dunkirk, post your e-mail if you can.

The issue with a hydraulic trailer dump is that the coal needs to go to wherever in the plant's pile it will be stored, and the dump equipment would need to go there too (unless you have a moving conveyor system to place the coal). That would imply portable equipment (imho best mounted on the plant's tractor(s) rather than separate machines) to do the dumping, rather than a device at a fixed location, as at a landfill. It's my understanding that the fewer times you move the coal or allow it to grind against itself, the better. You may give up much of the advantage of bimodal if you're not able to place the coal payload exactly where needed.

I have been working on a device similar to a portable CargoSpeed lift which might be positioned under the trailer body and extended to allow steering and dump of the (unpowered) containers. Even with the additional wages needed for training and manipulation, the overall cost should be less than a car tipper, and eliminate the additional move between the tipping point(s) and the coal pile, or the need for a full conveyor system. Can you indicate what the BPU plans to use for coal storage handling?