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What is the longest rail car anyone has ever seen

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Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, August 16, 2018 2:50 PM

That bottle car that I saw was similar but a lot longer and thinner in diameter. 

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Posted by samfp1943 on Thursday, August 16, 2018 6:07 AM

caldreamer

The 36 axle Schnabel cars ABB, CEBX and WEBX are 236 feet 8 inches empty with maximum length of 345 feet.  So each section of an empty Schmabel car is 118 feet 4 inches.

Herer is a photo linked: @ http://www.drgw.net/trips/trips/hydro-NDH-[apr-2005]/chapter.1/cebx-800-trinidad_co-[9-apr-2005]-003-600x400.jpg

Photo shows a load being 'shifted left' to avoid a problem while making a turn.

Photo link was:  Posted by edblysard on Saturday, December 03, 2005 5:28 PM

[from a photo essay] @ http://www.drgw.net/trips/report.php?tr=HYD1.1

From a Forum Thread @ http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/51102.aspx

Referencing Schnabel Car and load in Duluth, Mn.

 

 

 

 


 

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Thursday, August 16, 2018 2:42 AM

does any other RR in the world have anything like a Schnabel  car ?  Maybe Russia ?

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Posted by caldreamer on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 9:45 PM

The 36 axle Schnabel cars ABB, CEBX and WEBX are 236 feet 8 inches empty with maximum length of 345 feet.  So each section of an empty Schmabel car is 118 feet 4 inches.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 8:37 PM

tree68
Maybe not the longest, but how long were those huge GT autoparts boxcars?

Hi-Cube boxes GTW and everybody elses were 89 feet and some inches.

My fathers time spent at Yardmaster in Bayview Yard in Baltimore with 36 & 40 foot cars he felt he had more than enough room to accompish the mission.  My time there with 60 box cars being the smallest cars and hi-cube box cars and bi and tri-levels filling out the rest of the yard, made it feel like a way too small band box of a yard.

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 8:07 PM

Maybe not the longest, but how long were those huge GT autoparts boxcars?

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 1:57 PM

Bottle cars can be deceptive because of the taper and the number of axles required because of the weight involved.  They are about 60-70 feet long and there is a well-known bottle car train that operates on the IHB between Arcelor Mittal's ex-Inland Steel plant in Indiana Harbor and the ex-Interlake finishing mill in Riverdale.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 1:55 PM

54light15
The longest I've ever seen was last year, a car for hauling molten iron or steel in a steel plant in Hamilton, Ontario. A long taper on both ends with a somewhat flat area in the middle where it is filled and then rotated and drained, it looked to be made of concrete. It does not leave the plant property and go on "public" rails. Had to be over 100 feet long. 

Just out of interest, I was in the plant where the huge buckets of molten steel are dumped out into moulds. Spectacular! 

Hot Bottle cars - not really all that long, but loaded or empty they are all that heavy.

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Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 12:53 PM

The longest I've ever seen was last year, a car for hauling molten iron or steel in a steel plant in Hamilton, Ontario. A long taper on both ends with a somewhat flat area in the middle where it is filled and then rotated and drained, it looked to be made of concrete. It does not leave the plant property and go on "public" rails. Had to be over 100 feet long. 

Just out of interest, I was in the plant where the huge buckets of molten steel are dumped out into moulds. Spectacular! 

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Posted by caldreamer on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 8:21 AM

I saw a schnabel car with a nuclear reactor vessel as a load.  It was headed down to the San Onofrie nuclear power plant near Santa Barbara.  Well over 100 feet long.  It was the Westinghouse schnabel car.

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Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 12:16 AM

The longest non-articulated cars I have seen are some CN and TTX flatcars, which are 93 feet according to our lists.  The same lists show autoracks as 89'.

Herzog has some rail and ballast trains composed of 20 or 30 carbodies that are either articulated or connected by drawbars entirely.  I can't remember if each carbody carries a separate number, but for switching purposes the set must be treated as one car.

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Posted by samfp1943 on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 10:44 PM

Back in the late 1960's and into the 70's, Souther Rwt and NS used a Monster Boxcar in tobacco Hogshead service through out the Carolinas and Virginia. They were roughly [by capacity:(+,-) 10,000 cu ft(?) ] 3x the size of a 'regular 40' boxcar. Originally, the first batch was built at Knoxville,Tn, in Southern's Car Shop. That was early in 1960's; they were built with roll-type, side doors. They were unsuccessful and were replaced with a plug style door.

  Pullman Standard then built a couple of batches of them (?); something over 100 of them; those had conventional style sliding side doors.  Using a forty year life, they would have lasted, slightly, into the early 2000's.(?) 

Here's a link to a photo of one of the original Sou Built, roll doors:

@ https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/fileSendAction/fcType/0/fcOid/48593297337798460/filePointer/48593297339326212/fodoid/48593297339326207/imageType/LARGE/inlineImage/true/Hogshead1.jpg

and this link shows a MR article with photos of three conventional door tobacco Hogshead sevice cars: http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/index.php?attachments/morehogs-jpg.272/

Here is a link to 'Blog spot' and some more information on these large capacity 10,000 cu. ft. boxcars: @http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com/2016/07/ns-85-foot-excess-height-boxcars.html

 

 


 

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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 10:00 PM

As of now, its "end of service date" is still in 2022.  

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 4:32 PM

blue streak 1
 
ericsp
The longest non-articulated car I have seen would probably be BBCX 1000.  
Question for our AAR experts.   Car placed into service 1972 50 years will be 2022.  Will it have to get special dispensation to exceed the 50 year AAR limit ?  It certainly hasn't seen many miles.

I suspect the rebuild of the car in 2002 may have extended it's life well beyond 2022.  Such cars rarely rack up much mileage or much high speed operation - especially when loaded.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 4:12 PM

ericsp
The longest non-articulated car I have seen would probably be BBCX 1000

Question for our AAR experts.   Car placed into service 1972 50 years will be 2022.  Will it have to get special dispensation to exceed the 50 year AAR limit ?  It certainly hasn't seen many miles.
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Posted by Railfanner777 on Monday, August 13, 2018 10:06 PM

railfan619
I was wondering what are some of the longest rail cars around like how long can a boxcar can be last one I knew. Was about 70 feet long but I'm not sure about that and same thing for flat cars, tank cars, auto racks, tank cars and whatever else kinda cars there are out rolling down the tracks these days. Then again there so many diffrent types of cars I have lost count Big SmileBig Smile

The longest one I have seen was an autorack.  Articulated ones nearly 200 feet long.

 

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Posted by espeefoamer on Sunday, September 18, 2005 4:17 PM
Saw an empty Schnabel car,once.I also saw the Rail Whale tank car at the museum in Galveston,TX. I believe this car is 94 ft.long.Cars this long are now illegal.
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Posted by CShaveRR on Sunday, September 18, 2005 12:15 AM
You can bet, though, Bigedd, that that 136-footer is not one rigid unit--on cars like this the platform rides on bolsters above the truck setsm, which extend out beyond the length of the platform. This particular car has four trucks on each end, so you're talking about 20 feet or so (the length of two heavy-capacity trucks with appropriate space between them) of platform at each end. That brings the length of the depressed platform down to around 95 or 96 feet--coincidentally, that's about the maximum length of a single-unit, non-articulated car.

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, September 17, 2005 10:24 PM
Longest car listed in the equipment register is:
Single car not a 5 pack or 10 pack joined with a draw bar.

KRL 16450
depressed flat 136' 8"
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Posted by waltersrails on Saturday, September 17, 2005 8:53 PM
Today the biggest tank i have ever seen was an 8 axel. it was great hitting the diamond.
I like NS but CSX has the B&O.
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Posted by cnw4001 on Saturday, September 17, 2005 5:09 PM
For me it was also a Schnabel car.

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Posted by nanaimo73 on Saturday, September 17, 2005 4:04 PM
BN's trough train coal cars must have been several hundred feet long.
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, September 17, 2005 2:08 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by M636C

We have one Schnabel car in Australia, and I followed it on an empty run a couple of years ago. It had plain oil lubricated bearings, despite being built in the 1970s. The theory was that it would be rarely used, and the plain bearings would last better in very occasional service. It had only two axle trucks but more of them than BBCX 1000.

While they are not truly single cars, we have sets of eight coul hoppers permanently coupled by bar couplers, so for all traffic purposes they are single cars. These would be longer than any articulated container rake here of five vehicles. We also have bar coupled rakes of container well cars, and they have a single car number, unlike the coal hoppers. Just an inconsistency, the same operator owns them.

M636C


I have seen a huge Schnabel car in minesota. It was big and red[:)]
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, September 17, 2005 2:03 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by Bob-Fryml

Didn't The A.T.& S.F. Ry. have multiple sets of 10-pack spine cars dedicated to piggyback service between Chicago and Los Angeles?

As I recall reading in either Trains Magazine or the trade press, these cars were not available for interchange (or did not meet interchange service requirements due to being too light in weight). But it was their light weight that the Railway hoped would translate into operating costs savings.

Figuring that each spine section was 50-ft. long, that'd make this car 500+ ft. drawbar-to-drawbar.



Yeah the Santa fe did they were called fuel foilers
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Posted by Bob-Fryml on Saturday, September 17, 2005 12:43 PM
Didn't The A.T.& S.F. Ry. have multiple sets of 10-pack spine cars dedicated to piggyback service between Chicago and Los Angeles?

As I recall reading in either Trains Magazine or the trade press, these cars were not available for interchange (or did not meet interchange service requirements due to being too light in weight). But it was their light weight that the Railway hoped would translate into operating costs savings.

Figuring that each spine section was 50-ft. long, that'd make this car 500+ ft. drawbar-to-drawbar.
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Posted by John Krug on Friday, September 16, 2005 10:45 PM
By law the longest single unit rail car is limited to 89'-4" over the end sills. This it the length of most TOFC, COFC and auto rack cars. Before the law which was at least 30 years ago there were a few prototype cars made that were 92 - 95 feet long but they were embargoed since then. A GA tank car of this length resides at the St. Louis Transport Museum.
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Posted by M636C on Friday, September 16, 2005 10:10 PM
We have one Schnabel car in Australia, and I followed it on an empty run a couple of years ago. It had plain oil lubricated bearings, despite being built in the 1970s. The theory was that it would be rarely used, and the plain bearings would last better in very occasional service. It had only two axle trucks but more of them than BBCX 1000.

While they are not truly single cars, we have sets of eight coul hoppers permanently coupled by bar couplers, so for all traffic purposes they are single cars. These would be longer than any articulated container rake here of five vehicles. We also have bar coupled rakes of container well cars, and they have a single car number, unlike the coal hoppers. Just an inconsistency, the same operator owns them.

M636C
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Posted by waltersrails on Friday, September 16, 2005 8:55 PM
Autoracks are 89' foot long most auto boxcars are 86-89' foot long biggest car i have ever seen has a tank car 92' foot long at a train museum.
I like NS but CSX has the B&O.
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Posted by ericsp on Friday, September 16, 2005 8:33 PM
The longest non-articulated car I have seen would probably be BBCX 1000. The longest articulated cars would be 5 unit, 48' well container cars.

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