40' Ortner Aggregate Car?

[shawnee]

Hi,....does anyone know if these 40' Ortner Aggregate Cars (ones with the short porches on either side) are actully still in use, and where/by whom?  I have tried to do searches for real RR photos of them and haven't found any...as opposed to getting search returns of Walthers models of which there are tons of pics.

And speaking of Walthers, now that I know they make fictional car type/road name combos, did Norfolk Southern or CSX actually have any of these Ortner cars, and do they still?

Thanks for the info!  Would really like to have this info before I commit to a purchase of the Walthers cars for my modern day layout.

[Sperandeo]

Hi "Shawnee,"

The Walthers models do have prototypes, and they're pretty good representations. I've seen those 40-foot Ortner cars on both the Florida East Coast and the shortline Georgetown RR in Texas. However, it was the late 1970s when I used to see the GRR Ortners pass through Austin on the Missouri Pacific, and I don't know if they're still in use today. I'm pretty sure the FEC still has them, but maybe someone from Florida has better information.

So long,

Andy

[ericsp]

If you are looking for photographs of freight cars, http://www.railcarphotos.com/, http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/, and http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ are good places to look. I prefer the first one since the list shows small pictures of the cars, thus you do not have to click on the link for each car to see it. This is good when you are searching for a type of car but do not know its number.

Railcarphotos.com does have photographs of CSXT and FEC Ortner hoppers. It appears that the former SP cars are being sold to Trinity Rail Management, with SPTX reporting marks. 

[dehusman]

In the 1980's they were all over S Texas.  The area between Dabney and Taylor, Texas (San Antonio to Austin) is a huge aggregate producing region and the GRR and dozens of companies had fleets of those cars hauling crushed rock.

Dave H.

[MJ4562]

I've seen them in use within the last 12 months here in south Texas (San Antonio-Austin). 

[Doug T]

There is a limestone quarry in Racine, Wi. They load a rock train several times a week. I don't have any details on where they send the rock. The quarry is located at 3 Mile Rd. and Douglas Ave. They have a siding where the cars are staged and when they are full they haul them away (south). This is now part of Union Pacific. I am pretty sure they are using Ortner cars and they are painted red.

[g. gage]

I lived in Ft Lauderdale FL in the 70's and saw a daily northbound FEC train of loaded (white sand & gravel) red FEC Ortner cars, quite a sight. I've also seen SP Ortner cars at Roseville when I lived there in the 80's and 90's.

Hope this helps, Rob 

[shawnee]

Thanks guys.  It looks like CSX still has some Ortners, I saw a photo of some in a Philly yard.

Norfolk Southern, well those Ortners might be a fiction of Walthers.

Appreciate the assist.  Especially honored to hear from Mr. Sperandeo, whose articles I read often.

[cv_acr]

The Algoma Central cars went to WC/SSAM when the WC took over the AC in the mid 1990s. (Note that only about half or maybe less actually got renumbered or repainted). A few years ago all the remaining AC/SSAM/WC cars went to HKGX and were used for stone/gravel trains in the PA area. More recently, someone posted on a freight car discussion list about spotting some of these ex-AC HKGX cars on the Wheeling & Lake Erie remarked again with NLRX markings.

There's some good photos of the HKGX cars on both railcarphotos.com and rrpicturearchives.net

(Note that these AC cars were actually built by National Steel Car in Hamilton Ontario using the design under licence from Ortner and there are some minor detail differences (end platform decking and railings).

A friend of mine has also shot a number of ex-FEC cars on the Providence & Worcestor RR in New England with TLTX numbers, used in a local quarry operation somewhere around there.

http://freight.railfan.ca/tltx.html

[tin can]

I've seen these cars on the UP going through College Station in the last year; GRR was running regular rock trains to Houston.  The cars are pretty beat up and heavily "weathered."

Things have slowed down on the UP since hurricane Ike; but I would expect the rock trains to pick back up once construction picks back up in Houston/Galveston.