I see these, what seem to be covered gondolas, from time to time on CN. The covers look to be fiberglas. Can anybody tell me what commodity these carry? I can figure out how they load them but how do they unload them? Someone mentioned they carry ore. So do they lift the covers and tip the car? Doesn't seem practical. Thanks, Tom
The most common commodities in covered gondolas are ore concentrates or low-level hazardous waste such as contaiminated soil from beneath a demolished factory, smelter, petroleum refinery, etc. The covers are lifted on and off by a fixed gantry set up for that purpose, by wheel loaders with a sling from their bucket or forks, or by a large forklift with a sling, etc. The reason these gons are covered is to avoid dusting the right-of-way with hazardous material that blows out (many ore concentrates are hazardous), and also to prevent accumulation of precipitation into the cars. Gons usually have drain holes in the bottom for rain water, and these are plugged when the gons are carrying "dirty dirty" or concentrates.
Some locations have single-car rotary dumpers to empty the gons. Others use a tracked excavator that lifts itself onto the cars, and travels down them, the tracks resting either inside the car or on the side sills.
RWM
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