Trough Train.....

[Wyonate]

Ummmm, I think you need to take 23 (cars) x 278(feet)= 6114.  Now take 146 (cars) x 53 (feet) = 7738 feet.  The Trough Train is about 1624 feet shorter than the regular 146 car train, whitch the Trough Train was short enough to fit on the sidings at the time, and was hauling as much tonnage as the 143 cars would.  I think.   ( I think the average coal hopper or bethgon is 53 ft)

[Murphy Siding]

Quentin, they mean 23 of the 13-car articulated units.  The units in the articulated cars were smaller than a conventional coal car, and the lack of solid ends between units (I think) further enhanced their capacity.  One of the trough-train cars could handle the rough equivalent of six or seven coal cars.

  I'm not following the math here.  23 X 13-car sets =299 cars vs. 143 regular cars?

[rrnut282]

wow 23 cars can carry 146 car equivelent of coal ??? winzip for choo choo's ???

Yeah, but one mechanical defect or one wheel on the ground and 23/146 cars of coal aren't going anywhere. (and then, when you get to the power plant, unloading gets interesting, even when it works properly....ie - anybody got a monster rotary dump to go along with the rediculous turntable from the other thread?))

Kinda makes you look like DOS in a Windows environment.

And yet many in the railroad industry feel fine taking that risk when it can sideline as many as 10 containers full of valuable consumer goods in one fell swoop. 

[eolafan]

Are these the type of cars that sometimes haul garbage out of big cities like New York?

[CopCarSS]

Just because they compete with them doesn't mean that you can compare them directly with the barge companies. You still haven't answered why you thought they were a good idea when it was brought up that they suffered from an inherent reliability problem...

[Anonymous]

because railroads in many places compete directly with barge traffic and remember that the Big John grain hopper ICC case was about the fact that barge companys were affraid that if railroads were allowed larger freight cars then that would hurt there buisness.

[CopCarSS]

  The barge traffic can carry more as 20-40 railroad cars equal one barge and the weight is reduced because there is less ancellory equipment to haul around

Huh? Those are two very different animals. I don't think you can make any fair comparisons between them. What does that have to do with reliability anyways?

[Anonymous]

  The barge traffic can carry more as 20-40 railroad cars equal one barge and the weight is reduced because there is less ancellory equipment to haul around

[CopCarSS]

  another good idea that died in railroad buracracy....

Was it a good idea? The reliability issues that MC brought up would make me very hesitant to invest heavily if I were a railroad exec...

[Anonymous]

  another good idea that died in railroad buracracy....

[railroad65]

Didn't Southern try this back in the 60's, but with just four units per car. I think they only built one?

[Modelcar]

....Oh, ok....I see now what they are talking about....{the 13 vs. 146}.  Thanks Carl.

[ndbprr]

as I recall there were no ends in the cars.  There were a series of wings that slid along the regular car sides when it turned.  That way there were no gaps between cars but one continuous load.  I  suspect there could be problems with something getting behind the wing and allowing cargo to trickle out through the gap but don;t know.

[CShaveRR]

Quentin, they mean 23 of the 13-car articulated units.  The units in the articulated cars were smaller than a conventional coal car, and the lack of solid ends between units (I think) further enhanced their capacity.  One of the trough-train cars could handle the rough equivalent of six or seven coal cars.

These were, if I remember correctly, bottom-dumping cars using gates more akin to old ballast-car doors--that was probably a problem in itself.

[Modelcar]

....I don't see it in the photo...How could 23 connected cars equal 146 car capacity....?  What was the mechanical means of unloading them..?  Why were they not successful at all...{according to above info}....?

[mudchicken]

wow 23 cars can carry 146 car equivelent of coal ??? winzip for choo choo's ???

Yeah, but one mechanical defect or one wheel on the ground and 23/146 cars of coal aren't going anywhere. (and then, when you get to the power plant, unloading gets interesting, even when it works properly....ie - anybody got a monster rotary dump to go along with the rediculous turntable from the other thread?))

Kinda makes you look like DOS in a Windows environment.

[Dutchrailnut]

wow 23 cars can carry 146 car equivelent of coal ??? winzip for choo choo's ???

[CNW534]

This thing?

 

I found this tidbit:

"The former BN Trough Train is being eliminated.  The Trough Train has spent most of the last five years in storage in various places.  It was stored on the former Rock Island main line east of Amarillo, TX that was abandoned only a few miles east of the trough train cars for over a year.  This was a storage track for Progress Rail Car Shops.  On August 22, [2004], a train of 21 of the trough cars was seen passing through Lincoln, NE on its way to Birmingham, AL as BNSF train U-GUEBIR1-18.  The cars had most recently been in storage at Guernsey, WY where they were moving empty from to the CSX at Birmingham listed as condemned cars.  Power for the empty Trough train was BNSF SD40-2 7903, KCS AC4400CW 2046 and EMD SD60 9092 as it departed Lincoln.  The train arrived in Birmingham on August 26^th at 11:41 and was interchanged to CSX at 11:42.  The only car missing of the original 23 cars built in late 1994 was the BN 552006 that had previously been separated and probably scrapped.  One of the units of that car is still at Progress Rail in Amarillo.  The Aluminum cars were 278' 4" long per 13 unit car.  The 23 cars could carry the equivalent of 146 standard coal hoppers at a reduced tonnage due to the light weight of the cars.  The Car numbers for these cars were BN 552000 - 552022.  None were ever renumbered as BNSF cars." *

* Source

[Wyonate]

I am wondering if anyone might have a scale drawing of the Trough Train. It was a 13 car, 278 foot, articulating unit used for coal transportation.  If you have any info PLEASE contact me!  Any info att all, who might have one, or where I could find it, anything!