Is it common practice to keep coal porters in a train separate from hoppers with doors?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
In my experience it has always been solid consists of rotary dump cars or bottom door cars. Maybe they do mix them, but I have never seen a dumper that could unload both kinds. But there may be other practices.
It depends on what the customer wants. Some places can only take one kind of car. A couple of the power plants I delivered trains to took any car available. They dumped one car at a time, so you would see a mix of all different types....coal gons, hopper cars, different lengths, heights, lengths, etc.
Since hoppers have couplers they would have to be removed from any string of hoppers and porters before the porters can be unloaded.
Jan
On coal hoppers, usually one end has a rotary coupler and the car is the exact length of the rotary diaper. When coupled to other cars facing the same direction (i.e., colored ends facing the same direction) the coal hopper can be dumped with no need to uncouple.
I regret that I did not develop my interest in model railroading until after I was no longer regularly around coal hoppers, so I can't say whether some bottom dump cars also have a rotary coupler to allow either dumping method to be used. If they have a colored end, then they have a rotary coupler.
@Jan posted:Since hoppers have couplers
Don't ALL freight cars have couplers?
they would have to be removed from any string of hoppers and porters before the porters can be unloaded.
Do you mean the "hoppers and porters" with rotary-couplers? Some of those big "coal gons" are bottom-dump also.
Jan
Watch "Jaw Tooth" videos on youtube and you see coal trains with both bathtub gons and hopper cars. Both NS and CSX.
Good evening, currently its a struggle to get coal hoppers to load so in most cases beggars can’t be choosey.
@Number 90 posted:In my experience it has always been solid consists of rotary dump cars or bottom door cars. Maybe they do mix them, but I have never seen a dumper that could unload both kinds. But there may be other practices.
Tom,
There are plants that only rotary dump one or two cars at a time, such as the Belews Creek plant near Walnut Cove, NC. and of course Pier 6 in Norfolk, VA. (They may be able to handle two cars at a time, it's been a while since I have watched the operation there.). So, to the OP, it doesn't matter what type of car they are dumping.
I have never heard the term "porter" used before. Coal cars are either "hoppers" or "gons" around here.
