'Bout time we had some good news about the black stuff, beside crude that is. Before oil, there was coal. And railroads lived by it, or died.
The good news, coal is moving albeit, in lower volumes than in past years. But even lowered numbers are a big deal to the bottom line of the likes of CSX, NS, UP, and other shippers of coal; http://www.platts.com/latest-news/coal/houston/us-railroads-report-higher-coal-shipments-but-21457944
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Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
As of this minute in time BNSF crews in Everett still identify coal trains as "loaded coal train"
or "empty coal train". The GPNW is woefully behind in the movement of coal trains in history
therefore we haven't got to the point of calling an empty coal train a "Hopper Train" or just "Hoppers".
Think we'll git there eventually.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
Interesting to note that coal and oil trains are only a nuisance "loaded". Once the train
becomes an "empty train" then its just a long oil/coal train that to the public who don't
know any better think "its loaded" because from a grade crossing you cant tell if a tankcar
is loaded and you cant tell if the hoppers have coal in them. So I think somehow to alleviate
some public fears they need to have some sort of heads up for the towns/cities pass through
that you can cut your worries in half by knowing what direction the "loads" come from.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
I could be wrong, but most people can see if the springs on the trucks are squashed down that it is loaded, also you can feel the earth move when a load goes by.
I could be wrong, but most people can see if the springs on the trucks are squashed down that it is loaded, also you can feel the earth move when a load goes by.
Thank you, Clavalin, for that insightful, insider information.
They are being snapped up by the garbage people. Seems that containers keep too much product aboard during the shipping process.
As the containers age it has been noted that the upper doors get bent and warped and dont close very good. After this happens some of the product spills from the container.
Someone in the Sales dept noticed. Hey, we got all these empty coal cars hanging around, they can be used to distribute product. They've been distributing coal for ages, (Huzzah said by all the Tiny Tims out there), what could be a more noble re-use of the car, than to load refuse in the car.
Filling old hopper cars with garbage and then using cheep orange plastic netting to cover the top, allows a lotta product to blow with the wind and partially unload the car before it gets to the destination. Hence, New York gets more bang for its buck by allowing it to ship more for less, and gives the railroad an eager customer for those unneeded empty coal cars.
Everybody wins......except the Tiny Tims of the world who found out that shit stinks and dont burn very well.
No, they get put together in a HOPPER TRAIN. 
