Covered hoppers

A group of us had gone to Cortland the night before the M`rathon Maple Festival to get some night shots of the NYSW train, which was tied up at the station to be ready for the mornings action. We grabbed a shot of this CNW homper too.

This CNW covered hopper was spotted at a feed mill in Cgrtland the day of the Marathon Maple Festival. We had shot it the night before, and I could not resist the chance to get it in daylight as well.

Apparently the big yellow bird is a fan of the big blue railroad, at least so it says on the side of this covered hopper leaving Allentown on ALEN.

It was still possible to find Erie Lackawanna equipment knocking around the Conrail system, but a real treat to find it on the EL. Most of the cars still in service by this time were the 1972 Bethlehem 77 ton hoppers, so this 100 ton grain hopper at the Binghamton Agway was a nice surprise.

This ex MKT two bay hopper was westbound on 12T. Looks good if a little faded almost twenty years after the Katy disappeared into UP. The HLMX initials show as belonging to Helm Financial, Wells Fargo Rail, or First Union Rail, so could be any of those.

This ex D&H grain hopper was in train 253. The territory is familiar, though it probably would not recognize the power pulling it.

This SOO wheatstalk hopper was on a local at Stilwell Ok on the KCS. For a while, export grain was coming off the DM&E, and would run in trains with a number of these attractive cars.

A pair of aircraft bodies ride hn BNSF from Wichita to Seattle, seen here waiting to get into Alliance yard.

A Herzog bottom dump ballast car sits on the siding in Stilwell OK waiting for its train to make its next move.

An ATSF two bay hopper rolls under the bridge as it heads south on a BNSF train on the Ft Scott Sub. Rolling stock often takes a lot longer to get painted than locomotives, but this car is still in full ATSF markings almost 20 years after the merger. These are getting hard to find at this late date.

Battered from almost 20 years of being a UP car, this SP two bay hopper was westbound at Santa Fe Jct

A Winchester & Western 100 ton hopped rolls west on the UP

On the MKT yet. This grain hopper with MKT reporting marks was on a southbound at Chouteau OK. I miss the John Deere green hoppers.

There were a lot of elevator owned grain hoppers in service, many of which have found second lives elsewhere. This one was a Clay Center Coop car, now owned by KCS, and lettered TFM.

A one time farmers coop grain hopper, now owned by a Riverport Railroad LLC, is on the local at Siloam Springs. There were many such elevator owned cars roaming the rails at one time.

This Nacionales de Mexico car was southbound on a grain train at Watts. There are still some of these kicking around on the KCS, and often return to their homeland.

The Canadian Wheat Board bought a fleet of grain hoppers to assure car supply during peak periods, mostly at harvest time. The cars carried this attractive paint scheme, and CP and CN reporting marks. One of the CP cars is southbound on the H train at Watts.

A Belle scheme covered hopper on a southbound waiting at Stilwell.

KCS has been taking delivery of new covered hoppers. This one was on a southbound waiting for a meet at Stilwell. They are the typical plain paint job found on most covered hoppers, and not the Belle scheme on several recent orders. The build date on this one was August 2015

A&M got some new covered hoppers, which they have lettered in this attractive scheme. This on is at Washburn Mo on the southbound Monett Turn.

The heritage of this car is evident, even with new reporting marks. In the upper left corner, where the CR herald once was, is now a paint out, something I find supremely ironic on CR equipment. The road name was once lettered across the cars broad side. The real giveaway, though, is the color. The jade green can only mean one of two things: Penn Central, or if its old enough, NYC. This is a real survivor.

I recall seeing solid trains of these cars in Binghamton NY on the D&H when they were new in the late 80s. Now they run free, though still in their original markings. This one was northbound at Davidson Rd in Siloam on an H train.

Some Canadian provinces funded grain hoppers in the days when car supply was a problem in the prairies, and CN and CP could not guarantee car supply to ship out the crops. As the problem resolved, the railroads wound up owning most of the cars, which were billboards for their original owners, such as this car, now a CP car, on the KCS at Watts.

I caught a southbound grain train today, which had a mix of cars on it, unlike the days when these were new, and youd see solid trains of them. Despite a few graffiti marks, this one looks pretty good.

And its headed for the Rio Grande. This ex DRGW car is now lettered for TFM, and will undoubtedly cross its namesake many times.

But now the action is en route to Mexico, as evidenced by the reporting marks on this ex Rio Grande car on a southbound.

Most short lines and regionals I have encountered have little of their own freight cars. So it was something of a surprise to me to see this Kansas & Oklahoma hopper on the local at Siloam Springs.

This car of carbon black was eastbound at Claremore on the BNSFs ex Frisco. Carbon black is used in making, among other things, ink and tires.

This Bunge Corp covered hopper was in the consist of the southbound H train.

This two bay car was in the southbound H train.

This covered hopper is in grain service, rolling north on the H train.

The reporting marks on this car were too good to ignore. My question: Red Sox, or White Sox??

When these cars were new, they often ran in solid trains, along with KCS power in the then new retro Belle scheme. It made for an impressive looking train. Ten years on, the new cars arent so new anymore, and run randomly. This one is in a southbound grain train at Watts. It's a little bit dusty, but looks pretty good for ten years on the road.

This 100 ton covered hopper was in a local headed south at Springdale.

This outside rib covered hopper was in the same train.

An Arkansas-Oklahoma car is southbound on the ex MKT. It will cross its home road a few more miles south at McAlester.

I saw this car number and had to take the photo. Its southbound on the ex MKT. The reporting marks belong to American Soda, also Solvay Chemical, a familiar name from my days in the northeast.

Some of the major roads have a number of initials that have accumulated over the years as they have made acquisitions and merged other roads. Some of these are still in use, having never been out of circulation; some have been retired, either by design, or have just faded away as their original owners equipment was retired, and been brought back. CMO us one of those road names still in action belongs to the Chicago, Minneapolis, St Paul & Omaha, which came to the UP via the Northwestern, who merged them in 1960. Here it is on a two bay hopper, almost sixty years after the original road was merged.

This CNW car was also in the consist of the southbound on the ex MKT. All we need now is one with a CGW reporting mark to make the day complete.

Or half of one. This SP car has either defected to the Southern, or someone painted out half the road name. Either way, this was one of a number of cars in this train still in predecessor road reporting marks. The diesel fleet may be completely repainted, but the rolling stock likely never will.

This ex Denver & Rio Grande Western car was in a southbound grain train at Stilwell. It's a little faded, but not gone.

This hopper was on a northbound at Manchester GA on CSX. These cars are typically used to ship plastic pellets. It's a Wells Fargo Rail car, leased to OMYA.

This hopper is 100 ton capacity, and used for grain shipments, as one would guess from the name. Its northbound on CSX.

The Rock Island disappeared from the railroad scene almost 40 years ago, and these cars are now reaching the end of the FRA dictated service life, so Im always glad to see one, surprised, even. This classic treat was southbound on CSX. It's now owned by Wells Fargo Rail Corp.

Oil Dry is a company that makes absorption products from clay. Think, kitty litter, except in an industrial setting. They have several plants around the country, and use rail to move product between them, and to customers. This car is northbound on CSX.

CSX has several thousand of these hoppers, used in grain service. This one is southbound at Dalton

Some roads brand particular services, to hopefully create some value for a particular segment of their business. CSX has gone with Grain Express, as we see here on this covered hopper rolling south at Dalton

This new Potash Corp car was southbound on CSX

Back in the 70s, the Klemme Coop, in north central Iowa, invested in a fleet of covered hoppers. This assured them of a steady supply of cars, which gave them some predictability in that era when things were rotten and the granger roads werent doing well. They were on grain trains everywhere. The SOO car is one of the famous "wheat stalk" cars, which were also seen nationwide. These two have now found their way into the Interstate Commodities fleet, granting them several more years of useful service. We see them here on a CSX train headed toward Chattanooga.

Hydraulic fracturing has become the big new thing in oil exrtraction, and it uses a lot of sand. This is transported in two bay hoppers due to its density. This one is southbound in Decatur on a unit train, which is typically how then move on the KCS. The MQRX initials are for McQuarie Rail, Inc, but now are owned by Wells Fargo.