Bathtub Gondola

by Dan Aubin

New addition to my series of freight cars.  This one is a bathtub gondola, so called for its shape.  These cars are used on unit trains (coal) where traditionally hoppers were used.  Someone figured out that by removing the unloading gates at the bottom of the car, It could be cheaper to build, be able to carry a greater payload and would require less maintenance.  The only down side is tha need to use a rotary dumper to empty them out.  Special couplers that can rotate on the car's axis are used so the car doesn't have to be uncoupled when it goes through the rotary dumper.  The red end on the car indicates where this coupler is.

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