I need to get a few shots of the old C&O "For Progress" , Seaboardnand Clinchfield hoppers that have been rolling by lately.
Some open hopper shots from my Y2K trip.... Ex Illinois Central hopper at Iroquois Jcn on the KBS NS (N&W) hopper, useful top-down for modellers... This one made me not buy the Walthers ortner....can't see how I would have done those open ends!!!
Those are known as 'Autoballasters', each set has a generator set and can finely control the amount of ballast they apply to the track. This is one of the generator fitted ones in the more recent Network Rail yellow paint.
Modern UK coal hoppers....EWS and Freightliner compete fiercely for coal traffic, both companies have new fleets of modern hoppers that are set up for 60mph loaded / 75mph empty use. EWS HTA: Freightliner HHA:
The old order - BR built literally thousands of 32.5t capacity HAA coal hoppers from the 1960's on, these are somewhat primitive by modern standards, basically a big tub of coal on an underframe, but compared to the then-standard 16t open wagon they were truly space-age stuff! Whilst EWS's HTA have rendered many of these obsolete, there are a fair number still hanging on in coal service. Rumours that a version was designed for the Australian market have always been denied however...
Even older are 'Dogfish' ballast hoppers, these are vacuum braked ones now no longer allowed on the main line, but Dartmoor Railway has a couple... Like the hoppers Alan posted above, these would run with a 'Shark' plough van (see the 'feeling Crummy' thread) to spread the ballast once these had dropped it. A friend of mine who is also a driver says he hated these, every so often a door would stick, then drop the entire load between the axles in one go! If the train was moving slowly along spreading the ballast at the time that would usually derail the wagon!
