Trinity 5160 AOK

[JSL]

I'm am a sucker for Trinity Hopper's. These special runs AOK's are going to mix in nice with all my other one's   They are a special run by Intermountain for Prairie Shadows.

[Philip H]

Very nice.  can"t wait to see them running in your intermodal stuff.

[Ali Kenneth]

Really nice, however no mention of them on the Prairie Shadows website. Please tell me they are not sold out already.....

[JSL]

They will be on the site real soon, they just arrived today as per Jeff at Prairie Shadows.

[GaryHinshaw]

Nice - those will look right at home on a Tehachapi 'earth worm'.  Could you alert us when they show up on his web site, along with a link?

[RockGp40]

I'd be in for a couple if they were to be done in various leasor marks: ALHX, CEFX, TILX, etc. These cars are everywhere these days!

[Robbman]

http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=58746

[Scottl]

I'm glad someone posted a prototype photo.  I was concerned the AOK lettering and number were too large. 

[JSL]

I will let you know when he gets them up and post a link for sure.

[Robbman]

I'm glad someone posted a prototype photo.  I was concerned the AOK lettering and number were too large.

Lettering is good... the proto is a Greenbrier/Gunderson 5188, but there's no model of those.

[GaryHinshaw]

http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=58746

I saw a few photos like this too before I responded and I was puzzled because they all say built by Greenbriar, which I thought was a competitor to Trinity. Yet the design seems nearly identical (ok 5188 cuft...).  I can never figure out the freight car business: are these prototype designs somehow in the public domain? 

Sorry for the hijack. To get back on topic, I'm curious about this special run: why did Prairie Shadows commission these?  Are they especially prevalent in Canada?  I've never seen one in BC (which is not saying much).

 
-gfh

[kalbert]

I saw a few photos like this too before I responded and I was puzzled because they all say built by Greenbriar, which I thought was a competitor to Trinity. Yet the design seems nearly identical (ok 5188 cuft...).  I can never figure out the freight car business: are these prototype designs somehow in the public domain? 

Sorry for the hijack. To get back on topic, I'm curious about this special run: why did Prairie Shadows commission these?  Are they especially prevalent in Canada?  I've never seen one in BC (which is not saying much).

 
-gfh

I don't know but all the articles I've read about different covered hopper fleets kind of suggests that a railroad might order a bunch of cars, decide they really like the design of them, then call up another builder and say "Hey can you build us cars just like these only with a different hatch or a different gate and for a better price?" I've also read that one builder might build the underframe and another supply the body, or even the railroad's own shops may build the bodies. Kinda seems like the wild west, cars ordered in the same series but delivered two weeks apart or assembled by different builders have slightly different features.

[JSL]

They are here in Manitoba. One of the BNSF Trinity's numbers is a Greenbrier, all the KCS ones are 5188's also.

[JSL]

The AOK are listed on Prairie Shadows website:

http://prairieshadows.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=297&category=9

[cv_acr]

I saw a few photos like this too before I responded and I was puzzled because they all say built by Greenbriar, which I thought was a competitor to Trinity. Yet the design seems nearly identical (ok 5188 cuft...).  I can never figure out the freight car business: are these prototype designs somehow in the public domain? 

They're not exactly identical, but they are all based on the centre-flow design concept that ACF originally pioneered, except that these Trinity and Greenbrier cars both have heavy center sills. ARI also builds through-sill cars, but the ACF/ARI center-flow (and other copies of it) has no center sill but used the heavier side sills to support the car. The old Canadian cylindrical hoppers also used this sort of design.

The differences between the Greenbrier and Trinity car are there, and reasonable obvious when you know what to look for.
Bolsters/jacking pads: Square (with rounded corners) on the Trinity car, more trapezoidal on the Greenbrier
Side sills: Straight across the entire length on the Trinity, only between the bolsters on the Greenbrier
Sides: Trinity is slightly more curved, the Greenbrier, while still curved, is slightly flatter
Roof: different eaves and roofwalk supports.