DeLuxe December Announcements

[Dave Ferrari]

Hello everyone,

Please visit our website and check out our new product announcements:

http://www.deluxetrains.com/announcements122012.html

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Dave

[ljudice]

Amazing, Dave I was going to email you and ask you to take a look at the GBRX
ex BN/NP cars!

A number of the ex-NP cars have a load line sprayed (by what looks like a guy with a can of white paint) - any thought of doing 1-2 like that?

- Lou

[TiVoPrince]

Nice  
to see, don't need anything this month but look forward to January..

[Dave Ferrari]

A number of the ex-NP cars have a load line sprayed (by what looks like a guy with a can of white paint) - any thought of doing 1-2 like that?
- Lou

Lou,
I wasn't sure what the lines were all about. You referred to them as loading lines. That must be for something besides woodchips. What can you tell me about them? We could include them in the multi-pack cars.
Thanks,
Dave

[sdodge]

A number of the ex-NP cars have a load line sprayed (by what looks like a guy with a can of white paint) - any thought of doing 1-2 like that?

- Lou

Is this what you are talking about?
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2869181

[ljudice]

Yes...   

My *understanding* is that they were applied when the cars were assigned to some other service other than woodchips.

I will check further....  I know on Trainorders there is a dumb argument in which someone insists they are graffiti, but I highly
doubt that.

- Lou

[ljudice]

Supposedly the white lines are a load line for when these cars were used in "red dog ore" service:

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/archive/index.php/t-96800.html

There is a certain mystery about this because some idiot on Trainorders seems to claim that he did it as a joke while working at a sawmill. 

[Dave Ferrari]

Is this what you are talking about?
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2869181

Yes, that's it. Any info on the white lines?

Dave

[ljudice]

Dave,  you may have missed above - supposedly, the cars were used in "Red Dog Ore" service (whatever that is) and this was a load line for it. Notice how in the photo, the NP paintout is OVER the stripe!

I believe this only shows up on brown NP cars for some reason, although some think these cars had their floors reinforced for the ore service.

Today they are carrying chips....

- Lou

[Scottl]

Red Dog is a zinc mine in NW Alaska.  I think they ship the ore to Washington and rail it to the smelter in Trail BC.

[ljudice]

Interesting -  I think I read the backhaul from Trail was woodchips, btw...

[sdodge]

I would probably buy a couple of the cars with the white lines...always looking for something different.

[nkalanaga]

Ljudice:  If the backhaul was woodchips, you've answered my question from this week's photo thread.  I was wondering why they would use chip cars for ore service instead of old iron ore cars...

[Robbman]

  I highly doubt they were loaded with zinc or iron ore... zinc ores average some 230pds/ft³, iron ores some 155 pds/ft³.  If either were loaded to that line it would have destroyed the car, reinforced floor or not.  Coal could have been hauled in them to that line...

[ljudice]

Robbman, just repeating what I read...   Could there be something special about the slurry or whatever is collected from the Red Dog Mine?  Ie. very powdery?

People were pretty specific about it -  as saying that the fans in the Cascade tunnel had to be slowed down when trains handling the ore in these cars go through because of dust being blown around.

Also supposedly it's only the ex-NP cars with the modified floors.

I doubt it's coal, since BN/BNSF has a massive fleet of cars for that commodity. Also, don't these cars dump from the ends?

Whatever the heck the real story is, the ex-NP cars had these lines and a lot of people noticed/photographed them - and it's safe to say they are now in chip service.

- Lou