More research has produced some decent knowledge but mor questions as well. During WW2 the site brought in bauxite in open hoppers and processed it on site. The same pic also showed a 2 bay covered hopper. Bauxite being a very rocky ore I feel the hopper was probably alumina from another Reynolds facility. Fast forward 30 years and information I can find has the bauxite being processed there in Arkansas and alumina being the product shipped around to various plants for final aluminum production. This is the above picture with the alumina powder being unloaded at the Sheffield facility. Research has also shown that Reynolds owned/leased its own fleet of hoppers. They were a light grey like the cars n the picture appear. Anyone care to guess at the ratio of company hoppers vs railroad owned hoppers we might see in this service? This is a really fun part of the hobby for me as I am a HS social studies teacher and I do enjoy the research. Definitely going to need to increase the hopper count in the fleet.
