Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS's new type of coil steel car

Yesterday, I walked a section of the Great Allegheny Passage from Munhall to West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.  On Norfolk Southern's Mon Line near the trail was couple of a new coil steel cars of a design I've never seen before.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/23 20:04 by RuleG.

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https://www.gbrx.com/railcars/5-trough-transverse-coil-gondola/

Matthew

Roadmaster Wrote:
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> https://www.gbrx.com/railcars/5-trough-transverse-
> coil-gondola/
>
> Matthew

Thank you, Matthew, for providing the link with information about these cars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/23 20:06 by RuleG.

Years ago when I worked for Youngstown Sheet and Tube, I recall that our coils were generally shipped in gondolas without protection. I guess the current need for covered coil cars is the result of vandalism over the years as well as to protect the steel from rusting. 

These weird looking "boxes" started popping up a few months ago. One of the first I saw was behind a couple NS locos and I thought it was some sort of slug until I noticed the lifting ring on the cover!
There are still immense amounts of coil steel shipped in open gondolas and open coil cars. The covered coils are those that carry finished steel product and would be subject to damage from the climate and are considered "hermetically sealed".
Gonut
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/23 07:39 by Gonut1.

In the Train Sim world, I have a set of these for Open Rails

https://www.tigertrains.com/Store/index.php?route=product/product&path=3_22&product_id=261

Spoony81 Wrote:
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> In the Train Sim world, I have a set of these for
> Open Rails
>
> https://www.tigertrains.com/Store/index.php?route=
> product/product&path=3_22&product_id=261
Me too!

colehour Wrote:
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> Years ago when I worked for Youngstown Sheet and
> Tube, I recall that our coils were generally
> shipped in gondolas without protection. I guess
> the current need for covered coil cars is the
> result of vandalism over the years as well as to
> protect the steel from rusting. 

The issue is rust and gondola shippment is still used for some customers.

They do look sharp, seem to have good crosswalks, and do portray that NS image.

Contrary to some of the information posted here, let me, as a former truck driver that used to haul coils, clarify some things:

ALL coiled metal is NOT a finished product in any way shape or form. It will be "unwound" and processed to create something.

HR (hot rolled) steel coils do not need to be covered. They generally do not "rust" as it is more of a natural surface. (Think of a brass faucet outside.) They will most likely be painted and used for such applications as large trash containers and rail hopper cars. They are generally painted/coated with a covering specifically designed to adhere to imperfect metal surfaces. (Think Rustoleam rusty metal primer.) They can also often be run through a chemical acid bath to clean the surfaces of impurities in preparation for specific uses. The biggest market for that is hot-dipped galvanized coiled steel or electro-galvanized coil steel. Think metal studs in a house. (EDIT: Actually electro-galvanized is most often made from cold roll.)

All other steel coils must be covered.

The big difference about these coil cars is that they hold the coil's eye to the side, or in trucker lingo, suicide. Traditionally on both rail cars and trucks (except for west coast trucks) coils have always been hauled with the eye parallel to the side of the car or trailer. This requires for the most part overhead crane loading and unloading. Yes, there are forklift attachments that are available, but they greatly reduce the load capacity of the forklift. Coils loaded eye to the side can be loaded and unloaded via a forklift as well as an overhead crane. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/23 15:33 by longliveSP.

Question: are these the new coiled steel caars that have recently been pulled from service due to truck/wheel defects?

No it the all white ones that have been pulled from service 
PRR1361 Wrote:
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> Question: are these the new coiled steel caars
> that have recently been pulled from service due to
> truck/wheel defects?

Thanks to all of you who added further commentary which helped make this thread more informative.