hoppers DID YOU KNOW?
Covered hopper
Open hopper In our Commercial Link newsletter, we once delved into the origins of the word “frog” as it relates to the railroad industry. Many were surprised to learn that “frog” is used to describe the meeting point of two separate rails. Another industry term that might evoke the animal kingdom before the transportation industry is “hopper.” The word “hopper,” meaning a container with a narrow opening at bottom, goes back to the 13th century and is found in Geoffrey Chaucer’s story “The Reeve’s Tale” (written in the late 14th century) in reference to a machine for grinding grain into flour. These machines released the flour through chutes at the bottom. In the rail freight industry, a hopper is a type of railcar with – you guessed it – a chute underneath. Hoppers are primarily used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain and track ballast. In the early days of the railroad, specifically the 1820s and 1830s, hoppers were small, two-axle cars that carried
TWO MAIN TYPES OF HOPPER CARS EXIST: Covered hoppers, equipped with hatches that close to form a roof Open hoppers, which do not have hatches
primarily coal; were pulled by mules; and included a lever to release the coal. By 1840, hoppers had been enhanced to enable larger loads and featured an improved chute mechanism. Just a decade later, the hopper was equipped with four axles and could carry nearly twice the load as the 1840 version. Covered hoppers specifically became popular after World War II for weather-sensitive commodities. Today, both covered and open hoppers are among the most common railcars seen on a freight train. n Genesee & Wyoming Interchange 11
