About gondola car information
Author: Date: 2015/12/16 16:32:46
A gondola car for use with a train of like gondola cars that comprises a body having a floor and two sidewalls, a bridge extension connected to the floor and extending outwardly beyond the two sidewalls, a wall transition member of arcuate shape extending beyond the end of one of the sidewalls, and a pivotal connector positioned adjacent the bridge extension for enabling pivotal movement between the gondola car and an adjacentgondola car. The wall transition member is fastened to one of the sidewalls and is in sliding rotational relation to a arcuate-shaped guide section on an adjacent gondola car. The bridge extension has a curved edge affixed to the bottom edge of the wall transition member. The curved edge has a radius of curvature generally equal to the radius of curvature of the arcuate-shaped of the wall transition member. The floor has a plurality of apertures for receiving a fixed cleat from a tractor/shovel. The bridge extension has a configuration so as to overlap the floor of an adjacent gondola car.
A railway gondola car having trucks for movably supporting the car on railway tracks includes a center sill and a gondola body supported by the trucks. The gondola body includes first and second ends, a first side, a second side, and a bottom assembly. The bottom assembly includes a trough disposed between the trucks and attached to the first and second sides. The bottom assembly also includes a generally hat-shaped stiffener attached to the trough, the first side, and the second side.
Very high demands are made on gondola cars which are emptied on rotating/tilting unloading devices. Such cars must provide long service lives even under these very rough conditions, and they should allow simple loading and unloading via a rotating/tilting device. In accordance with the instant disclosure, the high strength of the gondola car body is maintained in a simple manner in that the flooring sheets of the body are set into grooves in the longitudinal center sill, and into a groove in each inside of the lower side sills, and then welded to the said sills. Also the walls of the car may be set in different ways, as by setting them into a groove in the upper side of the lower side sills and into a groove in the lower side of the upper side sill, and then welded to the said side sills.