American Z Line- Z Scale - PS2 CD Covered Hoppers - Canadian National (CN) #384248 (SKU 163-91927-1)
Available On: March 1, 2016
Covered hoppers are designed for carrying dry bulk loads, varying from grain
to products such as sand and clay. The cover protects the loads from the
weather. Similar to an open hopper car, covered hoppers tend to contain 2, 3
or 4 separated bays. Each of these can be loaded and emptied individually, with
access at the top to load the materials and visible chutes at the bottom for
unloading.
Hoppers with 2, 3 or 4 bays are used for different purposes: 2 bay hoppers
are used for the most dense loads (such as sand), while 4 bay hoppers are
more suited to lighter loads. This is due to axle load limits, for example dry
cement is very heavy in bulk quantities and a 4-bay hopper of sand would be
very likely to exceed these limits while also having problems with increased
strain upon the central span. By trading off cubic capacity 2 bay hoppers are
able to transport these heavy loads. As technology has advanced, some of
the heavier loads formerly assigned to 2-bay hoppers have been assigned
to larger, more efficient 3-bay hoppers.