History
of the cars:
In 1965, General American Transportation
Corporation (GATX), designed a new-style covered hoppers called
“Pressure-Slide” for the transporting of dry bulk material.
They provided only one compartment that was pneumatically
discharged using an elaborate low pressure (50-80 p.s.i.) air ductwork
system. The unique shape of
the tank quickly led to their nickname, “whalebelly hoppers.”
The 38’ 7” long cars had a capacity of 2,800 cubic feet (appx.
100-ton) of material.
The Seaboard Air Line (SAL) purchased 50 from
GATX in 1966. Classed LS-21,
they were assigned road Nos. 7050 through 7099.
These were equipped with A-3 Ride Control trucks and Timkin roller
bearings. All cars were
assigned to service out of Lehigh, FL.
The SAL cars became Seaboard Coast Line (SCL)
cars 747050 through 747099 in 1967. Initially,
the only change being the Empty Return instructions in a yellow box from
“Return Agent SAL Lehigh FLA” to “When empty return to SCLRR Lehigh
Fla”. We will do the SAL
version with the SAL yellow box. These
later received a new Seaboard (SBD) red with yellow band paint scheme.
These were later lettered for the CSXT after the merger.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q)
purchased 50 of these cars with slightly different brake plumbing from
GATX in January 1967. Classed
LO-9, they were assigned road Nos. 84950 through 84999.
An unusual feature of these cars was the obvious omission of a
Burlington Route herald from the paint scheme.
They were immediately placed in cement service over the whole
system.
The CB&Q cars became Burlington Northern (BN)
cars 495000 through 495049 in 1970 and were eventually repainted with
black, stacked Burlington Northern lettering and a large BN logo.
The BN cars became Dragon Cement cars in the 300 and the 2800
series in the late 1990s and were repainted with black, Dragon lettering.
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