Odd Train this morning

Today I witnessed the following pass my office in South Bend, on the Chicago line.

SD60m (in conrail paint)
Idler Flat
Bottle Car
Steel Coil Car

A bottle car:

That's unusual looking - what is a bottle car for?

A torpedo car or bottle car is a type of railroad car used in steel mills to haul molten pig iron from the blast furnace to begin the process of primary steelmaking. The thermally-insulated vessel is mounted on trunnions, and designed to endure extremely high temperatures, as well as keeping the metal in a molten state over extended periods of time. The vessel can be pivoted along its longitudinal axis to empty the pig iron into a furnace (such as a basic oxygen furnace) or crucible.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_car



They are really unique freight cars.

PARailWiz wrote:That's unusual looking - what is a bottle car for?

molten metal

Trains magazine had an article on this train a while back. It is ajointly run train between NS and IHB. It serves steel mills in Gary.