Question about SANDERSVILLE hoppers

I was once told that the Sandersville covered hoppers out on the rails one had something to do with the Aggregt (spelled wrong?) quarry near Ayer MA. Is this true?

I thought they had someting to do with something from South Carolina to New England. Not aggrigate (?) but some kind of clay product connected with paper proccessing.

Its the Sandersville Railroad, in and around (surprise) Sandersville, GA.

http://railga.com/sander.html

The product in question is kaolin, a clay used in paper making.

More than you'd ever want to know about kaolin:

http://www.dtae.org/public/results3/kaolin.html

Agggh, I've seen better, more informative sites about Kaolin.

Hmmm... ok, maybe there used to be a siding at the quarry and they used their hoppers... OR the info was totally incorrect!

The Sandersville cars are for Bucksport, for what thats worth.

Nell, Sandersville (and other) covered hopper cars that are specifically assigned to kaolin clay service stay in that service only and reverse routed home when empty... to put another product in the car could contaminate a subsequent load.

As such, the cars spend half of their life running around empty, just like many other assigned cars, tank cars, auto racks, etc. Not very efficient, but nobody's come up with a better solution. Some covered hoppers, such as those for feed grain, are often switched back and forth to fertilizer service, but must be cleaned between services.

you'll see kaolin clay move dry in covered hopper or in a slurry (water solution) in tank car. Railroads love the slurry... as the customer is paying to haul water in addition to the clay. The clay tank cars carry some of the fanciest paint jobs in the tank car industry. There's a long story behind why clay companies custom paint their cars... but I won't bore you any longer!

By the way, the word is aggregate, and is a generic term for stone, rock, sand and gravel that goes into concrete production. Agg generally moves in open top equipment.

Great reply, Cowford, and right on the money. But don't tease us. I'm not bored and I bet Nell wasn't either - tell us about those fancy paint jobs! That's a part of the story I'm not familiar with.

Yes, the paint jobs please!

Oh, the pressure... actually as I'm trying to remember all the issues, I'm not sure I will get all the details right... if anyone wants to jump in and correct me, please do!

As most know, railroads will not provide specialized equipment. So customers must either buy their own or lease them from companies like GATX, ACF, Union Tank (UTLX), etc. In order to offset the cost of the equipment, a national mileage credit system was established back in the days of Jesus so that private car companies would get $0.xx cents per loaded mile, the credit amount being based on the value of the car. This system exists to this day. The cost is all worked into the freight rate, so when a clay company sells a paper company a car of clay, they add to the bill the freight amount and the paper company ends up footing the bill for the car costs. This system is a pain in the butt from an accounting standpoint, and the majority of shippers have gone to "0" mileage rates, which simply means that the mileage credit is backed out of the rate... lower rate, but no car compensation. ok....

Clay companies run the wheels off of their equipment compared to the chemical industry... most tanks only turn about 10 times/yr (plastics covered hoppers only cycle about four times pre year) As such, they were actually making money on the mileage credits, i.e., taking in more in credits than the monthly car lease cost. The railroads didn't appreciate this and I believe it was the ICC at the time (the mid 80s?) ruled that car owners/lessees could not be compensated with car mileage at a rate more than their equipment cost or some such thing. There were also caps issued on the mileage cerdit amount (it now ranges from ~$0.50-$.90+ cents per mile) Paint is part of the total car cost, so the clay companies decided to spend some of their "windfall" on fancy paint jobs rather than lose it.

As you will notice, most companies are content to leave their tank cars black with lessee stenciling. The reasons: Cost... and the only free advertising you get with a tank car is when the local news has its camera on it during a hazmat emergency!

One anal retentive correction... at the end I meant to say "lessor stenciling"... that is the car owner, not the one leasing the car. Oftentimes, the only way you can ID who is leasing the car is from a small "Leased to ABC Company" stencil on the belly of the car.

The Sandersville ones I have seen are not fancy at all. White (well, clay...) with a big SANDERSVILLE in black. Am I missing some snazzy ones??

I like the B&M ones you can still see on Guilford, blue with BOSTON & MAINE spelled out in white, all covered with gray residue!

I

Nell - Sandersville equipment is not private... it's railroad (Sandersville Railroad to be exact) owned. And they are covered hoppers, not tank cars.

Mick - No idea about the change with the clay shippers. My story dates back about 10-20 years, so things may well have changed. I do know that the clay industry has been hit hard with competition from imported material ex South America (Brazil, I believe). Portland has an import terminal, and one is also going up in Searsport. Too bad- it was historically a HUGE money maker for the railroads.

I never said they were tankers... did I? I sure hope I didn't, as I know they aren't... if that makes sence...