AZL 90304-1 ACF 3-Bay Hopper Western Pacific | 4-Car Set

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.

American Car and Foundry (often abbreviated as ACF) is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. Today ACF is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based in St. Charles, Missouri.

Features:

• Intricate etched details
• Fine pad printing
• AZL’s roller bearing trucks with blackened metal wheels
• AZL AutoLatch™ couplers