We design and manufacture a broad variety of freight cars including covered
hoppers, open top hoppers, gondolas, boxcars, intermodal and non-intermodal
flat cars that transport numerous types of dry bulk and containerized freight
products.
In the last five years, we have added 24 new or redesigned products to our portfolio,
including various covered hopper car products with cubic capacities from 3,282
cubic foot to 6,250 cubic foot; 52’ and 66’ mill gondolas; coil
gondolas; triple hoppers and hybrid aluminum/stainless steel railcars; ore hopper
and gondola railcars; ballast hopper cars; aggregate hopper cars (with manual,
independent or fully automatic transverse or longitudinal door systems); intermodal
flats (including the 3-unit, 53-foot well cars) and non-intermodal flat cars
(including slab, hot slab, ribbon rail and bulkhead flats). Focused product
development activity continues in areas where we can leverage our technical
knowledge base and capabilities to realize market opportunities.
The types of railcars listed below include the major types of railcars that
we are capable of manufacturing; however, some of the types of railcars listed
below have not been ordered by any of our customers or manufactured by us in
a number of years. We refurbish and rebuild railcars and sell forged, cast and
fabricated parts for all of the railcars we produce, as well as those manufactured
by others. We also provide general railcar repair and maintenance and inspections
for all types of freight-carrying railcars. Many of our railcars are produced
using a patented one-piece center sill, the main longitudinal structural component
of the railcar. The one-piece center sill provides a higher carrying capacity,
but weighs significantly less than traditional multiple-piece center sills.
In addition to railcars designed for use in North America, we have manufactured
railcars for export to Latin America and the Middle East. Railroads outside
of North America are constructed with a variety of track gauges that are sized
differently than in North America, which requires us, in some cases, to alter
our manufacturing specifications accordingly.
Any of the railcar types listed below may be further developed to meet the characteristics
of the materials being transported and customer specifications.
• Steel, Stainless Steel and Hybrid Stainless Steel/Aluminum Coal Cars.
We manufacture a series of stainless steel and hybrid stainless steel and aluminum
AutoFlood and BethGon coal cars designed to serve the Eastern railroads. These
coal cars are designed to withstand the rigors of Eastern coal transportation
service. They offer a unique balance of maximized payload, light weight, efficient
unloading and long service life. Our coal car product offerings include aluminum-bodied
flat-bottom gondola railcars and steel or stainless steel-bodied triple hopper
railcars for coal, metallurgical coke and petroleum coke service.
• VersaFlood Series. Our VersaFlood™ series open-top hopper railcars
include steel, stainless steel or hybrid steel and aluminum-bodied designs equipped
with three-pocket (transverse gate) or two-pocket (longitudinal gate) discharge
door systems with manual, independent or fully automatic door operation. The
VersaFlood™ product series offers versatile design options for transportation
of aggregates, sand or minerals.
• Dynastack Series. Our intermodal doublestack railcar product offerings
include a stand-alone 40 foot well car, the DynaStack® articulated, 5-unit,
40 foot and the DynaStack® 3-unit, 53 foot well cars for transportation
of international and domestic containers.
• Covered Hopper Cars. Our covered hopper railcar product offerings encompass
a wide range of cubic foot (cf) capacity designs for shipping dry bulk commodities
of varying densities including: 3,282 cf covered hopper cars for cement, sand
and roofing granules; 4,300 cf covered hopper cars for potash or similar commodities;
5,200 cf and 5,400 cf covered hopper cars for grain and other agricultural products;
and 6,250 cf covered hopper cars for plastic pellets.
• Aluminum Coal Cars. The BethGon® is the leader in the aluminum-bodied
coal gondola railcar segment. Since we introduced the steel BethGon railcar
in the late 1970s and the aluminum BethGon railcar in 1986, the BethGon railcar
has become the most widely used coal car in North America. Our current BethGon
II features lighter weight, higher capacity and increased durability suitable
for long-haul coal carrying railcar service. We have received several patents
on the features of the BethGon II and continue to explore ways to increase the
BethGon II’s capacity and reliability.
Our aluminum bodied open-top hopper railcar, the AutoFlood™, is a five-pocket
coal car equipped with a bottom discharge gate mechanism. We began manufacturing
AutoFlood railcars in 1984, and introduced the AutoFlood II and AutoFlood III
designs in 1996 and 2002, respectively. Both the AutoFlood II and AutoFlood
III designs incorporate the automatic rapid discharge system, the MegaFlo™
door system, a patented mechanism that uses an over-center locking design, enabling
the cargo door to close with tension rather than by compression. Further, AutoFlood
railcars can be equipped with rotary couplers to permit rotary unloading.
Other Railcar Types. Our portfolio of railcar types also includes 52’
and 66’ mill gondola railcars used to transport steel products and scrap;
slab, hot slab and coil steel railcars designed specifically for transportation
of steel slabs and coil steel products, respectively; boxcars, non-intermodal
flat railcars and bulkhead flat railcars designed to transport a variety of
products, including machinery and equipment, steel and structural steel components
(including pipe), forest and paper products and other bulky industrial products;
woodchip hopper and gondola railcars designed to haul woodchips and municipal
waste or other low-density commodities; and a variety of non-coal carrying open
top hopper railcars designed to carry ballast, iron ore, taconite pellets and
other bulk commodities; the AVC™ Aluminum Vehicle Carrier design used
to transport commercial and light vehicles (automobiles and trucks) from assembly
plants and ports to rail distribution centers; and the articulated bulk container
railcar designed to carry dense bulk products such as waste products in 20 foot
containers.