Two-bay hopper cars of the Reading Railroad.

Swedish iron ore hopper, built in 1900

A hopper car is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, track ballast, and the like. The name originated from the coke manufacturing industry which is part of the steel industry (see Etymology below).

This type of car is distinguished from a gondola car in that it has opening doors on the underside or on the sides to discharge its cargo. The development of the hopper car went along with the development of automated handling of such commodities, with automated loading and unloading facilities. There are two main types of hopper car: open and covered.

Covered hopper cars are used for bulk cargo that must be protected from the elements (chiefly rain) such as grain, sugar, and fertilizer. Open cars are used for commodities such as coal, which can get wet and dry out with less harmful effect. Hopper cars have been used by railways worldwide whenever automated cargo handling has been desired. "Ore jennies" is predominately a term for shorter open hopper cars hauling taconite by the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway on Minnesota's Iron Range.

Recently in North America the open hopper car has been in a terminal decline due to the advent of the rotary car dumper (which simply inverts the car to unload it, and has become the preferred unloading technology). A rotary dumper permits the use of simpler and more compact (because sloping ends are not required) gondola cars instead of hoppers. Covered hoppers, though, are still in widespread use. For loads that are less dense (such as grains) or susceptible to damage in the weather (such as unmixed cement), covered hoppers are normally used.

Special hopper trains[link]

The Coke Express, a unit train of hopper cars loaded with coke, with the words "Coke Express" painted on the sides of the hoppers.

Typical American Freight Car Weights and Wheel Loads[link]

Increase in wheel loads has important implications for the rail infrastructure needed to accommodate future grain hopper car shipments. The weight of the car is transmitted to the rails and the underlying track structure through these wheel loads. As wheel loads increase, track maintenance expenses increase and the ability of a given rail weight, ballast depth, and tie configuration to handle prolonged rail traffic decreases. Moreover, the ability of a given bridge to handle prolonged rail traffic also decreases as wheel loads increase.^[1]

Etymology[link]

The term "hopper car" comes from the coke manufacturing industry. Coke is used for the production of steel. To make coke coal is packed into huge ovens which bake it to remove volatile oils. The goal is to turn the coal into carbon which is as pure as possible. In the historical process of coke manufacture after the coal was baked into coke it was pushed out onto a slanted metal roof called a "shed" or "wharf" where workers called "coke pullers" would wash down the hot coke with water hoses. Using a sort of a broom called a "beaver" they would then push the quenched coke into square holes in the shed which were called "hoppers" because the men would jump over the holes as they moved the coke around. The coke would fall down into a "hopper car" waiting below and would be shipped off by rail for further processing. In other words, the cars were named after the holes above them.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Union Pacific #7801 — photos and short history of an example of a typical self-clearing, open-top triple hopper.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hopper railway wagons

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2011)

Darryl Gibson, better known by his stage name Positive K (sometimes stylized as +K), is an American emcee from the Bronx, New York City, New York, and is one of the original artists of the First Priority Music camp. He is best known for his hits "I'm Not Havin' It" (a duet with MC Lyte) and his 1992 hit "I Got a Man",^[1] which borrows its male/female dialogue format from the aforementioned "I'm Not Havin' It".

Music career[link]

Positive K started his career in 1986, making his debut on a Hip-Hop showcase album Fast Money for a small, short-lived independent label called Star Maker. Aside from featuring a track by Hip-Hop legend Disco Dave, Fast Money also featured the debut recording of Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock. Later on, he was picked up by Nat Robinson's First Priority Music under the management of Lumumba Carson (the son of activist Sonny Carson) before Carson would become better known as X-Clan founding member Professor X The Overseer.

Positive K scored a major hit with 1992's "I Got a Man." The song peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1993. Leading up to that, he made appearances in underground compilations including one called "I'm Not Havin' It," a duet with MC Lyte—that raised his profile. A guest spot on Brand Nubian’s One for All and another on Grand Puba's Reel to Reel, along with a self-released, Big Daddy Kane-produced single, "Nightshift", set the stage for The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills, his full-length debut, released on Island Records. The album balanced themes of Nation of Gods and Earths with gangsta-isms and more pop-based moments. Meanwhile, he kept his Creative Control label in operation, signing and cultivating new talent. He was featured on WYBE's Old School Show, where he was awarded the #3 slot on the list of early hip-hop pioneers.

In 1993, Positive K appeared with Beavis and Butt-head on The Beavis and Butt-head Experience in a remix of "Come to Butt-head." The song is hidden at the end of the album on the same CD track as "I Got You Babe," which Beavis & Butt-head performed with Cher. The same year, Positive K briefly appeared in the Robert De Niro film A Bronx Tale as one of the angry protesters.

In 2006, Positive K appeared on Nas' "Where Are They Now" '90s remix.

Discography[link]

References[link]

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