Carbon black is a powdery substance which is a byproduct of the oil refining process. It has many industrial uses, but requires specialized cars for transport...
Sitting next to a string of plastic pellet hoppers, is this carbon black hopper. While it looks like a conventional hopper, and is built similarly to grain hoppers, the difference is the 28 small roof hatches, and the bottom outlet gates, as well as the small sampling spigots on the car sides. As the lettering on the side says, this car is owned by the Sid Richardson Carbon Co. This car is headed to Pete's Plastics, where the carbon black will be used in the manufacture of black plastic flatware.
Another carbon black hopper, of a larger design, this one owned by Cabot. While the previous car was only 4727 cuft., this car is 5750 cuft. It is also an earlier design, dating back to the late 70's, while the other car is a 90's design. Note the red "DO NOT HAMMER ON SIDE OF CAR" warning; hammering has the potential to damage the car lining and thus contaminate the cargo.
This view of the end shows the inlet for pressurizing the car's interior air bags, called "granuflators", which help push the powdery cargo towards the outlet gates.
The opposite end of the car shows another pipe for the granuflator bags. The red lettering over the end ladders warn that there are no side ladders on the car (at least not to the roof). Note also the unique design of the roof ends, which slant down at a different angle than the rest of the roof. Later versions of this car had an even roofline from end-to-end.
This top view shows the 22 16" roof hatches that are typical of carbon black hoppers. Note also the vent pipe in the center of the roof.
Carbon black is widely used in tire manufacturing, and lots of carbon black traffic passed through Hillsdale for many years, on the way to the Kelly Springfield Tire plant in Cumberland, Md. Unfortunately, the plant closed in 1987; a blow to both the city and the railroad.
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