sklinck1 Wrote:
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> Odd that this never caught on, since intermodal
> trains use 3 and 5 unit articulated sets without
> issue. As far as I know, those cannot be split
> either in the event of a bad order. Perhaps the
> Super Hoppers never caught on because hoppers are
> used more in the single carload market?

There is an inherent design flaw in an articulated trough car set:

Since a trough car set can not be rotary dumped, it must be bottom dumped through the gates. You would position the first unit over the grates and open the gates to dump. Then close those gates and move up to the next unit and open the gates to dump. But this is where the problem comes in. Since there is no wall between the first and second unit, when the second unit is dumped, during that process, some of the coal as it starts to flow will flow back into the first unit. OK, maybe only 500 pounds. BUT, multiply 500 pounds times 100 units and that comes out to 25 tones of extra coal now being hauled back to the origin.

Plus, I wonder how many power stations still unload by bottom dumps rather than by rotary dump. Bottom dump unloading takes 3-5 times as long as rotary dump.