• styrene bodies
• metal handrails where appropriate
• razor-sharp painting and printing
• free-rolling trucks and knuckle couplers
• Developed by the Union Tank Car Company during the 1960s, Funnel-Flow cars carry all kinds of liquids and slurries (mixtures of water and other materials) that can be unloaded by gravity. The car name says it all -- the entire tank is slightly lower in the middle, so the contents flow towards the lowest point, like a funnel, for faster, more complete unloading. Funnel-Flow tank cars come in several lengths; dense, heavy liquids are shipped in shorter cars; lighter fluids move in the 54-footers. Many cars that haul thick liquids such as asphalt, molten sulfur and corn syrup, have with internal heating coils to reheat the contents for faster unloading These cars are favorites of the chemical and paper industries and a great way to expand traffic on your railroad. You'll find them hauling kaolin slurries to paper mills, fuel additives to refineries and food additives to processing plants. And, you'll also find them running as unit trains, moving molten sulfur

Photo courtesy of Walthers