The
Powder River Basin is a hot bed
of coal activity. Ther e
is more coal run out of this one area than all other areas of the
US combined. It is an amazing railfan opportunity, as there is train
after train after train of 100+ cars leaving the basin for power plants
all over the country. The trains pull through a mine and are flow
loaded, with the train continuously moving at very slow speed, while
the loader operator drops up to 110 tons of coal into each aluminum
car. It is an awesome site to see.  The
flow loader piles the coal into the car, and each load settles to
it's own shape. At the other end of the chain,
many of the power plants or shipping docks (yes, some of this high
quality cleaner burning coal goes overseas, too) unload the cars by
rolling them over, while they are still coupled in the train. This
is accomplished by use of a rotary coupler, which needs
to be oriented correctly in the train in order to work. The orientation
is accomplished visually by the unique colored end, or rotary end
on the car. You will find these trains anywhere along their route
with all of the rotaries lined up in the same direction. Each car
is equipped with one rotary coupler, and one fixed coupler (the exceptions
are the double rotary cars, which we'll get to in a second), so that
the car can be rolled over without uncoupling. The most recent version
of the car is constructed of aluminum for weight and strength reasons.
The side stakes are a box shape of aluminum, and have distinctive
crisp square corners. The  earlier
version of the car was made in steel, with folded steel "hat section"
stiles that were thinner and rounder. Johnstown America is a pioneer
in getting the most out of their materials. When they introduced the
revolutionary original all steel construction Bethgon,
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