HO ACF 4600 3-Bay Center Flow Hopper, VTR # 6008 Overview
The 3-bay Center Flow covered hopper first entered service in the mid-1960s, built by American Car and Foundry. The cars handle loads such as grain, corn, and similar bulk commodities. The Center Flow design relies on the car's rounded body to provide structural strength - eliminating the traditional center sill and making gravity unloading easier.
Our 3-bay car represents the common 4600 cu.ft. capacity version. The railroads looking to replace their aging 40' box cars in grain service needed a modern hopper design - one that could operate within the tighter Plate B clearances for light branchline and industrial service. ACF's design won them many contracts from a plethora of railroads. One can find these cars still in revenue service today in grain trains and other similar service.