Burlington Northern’s very unique Trough Train slinks around six curves on Montana Rail Link’s Ten Subdivision at Perma, Montana, on September 11, 1998. These huge 278-foot, 13-unit articulated cars were designed by BN and built by Johnstown America Corporation. Each monster car had a stenciled capacity of 28,740 cubic feet. There were 23 cars built and this train could haul an equivalent of 146 standard coal hoppers, at a reduced weight due to lighter construction weight of these aluminum cars. The Trough Train was stored not long after photo was taken, and the train was sent to scrap in 2004. I believe two of the problems that occurred with these experimental cars is metal (aluminum) fatigue and that coal (dust) was very abrasive to the sliding plates of the articulated joints.
