Does anyone know whether rotary dump gondolas, such as this, is used to transport any ore other than coal or sulfur?
They are used to carry Dried Distillers Grain, the waste from grain fermentation to ethanol, to be used as animal feed. Kato make them in N-scale, complete with the covers used to keep the contents out of the weather. Most ores (and also sulphur) are much denser than coal and so it's not possible to fill the gondola completely, which is wasteful of carrying capacity, so smaller cars are often used.
Years ago 1995-1997, a harbor was getting dredged back on the east coast. They hauled the dredged material back in coal hoppers. The cars were then unloaded, washed out, loaded with coal and sent back east to unload, load with the dredging waste and come back again. This went on for months, the RR was really making $$ with the cars being loaded both ways.
Thank you for the answers.. I bought a set of six such gondolas before I really knew what they were, but the price was good and I like them. The mine I was going to incorporate on my layout wasn't set in stone yet, so I guess it's going to be coal!
