Railcar Unloading Products

Reduce Unloading Site Dirt & Safety Issues

The POCKETPATH Hopper Car Connector is Industry's most heavy-duty and cost effective solution for eliminating the time consuming, dangerous, and environmentally harmful job of unloading covered hopper cars. The Connector is regularly specified for unloading sites where wind-blown powder or product dust can create pollution problems; where moisture, dirt or other contaminants can't be tolerated; where it's difficult to control insect or rodent infestation; where it can help with meeting OSHA or EPA guidelines for railcar unloading sites; where the chance of worker injury is high because of the dangerous practices of climbing under cars to manually clean-out hopper grooves and attach boots.

The POCKETPATH Connector is designed to easily install aboveground, between the track flanges and below the top of the track rails. Installation can be completed by a 3-man crew in less than 4-hours including attaching the Connector's funnel boots to the under-track storage or transport system.

From then on, unloading the hopper car is a one-man, hassle-free, 4-step job:

• Rough spot the car over the connector
• Use the connector's manual or pneumatic aligner to precisely align the connector to the railcar pockets
• Set the spread rod adjustment stops so that the funnels line-up with the car pockets
• Move to the site-convenient control console to activate the DL Valve for the dual lift cylinders which raise the unit, and DS Valve (for the dual spread cylinders which spread the funnels to align with the railcar pockets)

The connector then automatically and smoothly rises, with a constant 2500 lbs. of sealing force, as the railcar empties, and continuously self-adjusts to the railcar's cant.

After the car is unloaded, the valves are reversed to close the funnels, and lower the Connector to its rest position beneath the track tops. Total plant air consumed < 3 CFM @ 80 PSI of a filtered, regulated & lubricated air supply. Finally, the Operator locks the Control Console's hinged lid to prevent unauthorized use . . . and moves onto the next job.