| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Class LO-3 85401 at Cicero, Illinois on October 17, 1982, Kodachrome by Gib Allbach, Chuck Zeiler collection. The following is from Burlington Route Historical Society's Bulletin 20, COVERED HOPPERS, edited by Hol Wagner; The Burlington was one of the first roads to purchase examples of AC&F's revolutionary Center Flow cars, acquiring 10 of the 3.500 cubic foot versions in May 1963. Built at AC&F's Huntington, West Virginia shops, the LO-3 class had one compartment, six loading hatches, and three Enterprise gravity outlets. The car's clean lines result from the tubular design, which allowed elimination of outside posts commonly used for structural bracing in traditional designs. Not truly cylindrical, the design actually featured an oval or "inverted teardrop" cross section. Predating the era of trough loading hatches (featured on future orders of the same design ), the 10 LO-3's each had six circular centerline hatches for filling the car's single compartment. The CB&Q LO-3 class was renumbered into the BN 441000 - 441009 series. |