| This experimental fiberglass Centerflow covered hopper was arriving in Lafayette on an Espee local with a load from the Cargill salt mine at Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. This was the first of two such cars built by ACF Industries as a joint-venture with Cargill and the Southern Pacific. Both cars featured a filament-wound fiberglass-reinforced polyester body, and unlike most contemporary freight cars, they were riveted together! GLASSHOPPER was built in January 1981 and had a light weight of 59,200 pounds, while GLASSHOPPER II (RNDX 166) was completed in April 1983 and weighed 5,000 pounds less. Although the GLASSHOPPERS were lighter then all-steel cars, and offered better corrosion resistance for loads such as salt, their higher cost precluded further development. The RNDX reporting mark belonged to ACF, but these two cars were never listed in the OFFICIAL RAILWAY EQUIPMENT REGISTER. |