Re: More WP&Y, and reply to Bill Barbour

Bob,
I think I am coming in on the middle of a discussion here so please excuse me if I repeat something someone else has already referred to. I work at Alcoa's Davenport Works rolling mill. Alcoa (the former Aluminum Company of America, now known only as Alcoa, Inc since more half of our locations and business is offshore) has recently become the industry leader in supplying aluminum sheet to the railcar industry including all the big names such as Trinity, etc. The technology exists out there to construct aluminum based rolling stock, some is riveted and some is welded, and some use both methods. There may be someone out there willing to share some design principles for this application. Today, nearly all coal train hoppers are aluminum. Steel based covered hoppers are now also being replaced by steel. Next on the horizon is boxcars, gons and anything else they can stick aluminum on. Todays aluminum alloys are so varied that almost anything that steel was used for can be replaced by aluminum (or at least 90% of the car can, usually the center sill is left in steel). The aluminum used depends, of course, on what construction process will be involved. At least that's what our sales and PR departments want us all to think. Up to last year, our rolling mill supplied the industry with 90% of the aluminum sheet used in aluminum railcar production in the U.S.(I don't know what the current status is).
I casually suggested replacing the side sheets with aluminum on the EBT hoppers at Chama last summer to the contractor who was going to repair them. Building new passenger cars with a mix of aluminum extrusions and Fiberglass side panels (what the present Chama cars have) would indeed offer a significant weight reduction.
Eliminating the helper would thus be a plus, allowing that engine to pull a second train each day providing more per mile income.
I would be disappointed not riding behind a double header though. Last summer was the first time I have had the opportunity to ride behind a double header, and I cannot describe the "rush" I kept getting as the train climbed to Cumbres. I had dreamed of riding a double header for years, wondering how I could manage to make it happen. Then, last summer came along and the double headers occurred daily. I would miss that tremendous steam show that two engines put on. But that is probably as frivolous as the gentleman last year who lamented on these pages about sitting in the Chama yard in the evening with five locomotives under steam all around him quietly simmering away. Maybe the double headers should be sold as an "extra fare" adder on certain days?
I have digressed enough here, but, IMHO, the aluminum issue certainly merits further investigation.
Mark