11-28-2009, 10:23 AM
Our local power utilities have fleets of hoppers. They were/are maintained by Conrail/CSX, and are pretty much always moving. There are I think 2 or 3 80 car trains of private hoppers, with the railroad supplying hoppers as needed to make additional 80 car trains depending on demand. When demand is low, the railroad cars are parked or utilized elsewhere and the private owner cars are kept moving.
-Dave