The coil car is a specialized gondola or flatcar fitted with permanent saddle-shaped cradles to transport steel coils in an upright orientation. Steel coils are extremely dense and concentrated-load items that would damage a flat car deck or roll uncontrollably inside a standard gondola. Coil cars spread the load across multiple cradle supports and keep each coil from contacting adjacent coils. The cars cycle between flat-rolled steel mills and stamping plants, service centers, and pipe mills.
Gondola body with a removable or retractable hood cover to protect coils from weather and contamination during transit.
Saddle cradles in an open gondola or flatcar body; used where surface oxidation of hot-rolled coils is acceptable.
Lighter-duty cradles and softer protective saddle materials to prevent surface damage to high-value aluminum coil stock.
Coil cars shuttle flat-rolled steel between integrated steel mills and mini-mills and their downstream customers including automotive stamping plants, appliance manufacturers, and steel service centers.