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Robert Ortner, developer of the rapid-discharge door system primarily used on coal cars, died June 20 in Naples, Fla. He was 85.

Ortner was involved in the freight-car business from 1948 to 1982. He served as president of the Ortner Freight Car Co. from 1953 until he retired in 1982.

Ortner and a team of engineers created the rapid-discharge door system in the early 1960s. The original unit train consists were operating for Muskingum Electric Railroad (now AEP) and the Missouri Public Service Co.

"The big breakthrough came when Georgia Power selected the design to transport coal to their growing number of plants in the Southeast," says Ortner's son Rob Ortner, who heads freight-car sales for TrinityRail.

Ortner Freight Car marked the 10,000th rapid-discharge car in October 1980. The company also built a number of specialty cars for the steel, wood products, construction and utility industries.

Trinity Industries Inc. purchased Ortner Freight Car in late 1986 and continues to develop the rapid-discharge system with both updated transverse and longitudinal door applications, says Rob Ortner. Trinity currently offers aluminum hoppers featuring the RDVI and RDL door systems.

Robert Ortner also was an active member of the American Railway Car Institute. He served as chairman of both the overall organization and the engineering and design group, "which he felt was very beneficial to the railroad and car building industry," Rob Ortner says.

In addition to Rob Ortner, Robert Ortner is survived by son Steven and five grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to the Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation, 375 Dixmyth Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45220.

— Jeff Stagl