Tank car bottom outlet valve operating assembly

A railway tank car comprising:

• a tank for transporting a commodity;
• a bottom outlet valve coupled to an underside of the tank, comprising:
• a valve control surface, wherein flow of the commodity out of the tank and bottom outlet valve is controlled by rotation of the valve control surface, and wherein a position of the bottom outlet valve is controlled by a stem coaxial with the rotational axis and rotationally coupled to the bottom outlet valve;
• a valve operating assembly comprising:
• a slide rotationally coupled to and transversely slidable relative to the stem;
• wherein at least one of the stem or slide comprises a shape that facilitates rotational coupling with a handle;
• a fastening plate;
• a protective plate coupled to the underside of the tank approximately parallel to the longitudinal tank center plane in a fixed position offset in a direction along an axis of the stem, wherein the valve operating assembly is coupled to the protective plate via the fastening plate;
• and
• the slide of the valve operating assembly further comprising a connector for engaging the protective plate or fastening plate to limit rotation of the slide about the bottom outlet valve rotational axis when in a first position and free to rotate about the bottom outlet valve rotational axis when in a second position.