TheRailwire
General Discussion => Product Discussion => Topic started by: Bluford Craig on July 15, 2016, 04:20:43 PM
-
You have heard rumblings and seen the pics of the test shot at the N Scale Convention and the NMRA National... Well we now have the artwork done and have officially opened pre-orders on the first group of the new N scale 8-Panel 2-Bay hoppers. Check them out here: http://www.bluford-shops.com/bluford_93_031.htm
Craig
Bluford Shops
-
Hmm... never saw one of the TAG hoppers without its "TA&G" initials in the upper right hand corner of the carbody and over the years I have seen many!!!
-
Hmm... never saw one of the TAG hoppers without its "TA&G" initials in the upper right hand corner of the carbody and over the years I have seen many!!!
I'll add that. It had rusted off in the prototype photo I was referring to!!!
Thanks for the heads-up.
Craig
-
This is a very good year for New Haven modelers.
-
This is a very good year for New Haven modelers.
Or a bad year for their wallets, depending on your perspective :)
-
Look as I might, I don't see ANY TAG hoppers...
Hmm... same here...
(http://bayouline.com/o2.gif)
-
I have a bunch of their USRA hoppers and think they are really nice.
I assume the New Haven cars are as built in this group?
Randy
-
The New Haven cars are in their 1940 as-built appearance, but with a 1950 service date.
-
A C&O Modeler can never have enough coal hoppers. :D
-
A C&O Modeler can never have enough coal hoppers. :D
Depends on your era. As near as I can tell, these are all good for early 60's on. They were offset side cars originally built for the B&O in 1951-53 and rebuilt between 1964-67 for the C&O as 60-ton hoppers. They lasted into the 80's at least.
Too new for me, but still nice looking cars.
-
It is interesting that this car is being used to represent cars built new in 1940 and also cars rebuilt in a RR's own shops 25 years later, and I am not reading anything here about this or that error from prototype. Not very many cars that can pass muster over that kind of timeframe, and apparently across manufacturers. Is there any information on what the specific prototype for this car is? On one of these pages I noted that it bears a distinct resemblance to some cars built for C&EI by Pressed Steel. What details should I be looking at that would give me a clue just how close it is?
Freight car modeling is in a way new to me. I come from the day when there were 3 boxcars on the N scale hobby shop shelf- one was wood, one was steel with a sliding door, and one was plug door with ribs. In those days, a PS1 with a distinctly postwar door, lettered A.T.&S.F. with a map on the side did not bother me at all running around a track in supposed 1944, but what with Intermountain, Bluford, and recently even Atlas coming to market with prototype specific cars, I try to be more accurate. One of the plans for the "Great, Dream Layout to be Built Someday" is a coal mining operation in Southern Illinois, which means C&EI hoppers (and yep, anticipating the Bluford USRA cars currently in production, but hoping for some future variations, as I don't think C&EI ever met a 2 bay design they did not like).
-
As I discovered in the earlier thread the exact prototype appears to be the C&O hopper, rebuilt in the late 1960's.
That being said the car is also nearly identicle to Pullman Standard 2 bay PS-3 hoppers built from 1953 to the early 1960s. Main differece being ladders vs grab irons, easily fixable.
Bryan mentioned in the same thread that the NH car is also a close match. Does anyone know of a prototype photo online? Would be interested to compare these earlier built Pullman Standard hoppers.
-
The PS-3's are about 2' longer but otherwise very similar. The New Haven cars may have been the first to appear on the design we did. It was probably a simple substitution in the design of rib sides in place of the standard offset sides common during that period. So when C&O and others later rebuilt their offset side hoppers into rib side cars, it's understandable that they would be nearly identical to the New Haven cars of 1940.
Craig
Bluford Shops
-
I'll add that. It had rusted off in the prototype photo I was referring to!!!
Kudos for catching the other "quirk" about the TA&G hoppers... wasn't that often that you will find a twin rated for 70T but these were and you caught that!!! Bravo!!!
-
We're still looking for pics of these cars in original TA&G colors.
Craig
Bluford Shops
-
We're still looking for pics of these cars in original TA&G colors.
This might help, just a little...
http://trainweb.org/tagrailway/rstock/tag6023.jpg (http://trainweb.org/tagrailway/rstock/tag6023.jpg)
-
This is the most exciting release for me this year. You could easily do foob ACL/SCL and NYC cars with this tooling too.
Any chance of peaked ends someday? :)
-
I like the more modern versions too. There's something fun about "old" stuff like this being pulled by things like SD40-2s.
Can I ask what year your reference photos were from for the P&S and PDSX cars?
If they're good for the late 70s, I might pick some up.
-
Crap! :D Guess I'll need to pick up a Clinchfield and SOUTHERN ...
Used to see (60s/70s) a string of Clinchfield cars fairly regularly on the N&W Pokey and once in a while a Southern/Interstate string ...
Mark
-
First of all, thanks to Jerry for posting the picture of the TA&G cars. They look like they're the same blue as their locomotives!
Second, yes Aaron, we will do peaked ends once we clear a few other projects out of the way.
Ed, The P&S and PDSX photos were undated, but in both cases the cars had U-1 dots that puts them at least in 1978 and the dots were weathered so likely several years beyond. The con-stencils are the 1974 to 1982 style. We left off the U-1 dots to back date them a bit.
Craig
Bluford Shops
-
First of all, thanks to Jerry for posting the picture of the TA&G cars. They look like they're the same blue as their locomotives!
Second, yes Aaron, we will do peaked ends once we clear a few other projects out of the way.
Ed, The P&S and PDSX photos were undated, but in both cases the cars had U-1 dots that puts them at least in 1978 and the dots were weathered so likely several years beyond. The con-stencils are the 1974 to 1982 style. We left off the U-1 dots to back date them a bit.
Craig
Bluford Shops
Nice! A few might now make their way to my collection.
Thanks for the info!
-
Here's some photo's of the P&S cars
10/1973 - http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1299555
09/1978 - http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ps/ps8674cba.jpg
04/1979 - http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=778084
07/1982 - http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ps/ps8513agd.jpg
Couldn't find any photos of the Penn-Dixie cars but I did find a couple references to them being used on the Clinchfield between their quarry at Speers Ferry, VA to the Penn Dixie Cement Plant in Kingsport, TN.
I did find this Clinchfield Employee time table that references these cars on page 7 (p9 of the PDF).
http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/CRR/CRR%20ETT%20%232%2011-1-1981.pdf
Under: Speed Restricted Equipment:
"Penn-Dixie cement rock cars PDSX 400-408, 501-515, 701-754 twenty-five (25) M.P.H."
-
Oh yes. This might work out quite well.
-
The 8-Panel 2-Bay hoppers have arrived at MBK and they're selling fast!
I've bagged 26.
Doug
:)
-
This is a very good year for New Haven modelers.
I think you include last year, with the Rapido stuff. But with these hoppers, Bryan, you won't have to chop up those Atlas PS 3-bays to make 2 bays. And prepainted!