Author Topic: coal hoppers  (Read 1530 times)

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Flatrat

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coal hoppers
« on: July 19, 2012, 12:28:11 AM »
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I'm looking for smooth running coal hopper cars for my 1940-1950 Western Maryland freight. What manufacturer can folks recommend?

bbussey

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Re: coal hoppers
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2012, 01:42:08 AM »
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They all perform well.  If you are not looking for models that fit specific prototype criteria, then any of them will do.  If you are looking for models of specific prototypes, you'll have to check the models of the four or five manufacturers that make coal hoppers of that era to see which are closest in accuracy to the desired prototypes.

Bryan Busséy
NHRHTA #2246
NSE #1117
www.bbussey.net


John

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Re: coal hoppers
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2012, 05:56:40 AM »
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I think the Atlas 2bay and 3 bay fit the bill ..

SkipGear

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Re: coal hoppers
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2012, 09:35:59 AM »
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Lee would know best but WM has been done by:

Atlas 55T Fishbelly 2 bay
Bachmann 3 bay
Bluford shops 3 bay
Bowser H21a's 3 bay
MicroTrains 2 bay

I'm sure there are some I missed. If you want to get more specific on era and region, it's time for some research.
Tony Hines

Bob Bufkin

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Re: coal hoppers
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2012, 09:51:40 AM »
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All mentioned are good running hoppers.  However, the Bowser cars need the couplers replaced with newer knuckle types and they are a pain to remove.  Nice cars and I hope when and if they ever do a rerun they replace with more modern couplers.

Bluford Craig

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Re: coal hoppers
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2012, 11:35:55 AM »
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Our 14-panel rib side hoppers are a bit too new for your era but the offset side hoppers were quite common during that period:
http://www.bluford-shops.com/bluford_93_002.htm

Craig
Bluford Shops LLC.

wm3798

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Re: coal hoppers
« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2012, 11:49:58 AM »
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Highly recommend the Atlas 55T fish belly.  It's available in the older round herald scheme, which should make up the majority of your fleet.  The WM's fleet was limited to these smaller cars due to the limitations of the rotary dumper at Port Covington.  As that was upgraded in the early 60's, many of the 55T cars got rebuilt into slightly longer 66T capacity.  The 70t cars that Craig offers were introduced in 1959 or so.  The speedletter paint scheme was introduced in mid 1954, so if you run a few of them you're good, just don't weather them much.  There's at least one photo I'm aware of that shows a WM H-9 consolidation in the same frame with a freshly painted speedlettered car, so you have a little latitude to mix and match.  (Speed started appearing in the spring of 54, steam was gone by the end of October).

MDC/Roundhouse also offers a 70T car that's a reasonable stand in, but again, it's a newer car than might fit your era.

The good news is that the car numbers that Atlas has used represent the cars as originally built.  These lasted for decades, but many were rebuilt into newer classes with different numbers, although the outward appearance barely changed.  (Most of the upgrades were mechanical)

You can read more about how I tinker with them here:
http://www.wmrywesternlines.net/rs_atlashoppers.php

You can use the Micro Trains 2-bay hopper that's been done as a custom paint job, if you can find them.  They're not accurate, but are a reasonable stand in for older classes of WM hoppers.

The black MT car that shows up now and again is an original Kadee car, but it's grossly inaccurate including the round herald on a black car.  Prior to the introduction of the round herald, 1930s vintage hoppers were black, but apart from a few murky black and white photos that show a "dark" car with a round herald, there's no evidence that the logo appeared on anything but oxide red.

Hope this helps.
Lee
Rockin' It Old School

Lee Weldon www.wmrywesternlines.net

Flatrat

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Re: coal hoppers
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2012, 12:14:26 PM »
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Thanks everyone. Exactly the info I was searching for.

Scott