Bluford Rebuilt War Emergency Hoppers - Eating Crow

[Kentuckian]

I have been waiting for these in C&O for what seems like a long time. They recently came out and as usual for Bluford Shops are superb. Several month ago I bought one in another paint scheme, stripped it, painted it black, and laid it aside to decal. I was going to post it here with a message something like “I couldn’t wait and did it myself.” Well, Bluford came through and my model is still waiting for decals!

Thanks @Bluford Craig for all you do. I can’t imagine what it takes to bring one product to delivery, not to mention several at once. Even in “normal” times I’m sure this is difficult. A worldwide pandemic that is now in its third year and other worldwide situations that affect credit, shipping, etc. just makes everything much more difficult, I imagine.

Thanks again for supporting the old C&O with your products.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I have been waiting for these in C&O for what seems like a long time. They recently came out and as usual for Bluford Shops are superb. Several month ago I bought one in another paint scheme, stripped it, painted it black, and laid it aside to decal. I was going to post it here with a message something like “I couldn’t wait and did it myself.” Well, Bluford came through and my model is still waiting for decals!

Thanks @Bluford Craig for all you do. I can’t imagine what it takes to bring one product to delivery, not to mention several at once. Even in “normal” times I’m sure this is difficult. A worldwide pandemic that is now in its third year and other worldwide situations that affect credit, shipping, etc. just makes everything much more difficult, I imagine.

Thanks again for supporting the old C&O with your products.

Here here.

There's a reason their stuff makes up a surprisingly large slice of my roster.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[bbussey]

Here here.

There's a reason their stuff makes up a surprisingly large slice of my roster.

Hmmm ... The top five I get, but I'm having trouble figuring out which MDC models would comprise 3.7% of a freight equipment roster on a 1980s Conrail layout.  Also surprised BLMA is not a larger slice given the gons are the only 100% prototypical N model for CR.

[Tristan Ashcroft]

Hmmm ... The top five I get, but I'm having trouble figuring out which MDC models would comprise 3.7% of a freight equipment roster on a 1980s Conrail layout.  Also surprised BLMA is not a larger slice given the gons are the only 100% prototypical N model for CR.

If memory serves, one MDC car is assembled from a Railbox kit from about 1989...  If that helps give you a sense of the range of possibilities here...

[bbussey]

Yes, I forgot about the old modern boxcar kits.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Hmmm ... The top five I get, but I'm having trouble figuring out which MDC models would comprise 3.7% of a freight equipment roster on a 1980s Conrail layout.  Also surprised BLMA is not a larger slice given the gons are the only 100% prototypical N model for CR.

I love their 50' boxcar kits and have a bunch of gons.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[bbussey]

Yup, I forgot about the kits.  I've unloaded most of mine so I forgot about them.  The one feature that stood out for me was the outstanding low-ride height, which was unprecedented at the time.

My breakdown is different.  I've been weening off MTL in recent years as other manufacturers have stepped up, but recently my MTL numbers have increased with the acquisition of circus freight and heavyweight passenger equipment for the NH era, and weathered freight product for the CR era.  Regarding my freight rosters which are the most extensive, I have at least one representative model from 26 different manufacturers/brass-importers for the NH Era, plus kitbashes and scratchbuilts items; 14 different manufacturers/importers plus kitbashes and scratchbuilts for the passenger roster; and 12 different manufacturers/importers plus scratchbuilts (the EP3) in motive power.  The Top 10 in each category is as follows:

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

My NH Bluford content is high due to three distinct models being prototypically accurate for New Haven and that makes up the bulk of it.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

With my CR era, I have models from 34 distinct manufacturers/importers plus kitbashes and scratchbuilts on the freight roster; only 3 manufacturers plus kitbashes and scratchbuilts on the passenger roster; and 10 manufacturers/importers plus kitbashes on the motive power roster.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

My CR-era Bluford models are not as extensive, but there is a footprint.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[reinhardtjh]

Thanks again for supporting the old C&O with your products.

Old, but not quite old enough for me and my 1948-ish target year.  But I do have their versions of the cars that these were rebuilt from!

[thomasjmdavis]

My first Bluford product was a GTW caboose, from the days when, I assume, Craig B. was doing limited run paint jobs, since the car itself was made by MDC.

The first Bluford hoppers on my roster were a 3 pack of Monon (CIL, they also did the MON marks) 3 bay hoppers.  I was really impressed. At about the same time as the Monon purchase, I picked up a couple of Atlas and MTL hoppers to compare, and have bought something like 20 more Bluford hoppers since.  And none made by anyone else.  Of course, it didn't hurt that they brought out 3 different prototypes of 2 bay hoppers, each in 6 numbers in a different C&EI 40s or 50s paint scheme.

So, I have enough of a roster that Bluford is not a particularly large portion, but in terms of hoppers, they are the #1 supplier.