USRA 55 Ton Hopper

[Mark5]

I am tentatively excited about this car since it has NEVER been done in N scale.

(See Jason's pic below)

http://www.bachmanntrains.net/Catalogs/2013/NMRA_2013.pdf

Nice article on the USRA 55 tonner here: http://www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/441/32199/may-1995-page-5

If the tooling is decent, I may pick up a few and paint them for VGN.

Mark

[pjm20]

I can't wait for these too. There were thousands produced for many railroads, and they also were cloned many times too. These lasted all the way to the 50s and 60s so every steam and transition era modeler should have a few. I congratulate Bachmann on producing these.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I dunno, the rivets look really big. I hope they look good in person.

[wcfn100]

This pic is a little clearer.





Jason

[Sokramiketes]

Ribs are shallow, but at least the panels are all the same size unlike the HO Accurail car...

[sirenwerks]

This pic is a little clearer.

Geez, small car or huge couplers?

Mike, that proto photos got a bit harsher light that might accentuate the ribs  bit.

[Mark5]

Geez, small car or huge couplers?

Bachmann's N scale knuckle couplers make the Mchenry's seem small.

Mark

[Sokramiketes]

Geez, small car or huge couplers?

Mike, that proto photos got a bit harsher light that might accentuate the ribs  bit.

The lighting in the proto photo isn't affecting the model, which has poorly executed ribbing.

[wes_sutton]

MRP fo $25 - surely they jest.

[SkipGear]

MRP fo $25 - surely they jest.

MSRP is certainly up there for a car needed in bulk but remember that Bachmann stuff generally sells in the 30-40% off range so you are closer to the $15-18 per car, closer to a standard price for a hopper.

[wcfn100]

Do those trucks match anything found in nature?  I don't believe I've ever seen quite so much 'spring' (or that much peak at the top besides an archbar).


Jason

[bbussey]

They look like Pennsy trucks.  I don't know the class.

I see that New Haven had them, riding on Andrews trucks.  So it looks like I'll be thinning my MTL fleet once again.

[Mark5]

Don't know if there are any Virginian fans left on here, but the VGN H6 class is based on this design:

Fuzzy photo but you get the idea: http://www.appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/protophotos/vgn11234.jpg

These became class H26 on the N&W and some did get N&W paint. They lasted on N&W until the mid 1970s.

Mark

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Do those trucks match anything found in nature?  I don't believe I've ever seen quite so much 'spring' (or that much peak at the top besides an archbar).


Jason

I doubt it, their "100T" roller bearing trucks have the same pogo stick springs and giant arched look. Comparing to the proto photo, the trucks look to be about 10% oversize.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

At the World's Greatest Hobby show in San Mateo, CA back in March I talked with the Bmann rep quite a bit, both to thank them for the 2-6-0 and Ten Wheeler and to ask WTF's up with the huge couplers.

The dude made a good point: as one of the complaints (valid or not) about N scale is the "operational reliability" (i.e. it can't be the model's fat fingers that are at fault so it must be the model's), Bachmann made the couplers a bit oversized to ensure super operational reliability.

Real modelers are going to tear out the couplers and replace them with Z's anyway (we do that with the "smaller" MTL's as well, yes?), so why not just make the RTR couplers ready for the Sunday/armchair modeler, while focus on making the bodys have the better detail us real modelers appreciate.

Makes sense to me.

Most the new Bmann rolling stock has very good metal wheels and crisp detail on the bodys (the California Wine Cars are very, very nice).

As most of us would need a choad-load of 55T hoppers I wish they came out with decently priced "runner packs". 
Need at least 12-15 cars just to make a "small" train.
Maybe I can sell fracking rights on my (rented) property to pay it all off and forward