For PRR fans:
Referencing
Pennsylvania Railroad Steel Open Hopper Cars by John Teichmoeller
The PRR had 300 of these cars as class GLd. In 1919 the PRR was originally allocated 2,000 and PRR Lines West ( which up until 1920 acted as a separate entity from the main PRR) was allocated 2,500. Some background wheeling and dealing ended up with PRR getting an actual count of 300 USRA cars while the resources for the rest went toward 3,000 H25 class cars. These 300 cars were originally lettered and delivered to the Long Island RR as #'s 5000-5299. Later between 1929 and 1930 they were transferred to PRR and numbered 220000 - 220299. They hung around until the early 1950's as in the 1950 OERR there were 295 still listed, but by 1953 only 39 remained and they were virtually gone by 1958. With a total roster of the GL and H series hoppers totaling just under 100,000 in the 1930's, this group of 300 cars is pretty minor, but the looks can be different enough from the prolific GLa class to make a nice change.
How does this pertain to the new Bluford Shop release? Although none come lettered for the PRR (yet - 2nd run?) they are offering undecorated models and Microscale has just released a decal set (
60-1510) which has markings for the GLd so rolling your own isn't that much of a stretch.
As for my other interest, the C&O:
Referencing
Chesapeake & Ohio Freight Cars 1937-1965: Volume 1 Hopper and Gondola Cars by Al Kresse, Jr and
Chesapeake & Ohio Freight Cars 1937-1946 by Carl Shaver (with Al Kresse and Karen Parker)
The C&O was allocated 2,000 of these cars and they were built in 1919 and given road numbers 62000 - 63999. In 1932 a group of twenty-three were rebuilt with paneled sides which increased their capacity by nearly a ton of coal. However, these cars were never listed separately in the OERR. The rest were rebuilt as needed with the bulk (1973) (re-)rebuilt in 1943 - 46. These latter rebuilds had a slightly higher capacity due to the additions of end extensions of various types (arch, single notched and double notched). This group of cars lasted until 1954 when they were stricken from the C&O roster.
In addition, there were two other small groups of USRA clones which the C&O acquired through mergers in 1925. Cars 19300-19389 came from the merging The Sandy River & Elkhorn Railroad company and cars 20975 - 20999 with The Sewell Valley RR. Later, in 1933, ex-SV cars 20988 - 20999 were sold to the NYC. All of the remaining acquisition cars were retired by 1953.
The C&O also bought 2,000 cars in the 60000 - 61999 series in 1917 and 1918 which were very close to the specifications and looks of the USRA series cars being 6" shorter in length and 8" in height. Rivet patterns vary also. These would be a close stand-in, but not exact. Of these, there were twenty-four cars were rebuilt in 3 batchs into covered hoppers and assigned 200 series numbers - 200 - 218 (1932, 1934) and 219 - 223 (1936). These cars were all retired by 1950.
These cars all originally were built with Andrews trucks and retained them throughout their service.
From the depiction in the Bluford Shops
announcement, it appears that the model offered will be a late 1930's rebuild before end extensions were added.
