Coal hopper for transition era ?

B

Biased turkey

Active Member
Apr 10, 2006
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Montreal, Canada Eh
I'm looking for a transition era coal hopper.
Could someone please tell me if an Atlas 90 tons hopper is appropriate ?
If yes, is there any other manufacturer than Atlas who build such a hopper ?

Jacques
 
I believe that the prototype for the Atlas 90 ton hopper (and the similar Micro-Trains 100 ton hopper) was built starting in the 1960's.

Rob's Pennsy Page has the prototype as being the PRR's H39 class hopper, for example.

I guess the 1960's would be a bit late for Transition Era. I'd look at smaller cars, like the Micro-Trains and Atlas two bay hoppers.
 
Jacques...The type of road you model is as important as the time frame it's set in. The premier coal-haulers would most certainly have the latest designs on their tracks as soon as they could get their hands on them. Secondary lines and branch lines would probably be running "vintage" rolling stock from the 30's-40's....R/R rolling stock led surprisingly long lives....
 
Thanks George, railroader9731 and Gus for taking some of your valuable time to reply.
With your help I think I found the right CN coal hopper:

Bowser Mfg - Pennsylvania Class GLa 2-Bay Open Hopper w/Accumate Couplers; Ready to Run -- Canadian National (brown)

Pennsy's Home-built Hoppers in N Scale from Bowser ? Pennsy's first all-steel hoppers were built in 1898 by Pressed Steel Car Co. but design flaws and production backlogs convinced Pennsy to construct their own improved version, the home-built GLa class. These hoppers became a PRR standard with over 30,000 built between 1904 and 1920. The cars lasted into the 1960s and a few remained in work train service into the 1980s. The GLa class was one of the most common coal hoppers in North America, so they'll look right at home on your steam- or early diesel-era layout. Ready-to-run GLa Hoppers from Bowser come equipped with AccuMate(R) knuckle couplers and feature authentic paint schemes. ?

CN2bay.gif


Any coment about that choice ? I think it'll look good coupled to a CN GP7


Jacques
 
Wasnt sure if you were looking for something like a 90 ton so i went 70 ton. how could i forgetwall1 the nyo&w road that im doing (1956) had and bought that class from pennsy, i think they would look good:thumb:
 
Many of the Bowser schemes are correct for the GLa, but I don't believe all of them are. I personally think that they're more toward the beginning of the transition era than the end of it, but it would certainly work.

The three bay 70 ton hopper-- DUH!-- I'd forgotten about the Athearn/former MDC version. I had only the Con-Cor in my head when replying, and they aren't that easy to find so I didn't want to bring it up.
 
That looks good....although the couplers seem to stick out far too much. Are they truck-mounted couplers..? I'd replace them with body mounted KD5's...
 
steamhead said:
Jacques...The type of road you model is as important as the time frame it's set in. The premier coal-haulers would most certainly have the latest designs on their tracks as soon as they could get their hands on them. Secondary lines and branch lines would probably be running "vintage" rolling stock from the 30's-40's....R/R rolling stock led surprisingly long lives....
Click to expand...

Gus, I see your point.
In my case, I'm not modeling an Apalachian coal-hauling line. Both my small oval and my switching layout are centered on the brewing industry, so I just need a couple of coal hoppers to fuel the brewing kettles.
I didn't find any Canadien National coal hopper at my local hobby store nor with my online Canadian dealer ( Pacific Western Rails System ), but the Norfolk Southern one is . I often see NS cars on the CN line down the road, so it would'n look out of place on my CN layouts.

Jacques
 
Jacques,

Don't forget that the NS merger occurred in 1982... much later than the transition era you were looking for. Pre-merger you'd want Norfolk and Western or Southern! ;)

The Atlas 2-bay hoppers would be appropriate too. Maybe not as nice as the Bowsers, but still... :)
 
Squidbait said:
Jacques,

Don't forget that the NS merger occurred in 1982... much later than the transition era you were looking for. Pre-merger you'd want Norfolk and Western or Southern! ;)

The Atlas 2-bay hoppers would be appropriate too. Maybe not as nice as the Bowsers, but still... :)
Click to expand...

Squidbait , Thanks for reminding me about the N-W and Southern merger. I checked the N-S with wikipedia, it's interesting.

If I can't find a CN hopper, would a New York Central hopper be OK then ?

Jacques
 
Biased turkey said:
If I can't find a CN hopper, would a New York Central hopper be OK then ?

Jacques
Click to expand...

Jacques,

Coal was shipped from all over the place, so you could use whatever roadname suited you. I'm not sure what locale your layout's depiicting, but if you're thinking the Montreal area, coal could have been delivered from any of the NE US roads that served coal country, or conceivably CN or CP from Cape Breton/NS/NB coal mines (although it wasn't great quality coal, from what I understand).
 
Biased turkey said:
So Dave what do you suggest ? Should I scrap all my N scale engines and rolling stock then go the HOn way ?

Jacques
Click to expand...

Nah.... Dave just got a little lost... I've done the same thing, you forget what forum you're posting in.

You could go with the Micro Trains hoppers - they're very nice.
L8500010.jpg
 
Squidbait said:
Nah.... Dave just got a little lost... I've done the same thing, you forget what forum you're posting in.

You could go with the Micro Trains hoppers - they're very nice.
L8500010.jpg
Click to expand...

I see, it never crossed my mind that Dave might be posting in the wrong forum.
No problem Dave.
I apology if I sounded sarcastic.

Ok, I'm checking with Micro-Trains to see what's available.
If I don't find any suitable coal hopper I still have the options to convert my Molson brewery furnaces to fuel oil. It looks like tank cars are easier to find than coal hoppers.

Jacques
 
Biased turkey said:
So Dave what do you suggest ? Should I scrap all my N scale engines and rolling stock then go the HOn way ?

Jacques
Click to expand...

No, I was answering another post about the coupler spacing, that referred to replacing the coupler with Kadee #5. That is an HO coupler.

I think the hopper in the pic looks great for N scale, and believe Bowser cars to be great investments, though I am indeed in HO.

Dave
 
steamhead said:
That looks good....although the couplers seem to stick out far too much. Are they truck-mounted couplers..? I'd replace them with body mounted KD5's...
Click to expand...


Gus,The BEST solution would be to use MT trucks with short shank couplers..Of course advanced N Scale modelers are body mounting the couplers.
 
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