Hopper bottom boxcar.....

[Philip H]

These cars were also numbered BCOL 2126 and 2127, from about 1973 to 1990.

Yeah . . . the problem with doing the internet search is those numbers are now on BCOL/CN locomotives.  So I think Dave's pics (plus the one in the Model Railroader Bull Session column that sirenwerks pointed me to) may be the only ones in print.

[wazzou]

Found an interesting photo today...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/D-S-RARE-BRITISH-COLUMBIA-NSC-COVERED-HOPPER-BOXCAR-2127-RAILROAD-SLIDE-/140943925165?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d0e99fad

[BCR 570]

I just came across this post today during a search on information for these cars, which I have been interested in for a long time.  As has been noted previously, the history of these cars is not described accurately in the caption.  They were built by National Steel car and trialled on the CN and CP, then went to the British Columbia Railway where they became BCOL 2126 and BCOL 2127.  They ran for several years with the railway's reporting marks on the left side and a large NSC logo on the right side.  Photos from 1974 show them in grain service between Dawson Creek and Prince Rupert.  At a later date they received BCR dogwood logograms, which presumably indicated that the railway had purchased them outright.

BCOL 2126 eventually acquired Milwaukee Road 1 and logo on the left side, and presumably went between the BCR and MILW on the barge service which connected the two railways.  I was unaware that BCOL 22127 had become MILW 2 until seeing the scanned page in this thread.  The dates of the photographs, if correct, place the joint BCR/MILW scheme in my era of 1977.

Re the earlier comment on the flooring:  the cars had a permanent heavy duty steel grate floor which could either support a lumber load or allow grain to pass through to the hoppers below.  Photographs of the cars in BCR service clearly indicate that they were definitely used in grain service.

I have been contemplating a scratchbuild of one or both of these cars for a long time.  There was indeed a line drawing of one of the cars published in one of the model railway magazines years ago and I have a copy somewhere.  I also have numerous photographs of the cars although sadly no end view or overhead view.

I obtained some Intermountain cylindrical hopper end ladder assemblies years ago as potential parts for these cars.  I could likely scratch-build the body and doors, but would love to find some suitable hopper bays to avoid having to build those.  BCOL 2126 would require a donor car with six smaller bays in about forty feet or so, and BCOL 2127 would require a donor car with four larger bays in about forty feet.  I 'll have to post a question to the N Scale board to see if anyone knows of suitable donor cars.

Does anyone happen to know how to contact the photographer Da Holbrook or the collector Mike Faletti whose pictures appear in the book?


Tim

[wazzou]

...Does anyone happen to know how to contact the photographer Da Holbrook or the collector Mike Faletti whose pictures appear in the book?

Tim

I believe I have emails for both though it may take me a “minute” to find them.
I know Mike Faletti posts frequently on the MILW Modelers .io group.

[eja]

Did anyone else's heart skip a beat when they saw a thread started by Puddington ?

Mine did - then I realized it is, after all,  April Fool's Day.

We miss you Puddy.

eja

[CBQ Fan]

Did anyone else's heart skip a beat when they saw a thread started by Puddington ?

Mine did - then I realized it is, after all,  April Fool's Day.

We miss you Puddy.

eja

Agreed!

[johnb]

Did anyone else's heart skip a beat when they saw a thread started by Puddington ?

Mine did - then I realized it is, after all,  April Fool's Day.

We miss you Puddy.

eja

agreed, I instantly was wondering if we could change him from crew to Lord Zog

[BCR 570]

Yes, I thought that might get a few people's attention but it seemed more appropriate to reply to this thread rather than start a new one as I needed to reference some earlier comments.

I have spent the afternoon scanning photographs and compiliing dimensions from the BCR Revenue car Catalogue.

I have since learned that the larger car was built in September 1969 and operated initially as CN 399999; the smaller car was built in July 1970 and tested on CP Rail.  Both cars were on the BCR by 1974 and were re-stencilled NSC 3-73 which suggests to me that they were leased to BCR at that time.  The NSC logos were still on the cars. 

The larger car has six hopper bays and the smaller one has five.  These are on 6'-9" centres.  I am still trying to figure out how the smaller car has a longer internal length . . . (41'-5" vs. 41'-7").

Contacts for the photographers would be great.  Mike Faletti appear to be a Bay Area Milwaukee modeller.


Tim

[cv_acr]

Yeah . . . the problem with doing the internet search is those numbers are now on BCOL/CN locomotives.  So I think Dave's pics (plus the one in the Model Railroader Bull Session column that sirenwerks pointed me to) may be the only ones in print.

I realize this is a 7 year old comment from the original thread... but it's not true. There are no BCOL 2100 series locomotives. CN 2100 yes, but that shouldn't affect any searches for BCOL.

[samusi01]

I realize this is much earlier than the recent replies, but the GN apparently had "several thousand" (haven't bothered to cross-check an ORER, so this is an internet comment) drop bottom boxcars in the 1920s.

Here's the end of one in NYC, 1919:

http://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A68532

The words "hopper bo[ttom]" are just visible under the road number.

[BCR 570]

I have been trying to ascertain the possible date of the photograph posted above showing BCOL 2127 as MILW 2.  A check of ORER records indicates that the car was in service with BC Rail until 1990, so it must have come back north at some point.  i have a photograph of BCOL 2127 still in NSC livery in 25 March 1975 and a photo in BCR livery dated 23 May 1980 (with the larger placard on the left) so the photograph of the car as MILW 2 dates from somewhere between mid 1975 and early 1980.  This more or less coincides with the Milwaukee Road's end of service in the western states, as I can remember seeing stored orange diesels below my university dorm room in Bellingham WA during 1979-1980.

I am now curious as to the exact arrangement between the two railways for these cars.  They went to the trouble of renumbering them and adding MILW logos and numbers, yet retained the BCR logograms.  I know that the two railways had a fairly close relationship via barge, and during hte 1970s there are lots of photos of BCR boxcars with lumber going through places like Avery Montana.

I do not have a photograph of the larger car, BCOL 2126, after 15 April 1978 when it still had the MILW logo and number, but it also came back north at some point as it served on BC Rail until 1992.

For my era of 1977, a rare opportunity to model freight cars with logos for two different railways!

Tim

[nkalanaga]

Yes, the BN tried it, with similarly uninspiring results:
https://lsrm-nssr.fandom.com/wiki/Burlington_Northern_%22Bopper%22_Boxcars_Nos._800000,_800001,_800004

[Philip H]

Yes, the BN tried it, with similarly uninspiring results:
https://lsrm-nssr.fandom.com/wiki/Burlington_Northern_%22Bopper%22_Boxcars_Nos._800000,_800001,_800004

Like i need ANOTHER scratchbuilding project . . . .

[C855B]

Like i need ANOTHER scratchbuilding project . . . .

Hmmmm... but 800000 looks to be a pretty reasonable kitbash.

(Take a look again at that picture of 800004 - is that rust? Were they actually aluminum, or just painted to look that way?)

[nkalanaga]

It's rust.  I suspect that the sides were aluminum, but the ribs and door posts were steel.