USRA 55 Ton Hopper

[wm3798]

Okay, here's the epistle according to Jack Brown...
H-5, numbered 10001-10500
Built 1939, rebuilt in the company shops, 1955
Fishbelly.  Very similar to the Atlas car (end ladders instead of the grabs on the Atlas car)

H-7, Fishbelly 10801-11300
Built 1947, rebuilt 1962 in Johnstown

H-9, Fishbelly 11401-12400 Built 1948, later rebuilt to 66 ton capacity at Elkins in the mid 60s

H-32, Fishbelly 21011-21123, Built by Bethlehem 1953.  Rebuilt 1970 and renumbered

H-33  Fishbelly 21124-21318 rebuilt from class H-11 1971-72 (no info on H-11)

H-34 Fishbelly 21319-21553 also rebuilt from H-11

H-21 Fishbelly 17001-17400 - These are the cars with 66T capacity that were rebuilt at Elkins from H-9s.  They're on a longer frame, and have 2 more panels than the Atlas cars.

H-24, same as above, 66T 17801-18100
H-27, same as above, originally H-9, rebuilt to 66T 18101-18400
H-28 another 66T rebuild, 18401-18900.

H-19 Wood chip car 2901-2930- channel side, flat sill, rebuilt from series 15000-16499 channel side hoppers
H-25 Wood chip car 2932-2940 another rebuild from channel side cars
H-30 Wood chip car, 2941-2950 fish belly.  I built some of these for wood chip service on the layout.

So, straight sill, the only info I have at hand would say would be that WM cars would be channel sides, at least in the era from 1939 forward, or they'd be fishbellies.  That said, the Bachmann car is a pleasant foob, not to be mistaken for an actual prototype car.

I hope this is useful.

Lee

[Mark5]

Looking here:

http://www.alphabetroute.com/wm/rosterpdfs/WMFreightClass.pdf

It appears the H12 and H13 WM twins were also Fishbelly.

Mark

[SkipGear]

Thanks for the info Lee. Ok, so the WM are close, but not great, so I am counting them out. So far we got the PRR H31 and the VGN H12/13 for the MTL hopper. Anybody got anything else? I bet there is a B&O class that will match.

According to those that know the B&O hopper fleet better than I, these are correct for N-17, N-17a, N-17b, and N-26 classes. N-17's were originally built for B&O, the a, b, and N-26 classes were aquired from other roads. In 1940, there were 4,600 USRA cars of a 20,000 car 2 bay hopper fleet. The lettering appears to be correct but until we have them in hand, the jury is still out. Everything built new after 1940 was an offset side style so the later you go, the fewer USRA cars would be seen, dwidling to about 10% of the fleet in the 60's.

Thank Brian DeVries for the majority of the hopper info.

[Chris333]

Odd that the B&O are correct. I just assume with Bachmann that the paint jobs are all foobies. They still look good and I will buy a few.

[SkipGear]

Odd that the B&O are correct. I just assume with Bachmann that the paint jobs are all foobies. They still look good and I will buy a few.

They needed something to put behind those EM-1's.

[ai5629]

Some guys were looking for PRR circle keystone decals for these cars.  The only source I know is getting them printed to order by Greg Komar.  He makes a CK set for PRR GLa's (PRR-N-392) which could be used for most of what you need.  The problem is, he is retiring from the decal business on 7/31/13.  I found his info searching this forum.  I just submitted an order for some last minute sets.  The decals look pretty good, but I have not had a chance to use them yet.  Thank you.

Jeff

[OldEastRR]

Greatdecals.com has X-29 Pennsy circle keystone decals -- I'm going to use them for my N5c. You [probably have to cut apart the "Pennsylvania" to space it out right for a hopper, or maybe find the correct spaced lettering on some other decal sheet.

[pjm20]

Wait, Skipgear, are those actual USRA 55 toners or hoppers closer to MTL's 33' Twin Hoppers? Right now we are trying to find possible prototypes for the MTL car, per Bryan Bussey's question on page 3. Admittedly this is major thread here. The WM channel side hopper hac actually been made by the Shapeways guy that made the WM H9, other WM stuff, SOU and N&W high hoods, and also that PRR H9: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/MD%20Shops?s=12  Oddly enough the WM H9 is gone  , but you can see it on his store header.

[SkipGear]

Wait, Skipgear, are those actual USRA 55 toners or hoppers closer to MTL's 33' Twin Hoppers? Right now we are trying to find possible prototypes for the MTL car, per Bryan Bussey's question on page 3. Admittedly this is major thread here. The WM channel side hopper hac actually been made by the Shapeways guy that made the WM H9, other WM stuff, SOU and N&W high hoods, and also that PRR H9: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/MD%20Shops?s=12  Oddly enough the WM H9 is gone  , but you can see it on his store header.

OK, thread drift got me. My info is for the Bachmann car. It is correct for B&O.

The MTL car was painted as a stand in for these cars so no, it is not totaly correct for B&O. There is another obscure class that the MTL model comes close too but I can't remember off the top of my head. The length is the difference there also.

[bbussey]

Odd that the B&O are correct. I just assume with Bachmann that the paint jobs are all foobies. They still look good and I will buy a few.

It's possible that the lettering schemes on all three of the black cars are correct.  All three roads had large fleets of the original design, and the schemes used by Bachmann appear to be period-correct.

[bbussey]

Wait, Skipgear, are those actual USRA 55 toners or hoppers closer to MTL's 33' Twin Hoppers? Right now we are trying to find possible prototypes for the MTL car, per Bryan Bussey's question on page 3. Admittedly this is major thread here. The WM channel side hopper hac actually been made by the Shapeways guy that made the WM H9, other WM stuff, SOU and N&W high hoods, and also that PRR H9: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/MD%20Shops?s=12  Oddly enough the WM H9 is gone  , but you can see it on his store header.

OK, thread drift got me. My info is for the Bachmann car. It is correct for B&O.

The MTL car was painted as a stand in for these cars so no, it is not totaly correct for B&O. There is another obscure class that the MTL model comes close too but I can't remember off the top of my head. The length is the difference there also.

Agreed.  The N-17 is the USRA prototype.  That also is stated in the allocation table included with the Railmodel Journal article.

I think it's safe to assume that any roads/schemes released on the Atlas fishbelly cars are reasonably accurate — so the WM schemes on the Atlas model would be representative over any other models.

Regarding the MTL car — we know it is close to the PRR class H31 and the VGN classes H12/H13.  I thought Interstate had something close, but the only PRR design they copied was the GLa.  The 55-ton INT cars appear to be USRA clones without the gussets.  The prototype stands too high to match the MTL model.

http://hobbystop.tripod.com/webonmediacontents/368748.jpg

Since the MTL model has been around for nearly 30 years, the easiest task may be to verify each of the schemes released on the model to see if they are prototypical, rather than researching the twin hopper fleets of all the roads.

[sizemore]

Okay, here's the epistle according to Jack Brown...

So, straight sill, the only info I have at hand would say would be that WM cars would be channel sides, at least in the era from 1939 forward, or they'd be fishbellies.  That said, the Bachmann car is a pleasant foob, not to be mistaken for an actual prototype car.

I hope this is useful.

Lee

You WIN! And I totally agree, its pretty nice to see a bunch of WM stuff coming out of Bachperson. This is definitely a "pleasant foob". For myself these are good WM filler cars in trains, I really only care about the fore and aft ends of a train.

RWB F-7's....wait for IM! They said they'd do it. Question is when!

The S.


The S.

[bbussey]

I'm fortunate ... just checked my NH hopper roster — only three of the ten are numbered in the USRA series, so they'll have to get bounced.  The others are correctly in the non-USRA section.  Now I have to review the prototype pics and see how close the MTL car is.  My recollection is that it is close.

Of course, one of the three incorrect cars is the lone panel-side hopper.  So I'll probably hold onto it, as kitbashing a panel USRA hopper from the Bachmann model will never be a high priority for me.

UPDATE:  Bummer, I've got to change them all.  The 120000 series cars are USRA 55-tonners, but the railroad-built cars in the 115000 series were identical USRA clones.  That leaves only the 116000-series, which can be kitbashed from the Atlas PS-3 when it arrives.   

[towl1996]

Greatdecals.com has X-29 Pennsy circle keystone decals -- I'm going to use them for my N5c. You [probably have to cut apart the "Pennsylvania" to space it out right for a hopper, or maybe find the correct spaced lettering on some other decal sheet.

Mt Vernon Shop has the decals you need for that N5c. http://www.mountvernonshops.com/PNS.html.

[chicken45]

Mt Vernon Shop has the decals you need for that N5c. http://www.mountvernonshops.com/PNS.html.

Interesting you say mention Mt Vernion Shops... John jokingly told me that he'd slap me if I ordered one of those hoppers. He basically said what has already been said, not numerically significant. Unless I was modeling a mine, I might need one