What protoype is......the MTL 33' rib-side hopper?

[sirenwerks]

...the MTL 33' rib-side hopper?

[Missaberoad]

It has been discused before, I think in the Bachmann usra hopper thread.
The conclusion iirc was it is based upon the usra design but it has been stretched in order to share the frame of their offset side hopper...
There is a Prr car that is close, aswell as a Wabash car (although most were rebuilt to panel sides I believe)

Im sure there are other almosts, but no exact prototype.

[Mark5]

I don't think the MTL (56000) is a clone of the USRA twin. For starters, the stirrups are different, the slope sheet angles are different, and the MTL car is missing the characteristic sill gussets that the USRA car and clones were built with.

The MTL car measures out to a 30' 32' inside length, compared to the USRA at 30'6"
The MTL sides are 7' high, while the USRA design is 7'5"

So even though the cars are similar in many overall areas, I think they are fundamentally different.

To put it another way, if MTL's goal was to make a USRA clone, they did a lousy job. 
(re-posted from another thread).

I like the theory that Bryan B posted in that Bmann USRA 55 ton thread, that MTL stretched a two bay to fit the offset twin frame.

That said, the MTL rib side is close to some real cars built in the 30s and 40s, VGN had a class of twin hoppers very close to the MTL car, I'll see if I can dig up some online pics.

[Spikre]

 
   while it isn't exact,the Kadee Ribbed 2 Bay was a shrunken Athearn Twin
  clone.
   the Offset Side car and Composite War Emergency cars are also Athearn Copies
  with a few slight differences.
   some other early Kadee cars were based on popular HO cars of the day [1970s].
  the PS-1 was based on the Lilliput model of the early 60s,except it got a 6' door
  instead of the models 7'6" door.the Plug door was even closer to the Lilliput 40'
  Plug Door PS-1.
  the Kadee 50' PS-1 series actually came out before any correct HO 50' PS-1s.
        Spikre
       

[Angus Shops]

OK, that explains it. I cloned the MT hopper up to TT scale for a friend (in resin) and his friends complained that it wasn't proto enough.

Sheesh, the ONLY hopper available in TT and it wasn't good enough!

Geoff

[Mark5]

VGN H13 Class (built 1947-48):

https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=95346

and VGN H13A:

https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=63540


Became N&W H33 (you can see the VGN lettering on the 1st car):

https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=33712

Either by accident or design, the MTL car is mighty close.

Mark