N scale brass allegheny: appropriate rolling stock?

[simsuper80]

I was recently able to aquire a brass n scale model of a 2-6-6-6 allegheny locomotive. As a modern passenger car modeler, this engine is completely out of place in my collection, but I just HAD to get one after seeing the real thing at the henry ford museum.

I know it mostly hauled coal trains, so I asume c&o coal cars would be the most appropriate? Im also wondering who the best manufacturers are when it comes to coal cars

[Kentuckian]

Wow! Well, congratulations on the purchase.

The Allegheny was designed to do one thing: move West Virginia coal over and through the mountains to Newport News, Virginia so it could be loaded onto ships for international sale. Yes, you will want dozens, scores, oodles, of coal hoppers in C&O livery.

The “best” manufacturer is certainly a matter of opinion. Bluford Shops makes excellent products. Micro-trains is another quality manufacturer. Both of these companies have offered several variations of C&O hoppers in the past, most of which can be found on eBay and other aftermarket sources. I own several of their offerings and can vouch for their quality. I believe that Athearn also makes hoppers appropriate to the time period that the Allegheny operated.

When you get enough posts to be able to post pictures, please show it off!

[simsuper80]

They dont appear to be readily available in bulk. Looks like it might take me a while to obtain a good sized train

[Mark5]

I was recently able to aquire a brass n scale model of a 2-6-6-6 allegheny locomotive.

Is it C&O or Virginian? 

[simsuper80]

C&o

[Kentuckian]

Is it C&O or Virginian? 

Is the sky blue?

[Mark5]

They dont appear to be readily available in bulk. Looks like it might take me a while to obtain a good sized train

Yes, building a coal drag is an uphill climb. Multi-packs have been available over the years from Roundhouse/Athearn (they even did hoppers with that distinctive C&O "arched" end) and Bluford has done some multipacks.

Is the sky blue?

As in Blue Ridge? 

https://www.american-rails.com/images/848197173uh99552810091633844.jpg

Mark

[thomasjmdavis]

They dont appear to be readily available in bulk. Looks like it might take me a while to obtain a good sized train

Unfortunately, when looking at models appropriate to the 40s and 50s, no cars of any type are available "in bulk".  The best we seem to get are 12 numbers, more likely 6 (for popular roads) and often only one, in any given production run.  Once upon a time, manufacturers would occasionally offer "decorated and unnumbered" cars- but I haven't seen that in quite a while. Bluford still does "data only" cars in many of their releases- which speeds things up a lot if you want to decal your own.  If you really want hundreds, it might be worth while to ask the manufacturers if they would run some for you without numbers the next time they run the body style/lettering combination you want.  If you can use hoppers made as late as 1952-54, Bluford does have some rebuilt "war emergency" hoppers coming soon, but no longer taking pre-orders for C&O- with the note attached to "email Craig for availability".  You may also find that your local hobby shop or some of the internet retailers have some on order for stock, and they may appear online when released by the company.
http://www.spookshow.net/freight/freight.php?hoppero=6&rtr=16&kit=17&plastic=18&sort1=3&sort2=2&sort3=4&compress=1&Submit=Submit

A quite useful reference is Spookshow's N scale encyclopedia- note that in the left column, he lists the introductory date for a given car type, which is quite useful if you are targeting, say, 1951 to avoid those cars that the manufacturers market as "early 50s" but were in fact not built until 1954.


My one and only C&O hopper is an Atlas two bay that resembles a USRA two bay ( http://www.spookshow.net/freight/atlas55fish.html ). Frankly, I don't "know" that it is an accurate representation of a C&O car, it was a "Master Line" offering, so I am trusting Atlas that it is at least close. But as far as I can tell, it is not in the current product line in any road name, so it must have been a while since they did a run.  It was purchased some years ago, when I bought "samples" of Bluford, MTL and Atlas to compare to each other.  I've opted for the Bluford hoppers as my own "standard" as they (a) have body mounted couplers and metal wheels, (b) ride height looks better (often true with body mount couplers because they don't need the additional .01 to .03 to clear the truck mounted coupler) and (c) have done a number of styles (USRA, offset, and 8 panel) of C&EI in 40s and early 50s paint schemes (they have a much broader selection of road names than any other company) and (d) do 6 road numbers at a time for many of those roads.

[sd45elect2000]

I think you were able to get 18 numbers from the 4 pocket ARA cars by Broadway.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144060533110?hash=item218aad4976:g:ZW8AAOSwL3hgfFF~

Like these.

Randy

[thomasjmdavis]

I think you were able to get 18 numbers from the 4 pocket ARA cars by Broadway.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144060533110?hash=item218aad4976:g:ZW8AAOSwL3hgfFF~

Like these.

Randy

I forget about BLI when we discuss anything other than PRR, but those are definitely worth a look.  I'm not an expert, but from what I've read, the BLI should be a good representation of the C&O cars, at least as built. They definitely have the numbers right for C&O ARA cars built in the late 1920s.  For some reason, coming up with a photo of the C&O prototypes for the quad ARA cars is difficult- maybe just because they had so many different hoppers.

[jargonlet]

I forget about BLI when we discuss anything other than PRR, but those are definitely worth a look.  I'm not an expert, but from what I've read, the BLI should be a good representation of the C&O cars, at least as built. They definitely have the numbers right for C&O ARA cars built in the late 1920s.  For some reason, coming up with a photo of the C&O prototypes for the quad ARA cars is difficult- maybe just because they had so many different hoppers.

You are correct. The BLI cars came only in 6 packs. They offered three different packs for 18 numbers total. The C&O cars of this series had peaked ends. Since the other BLI cars did not have peaked ends, BLI included a peaked end detail part for the modeler to add.

[simsuper80]

I wonder how common it would be to have other road names mixed in.

[Mark5]

I wonder how common it would be to have other road names mixed in.

I grew up along the Pokey (N&W Pocahontas Division) and from time to time I would see cuts of Clinchfield, C&O, Interstate, and occasionally L&N mixed in. Usually not all of these in the same train, but one day I might see a string of Clinchfield hoppers, some other day C&O, etc.

I would imagine C&O had similar things from time to time (Virginian, etc).

Mark

[Missaberoad]

You are correct. The BLI cars came only in 6 packs. They offered three different packs for 18 numbers total. The C&O cars of this series had peaked ends. Since the other BLI cars did not have peaked ends, BLI included a peaked end detail part for the modeler to add.

Hoping BLI does another run of these. I need some peaked end cars to make the cars DSS&A / Soo Line acquired second hand.

[peteski]

Another consideration is how many cars will that loco pull.  Like if you buy 40 hopper cars, but the loco will only pull 25?