Past Offset Hoppers 2

Canadian National had a whopping 4,655 offset side 3-bay hoppers making them one of the most common cars on CN. They were built in several batches between 1949 and 1958. Eastern Car Company, National Steel, and Canadian Car & Foundry all built cars to this same design for CN. Beginning in 1961, cars were repainted with the newly adopted “noodle” logo as they went in for servicing. 73161single car $21.79; 73162 2-Pack $43.58; 73163 3-Pack $65.37.

The New York Chicago & St. Louis was better known as Nickel Plate Road since the time of its construction. From the 1920s onward, Nickel Plate had made its name by funneling high priority freight from its western gateway cities of Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis to connections with eastern roads in Buffalo, New York. Coal had always been part of the mix but in 1949, Nickel Plate became a major originator of coal when they acquired the Wheeling & Lake Erie. The X-shaped W&LE linked Toledo with Wheeling, West Virginia on one axis, and Cleveland and Zanesville, Ohio on the other axis. The acquisition included 3,000 of these 70 ton hoppers. In 1964, Nickel Plate picked up another 500 of these cars from Bethlehem Steel. 73171 single car $21.79; 73172 2-Pack $43.58; 73173 3-Pack $65.37.

MP rostered about 5,000 of these 70-ton offset side hoppers. MP served coal mines in southern Illinois, western Missouri (and adjoining states,) east Texas and eastern Colorado. While many roads advertised their passenger fleets on their boxcars, MP was one of the few to do the same on open top cars like hoppers and gondolas. They began applying this scheme to new cars and repaints around 1949 and continued for the next decade. 73181 single car $21.79; 73182 2-Pack $43.58; 73183 3-Pack $65.37.

One of Missouri Pacific’s several subsidiary lines, Missouri-Illinois Railroad (known affectionately by locals as the “Mike and Ike”) served a number of large coal mines in southern Illinois. Most of the coal originated on the M-I was delivered to connecting lines for heavy industry across the midwest and far west. 73191 single car $21.79; 73192 2-Pack $43.58; 73193 3-Pack $65.37.

Seaboard Air Line Railroad was a 4,000+ mile system serving Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Seaboard picked up 500 of these cars from Pullman Standard in 1957. In addition to coal, Seaboard’s hopper fleet was just as likely to be found hauling sand, gravel, or crushed stone. These cars joined the Seaboard Coast Line fleet with Seaboard’s 1967 merger with Atlantic Coast Line. 73201 single car $21.79; 73202 2-Pack $43.58; 73203 3-Pack $65.37.

Carbon County Railway served two massive coal mines in Utah. Much of the coal went for making coke to feed the furnaces of the steel mill that owned the railroad. However, the output of the mines far exceeded what the mill could use and the extra coal moved to industries in other states and even moved to the coast for export. 73211 single car $21.79; 73212 2-Pack $43.58.

Illinois Central was the principle hauler of coal from the massive Illinois Coal Basin. Coal made up 40% of Illinois Central’s gross tonnage and their “Central” location and high yield made this coal competitive in much of the country. Because of this, IC hoppers could be found nearly anywhere in the lower 48. This particular batch was built in IC’s huge Centralia Car Shops (not too far from the Bluford Shops) in 1966. IC used friction bearing trucks on these cars. 73231 single car $21.79; 73232 2-Pack $43.58; 73233 3-Pack $65.37; 73236 6-pack $130.74.

The Erie served coal mines in Ohio and Pennsylvania. For many years they even owned both anthracite and bituminous coal mining operations in Pennsylvania. Within Erie ’s diverse hopper fleet were these 1,000 70-ton offset side cars. Erie held their own in the busy Chicago -New York corridor against arch competitors PRR, NYC and B&O. Much of the Erie mainline was even double tracked. The Erie merged with the Lackawanna in 1960. 73221 single car $21.79; 73222 2-Pack $43.58; 73223 3-Pack $65.37.

SCL -Family Lines. Seaboard Coast Line inherited these cars from both Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line in their 1967 merger. In 1975, a portion of the combined fleet received heavy service at SCL’s Tampa shops and emerged in The Family Lines paint scheme. The Family Lines encompassed SCL, Louisville & Nashville, Clinchfield, Georgia, Atlanta & West Point and Western Railway of Alabama. SCL had stock control of L&N. SCL and L&N jointly owned Clinchfield and jointly controlled Georgia Railroad. Georgia controlled A&WP and WoA. The latter two were together called “West Point Route.” All were folded into Seaboard System in 1983. 73241 single car $21.79; 73242 2-Pack $43.58; 73243 3-Pack $65.37.

Coal hauling giant Chesapeake & Ohio received 1,000 of these cars from General American in 1949. They were one of the earliest groups of cars to be equipped with roller bearing trucks and received a prominant white band on the side to remind crews of this fact. In those days, cars with friction bearing trucks were frequently spotted and left without setting the handbrakes. Doing that with roller bearing equipped cars would be inviting disaster. 73251 single car $21.79; 73252 2-Pack $43.58; 73253 3-Pack $65.37. 73256 6-pack $130.74.