May 2011 Announcements

Southern post-1960 3-bay offset side hoppers. Southern acquired these hoppers new in 1952. Beginning in 1960, the Southern fleet began to receive this style of large block lettering. Another major change was shifting from black paint on open top cars to mineral red. Often in coal service, these cars were also used for coke, sand, gravel, and unprocessed clay, paricularly later in life. These hoppers will be coming with black coal/coke loads and will be available in 6 road numbers. 73501 Southern post-1960 single car $21.79; 73502 2-pack $43.58; 73503 3-pack $65.37.

Union Pacific post-1970 86 ’ quad door boxcars. Union Pacific received their first cars of this design from Pullman Standard in 1964 in the paint scheme reflected in Bluford Shops #87091 and 87092 (now out of stock.) In the next 6 years, changes were made in UP’s painting standards. Most notably, the UP shield was changed to read “UNION PACIFIC ” with “RAILROAD” eliminated. In addition, the UNION PACIFIC in the middle was changed from black to red and the size of the reporting marks was increased considerably. The “Automated rail way” map remained but was joined by ACI tags and shortly after by consolidated stencils. The placement of data and various warnings was also changed. This would remain the standard paint scheme for this class of cars until 1983 when brown cars with small shields began to appear. These cars will be available in 3 road numbers. 87191 Union Pacific post-1970 single car $29.85; 87192 2-pack $59.70.

Soo Line 3-bay offset side hoppers. Until 1960, Soo Line was the nickname of the Minneapolis St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. “Soo ” came from the phoenetic pronunciation of Sault. Soo connected a dense network of branches in North Dakota and Minnesota to connections with Canadian Pacific at Portal on the North Dakota border and Sault Ste. Marie near the tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Soo had been controlled by CP since early in the 20th century. For many years, Soo had embraced their nickname with Soo Line reporting marks and the square “dollar sign ” logo on freight cars. In 1951, they adopted this billboard style of lettering for freight cars. In 1960, parent Canadian Pacific consolidated their U.S.lines including MStP&SSteM, subsidiary Wisconsin Central (which gave the old Soo their route to Chicago) and the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic. The combined railroad (which used DSS&A’s charter) was renamed Soo Line Railroad. These cars will have gravel loads instead of the usual coal loads reflecting their most common use on the Soo Line and will be available in 6 road numbers. 73491 Soo Line single car $21.79; 73492 2-pack $43.58; 73493 3-pack $65.37.

Rock Island -Route Of The Rockets 3-bay offset side hoppers. In the years following the Second World War, Rock Island finally emerged from a long reorganization and began buying new equipment. 500 70-ton offset side hoppers arrived in this paint scheme from American Car & Foundry in 1949. Rock Island was unusual in that it completely straddled the imaginary line running from St. Louis through Kansas City to Denver. This line divides railroads of the Northern Plaines such as Milwaukee Road, CB&Q, C&NW and others, and railroads of the Southern Plaines such as Frisco, M-K-T, MoPac and Santa Fe. While some roads in one of these regions had tendrils into the other region (such as Santa Fe ’s line to Chicago) the vast majority of their mileage remained on one side of the line. Rock Island was split more or less evenly over this border with extremeties linking Minneapolis and Sioux Falls to the north, Denver and Tucumcari to the west, Dallas and southern Louisianna to the south, and connections with the Eastern trunk lines in Memphis, St. Louis, Peoria, and Chicago. These cars will be available in 6 road numbers. 73511 Rock Island Route Of The Rockets single car $21.79; 73512 2-pack $43.58; 73513 3-pack $65.37.

Central of New Jersey 3-bay offset side hoppers.Central Railroad of New Jersey picked up a good size fleet of these 70 ton hoppers used from B&O and P&LE. The cars in this run came from the B&O. They were pressed into service hauling sand and gravel. These hoppers will be coming with gravel loads and will be available in 3 road numbers. 73521 Central of New Jersey single car $21.79; 73522 2-pack $43.58.

Chessie B&O 86’ quad door boxcars. B&O received these cars from Pullman Standard in 1965 in the paint scheme depicted in Bluford Shops #87041 and 87042 (now out of stock) but began to receive Chessie paint in 1973. Unlike most roads who opted for natural aluminum finish on their doors, B&O specified yellow doors on their cars from Pullman Standard. This feature remained on Chessie-era cars. However, as some cars required repainting, the crews painted all the
doors blue instead of yellow. Therefore, one of the cars in our 2-pack will feature blue doors while the other and the single car will have the more common yellow doors. These cars will be available in 3 road numbers. 87201 Chessie B&O single car (yellow doors) $29.85; 87202 2-pack (1 car with yellow doors,
1 car with blue doors) $59.70.