I just saw an offering on modeltrainstuff.com that has me baffled.
Roundhouse: HO Scale Model Trains | Model Train Stuff
One of the sets of two bay hoppers is lettered for the BNSF. I'm not sure when the BNSF was formed but have two bay hoppers been in use since that time. I thought the two bay hopper was a relic from the distant past but maybe I am wrong.
Well BNSF was formed in the mid-nineties, and the "swoosh" logo was introduced in 2005. That does seem a bit late for these cars. A quick internet search didn't find any real two-bay BNSF cars like this, except for ballast cars.
Modern roadnames sell. Cool looking cars sell better than not cool cars.
Put the two together, and you have a foob that sells well.
I don't think that authenticity is foremost in the minds of the Roundhouse target market. I kind of wish I didn't care so much, I'd probably be having more fun.
- Douglas
DoughlessI kind of wish I didn't care so much, I'd probably be having more fun.
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
wjstixA quick internet search didn't find any real two-bay BNSF cars like this, except for ballast cars.
Yes but also no. BNSF rosters a number of two bay ore hoppers. They look different than the traditional two bay hoppers, but they're modern two bays.
The number series these foobies use is a blank spot in the BNSF numbers, but the two series around it are the modern two bays.
https://www.bnsf.com/ship-with-bnsf/ways-of-shipping/equipment/pdf/Ore.pdf
I did see the BNSF ore cars, but I don't consider ore cars and hopper cars as the same thing, although they are all lumped together in rosters under 'hopper cars'. Being an iron ore modeller and living near BNSF, I've seen their ore car fairly often, and they're not that much like the two-bay hoppers the OP asked about.
I suspect part of the reason the BNSF models are out there is to appeal to like younger folks with small beginner layouts with tight curves. They see BNSF cars and want some, but a prototypical 4-bay wouldn't look as good on 18"R curves.
Every time someones says this never happened someone finds a real photo of it. Had one of these discusions once and all the experts said this or that car never was including the historical people, till a pic showed up. Seems this car that was being discussed was only owned for about a week and never formally put on the roster (later investigation is how this was discovered).
Oops, ...Scratched my post as it had no significance here whatsoever.
Sorry about that.
TF
Track fiddlerHere they are, they say they're used for transporting cement.
You understand how these aren't remotely the same thing as the OP posted though, right?
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Actually no I didn't but now I do Chris.
I seen BNSF all over the place and shouldn't have jumped the gun. My phone quit connecting to Links later this morning and I didn't see what you're talking about until now.
I see the two bay hoppers are old school now and I beg your humble pardon
No harm, just foul I guess I do not pass go or collect $200. Sorry about that
wjstixI did see the BNSF ore cars, but I don't consider ore cars and hopper cars as the same thing, although they are all lumped together in rosters under 'hopper cars'.
They are, mechanically, hoppers. They carry the HMA AAR code. HM is a "typical" two bay hopper. The difference is that HMs have crosswise doors and HMAs have lengthwise doors. That's it.
I see just about everything the BNSF has in the way of rolling stock when I railfan in Galesburg IL (which has former Santa Fe and BN/CB&Q lines extending in 7 directions so it is truly a hub of the railroad) and have never seen BNSF two bay open top hoppers. Indeed while now and then you do see a "loose car" coal hopper, it is decades and decades since I saw any two bay open top hopper there -- I'd have pictures if I did. I think the last one I saw there was in the 1980s and it was L&N.
If the BNSF has any open top two bay hoppers I'd guess they are converted to MOW ballast service, and most likely even then be former covered hoppers with the roof removed or cut back since many railroads did that, including the C&NW. But most ballast hoppers I see on the BNSF in Galesburg look purpose-built, not converted.
So I'd say, no, not accurate. But we all have our own standards for accuracy, our own standards for how obvious or extensive an inaccuracy has to be before we care, and our own standards for how much research we do or don't do before putting a car, locomotive or structure on the layout. I am sure I run all manner of stuff that is not accurate. A short hopper would be the least of my sins.
Dave Nelson