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C&O 70 ton quad hoppers

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WPA
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    April 2018
  • 140 posts
Posted by WPA on Friday, May 6, 2022 5:30 PM

A few follow up pics.  I think they will fit in well.

 ABA9371E-012A-43D1-95DD-9F24EF4E37A1 

 1487AF77-AEC4-4B0F-85BC-D5E65A0C7954 

WPA
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    April 2018
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Posted by WPA on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 1:24 PM

Went with heavy weathering.  I blacked out the Chesapeake & Ohio and just kept the C&O above hopper number.  Letting oils dry and a few final touches then will post a pic or two.  Thanks

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  • From: Omaha, NE
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Posted by dehusman on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 9:33 AM

maxman
 I'm certainly not an expert, but it would seem unusual to me to see an eastern RR 70 ton hopper with 4 bays.  But maybe so.

Depends on the era.

In 1930's-1950's, the PRR had as many of one class of 70 ton quad hoppers (H21) as half of the ATSF's entire roster (excluding SFRD).

The RDG, B&O, C&O all had large fleets of 70 ton quad hoppers.

Most of them were built in the 1920's so by the 1960's were pretty worn out and coal began to decline so many were retired in the late 50's and early 60's.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by NHTX on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 6:52 AM

      Why not heavilly weather the cars to resemble cars at--or beyond their service lives, that are in captive, company ballast service?  At one time, almost every car in company/maintenance-of-way service was at one time, a revenue producer.  As long as a car doesn't leave its owner's rails, there is no reason it can't continue to be used.  Even after cars are sold off, the buyer may get years of use out of them--as long as they don't leave his property.

     I remember the time in the early 1970's when Michael Schiavone & Sons scrapyard on B&M's Mystic Wharf in the Charlestown section of Boston MA received a 14 car string of white-lined B&O offset side twin hoppers from the B&M.  Instead of cutting them up, Schiavone used them to haul scrap around their huge export yard.  After two or three years of having such items as engine blocks and rear axles dropped on/into them by magnet equipped cranes, the last one was finally cut up for scrap.

WPA
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    April 2018
  • 140 posts
Posted by WPA on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 10:00 AM

Thanks, good info. Saw that book and looks like a sure buy at the current price.  Could not pass up the price of the six cars and figured their presence on my line can get a pass if I rust the heck out of them.  They are well built cars.  Darn cars are like fishing lures, some you just can't pass up. 

WPA
  • Member since
    April 2018
  • 140 posts
Posted by WPA on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 9:54 AM

N scale and yes that is it, number also pretty darn close.  Hoping to find a near end of service color pic but might be tough.  Thanks

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Posted by NHTX on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 4:34 AM

WPA,

     Your BLI C&O offset side quads numbered in the 71000 series are meant to replicate C&O 71500-72999, with an original build date of 1930.  I consulted the hard cover book "Chesapeake & Ohio Freight Cars 1937-1965, Volume 1: Hopper and Gondola Cars" by Al Kresse, Jr (available from C&OHS for a ridiculously low price!).  

     The cars as sold by BLI, were all rebuilt by C&O in 1946 and, the same book shows the For Progress logo in use by the mid 1930s, making the BLI paint legit for the as built cars.  The book also has a photo of a rebuilt 68375 from the 71000s predecessor series of quads, with the large donuts and For Progress logo, taken in 1958, 12 years after being rebuilt.  The following page (84) has two photos of cars purportedly snapped in 1950 and 1961, in the BLI paint.  The 1961 car is well worn.

     By the 1960s, the C&O had fallen out of love with the offset side car and major programs were taken to eliminate them from the roster, including rebuilding them with outside stake sides and, increasing car capacity.  Given C&O's practices of rebuilding well worn cars into something better and the fact that the 70 ton offset side car was out of favor, I doubt that any of the 71000s lived to see an ACI label, let alone carry their as built paint into the Chessie System era.

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Posted by maxman on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 3:56 AM

gmpullman

Close?

 CnO_HT by Edmund, on Flickr

Earlier than '50s, though. Perhaps your series followed these.

Good Luck, Ed

 

Good, I learnt something today.

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  • From: Canada, eh?
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Posted by doctorwayne on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 12:19 AM

maxman
I'm certainly not an expert, but it would seem unusual to me to see an eastern RR 70 ton hopper with 4 bays. But maybe so.

I dunno, but the Pennsy had a bunch of them (30,000) between 1911 and 1917, but by 1922, had converted them all to 70 tonners.  There were some other revisions in the '20s and early '30s, too.

Based on that 30,000 figure, I decided to not model the Pennsy, but did buy a few hoppers from Bowser, as lots of Pennsylvania coal got train rides to the steel mills in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario.

Here's four of the 4-bay 70 tonners...

Wayne

  • Member since
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  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
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Posted by gmpullman on Monday, April 11, 2022 11:44 PM

Close?

 CnO_HT by Edmund, on Flickr

Earlier than '50s, though. Perhaps your series followed these.

Good Luck, Ed

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    February 2008
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Posted by maxman on Monday, April 11, 2022 9:55 PM

These are N scale?

I'm certainly not an expert, but it would seem unusual to me to see an eastern RR 70 ton hopper with 4 bays.  But maybe so.

I did look around the net and could not find any cars in that number range.  Any that I did find had 3-bays.

WPA
  • Member since
    April 2018
  • 140 posts
C&O 70 ton quad hoppers
Posted by WPA on Monday, April 11, 2022 8:05 PM

I picked up a discounted 6 pack of Broadway Limited 70 ton C&O quad hopper coal hoppers and am running them in my mid 1970s Chessie Paint Creek Branch. I know it is a stretch but I like the BLI cars and too good to pass up. I am adding ACI and maintenence plates and weathering the heck out of them.  I am looking for any 1950s or 1960s pics of the hoppers with the spelled out logo and can't find a thing. I looked at the C&O historical scociety archives, just pics from the 40s. The hoppers are https://www.broadway-limited.com/3183ara70-ton4-bayhoppercandoh7-136-packanscale.aspx

Any help with some pics would be great. Just wondering how long the hoppers ran the C&O spelled out paint scheme.  Thanks

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