I make said adjustments for what I am looking for.
Edit: I double checked my prototype pics and one shows solid bearing trucks on the car.
Capacity was listed at 191000 lbs for GACX 46290 and kin so, 100 ton roller bearing trucks with 36 inch diameter wheels are required.
Follow-up question. I received the kit today but it doesn't have trucks. From the pictures I have, the trucks look like a standard Bettendorf. However identifying trucks is not my strong suit. Any ideas narrowing it down most be most helpful.
I went ahead and purchased one of the ECW cars that I found. Thank you for all the assistance.
maxman Did you look at the ECW car?
Did you look at the ECW car?
I just did and found a couple of possible options. I will have to think about the options.
Does anyone know the dimensions of the diagonal beams on the ends of the prototype pictures? Just from a cost standpoint, I'm leaning toward the Walthers cars as it would be a 2 for 1 situation and the Walthers cars aren't that hard to work with. As I have to paint the cars anyway the quality of the existing lettering doesn't make much difference and I've had problems with the quality of Con-Cor trucks before.
Bowser made/makes those covered hoppers in both kit and RTR. Kadee also makes them but only in RTR.
Tom
[Edit: Oops - Sorry. The ones I have are all 2-bay covered hoppers. The ones in the photos are single-bay. ]
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
dknelsonObjectively I'd say that in many instances, such as the side ribs and end ladders and cast on grab irons, the Con Cor body casting seems a little finer in detail although if you are the sort of fussy modeler who reflexively scrapes off molded ladder and grab iron detail in favor of separate parts, that might not matter much.
I agree with Dave...some of those older freight cars were okay for their time, but they can be improved if you care to make the effort.I had a bunch of MDC covered hoppers (covered hoppers are among my favourites, enough so that I decided that it would be okay to use them on my late '30s-era layout, even though they may not have been at all common at that time - there were some boxcars converted with roof hatches, and discharge hoppers, though).I decided to remove the over-size ladder grabs and other grabirons, replacing them with wire ones, and also removed the round hatch covers and replaced them with better-detailed square ones, from Bowser...a bonus from an in-person visit to English's Model Railroad Supply.
Here's a couple of the reworked ones...
I've also upgraded a few open hoppers, too...
...but there's another 60-or-so that are unlikely to ever be re-done.I have, however, replaced most of the moulded-on grabirons and sill steps on the majority of my freight cars, using wire or pre-made metal ones, but very few have the moulded-on ladder rungs replaced with wire or with finely-cast ladder stock.
I recently completed a dozen TH&B hoppers, and every cast-on grabiron, ladder, and sill step was replaced and all of the body shells were modified with additions, removals, or replacements.Here's one of them...
...but I'm considering replacing the sill steps with soldered-together ones made from brass strip material.
As has been said, a man needs to know his limitations, and one soon learns that aging does increase them.
Wayne
Eastern Car Works also made a kit for one of these.
http://www.trainweb.org/chessie/40airslides.html
So, we are looking at an older GATX "Airslide" covered hopper, the single bay variety, versus the larger capacity two bays that have also been made in HO.
If early Airslides are of particular interest by the way you may want to hunt for Vol 20 of the always interesting Railway Prototype Cyclopedia. It helps sort out the confusion that photos can cause because GATX would lease and often later sell the cars to the railroad causing a change in reporting marks and sometimes lettering, surprisingly early in the car's life.
I have both the the Con-Cor and Walthers kits. I'd rate them about equal in difficulty in construction -- meaning, not difficult, since both are in what I would call that first level of difficulty above an Athearn blue box. But both reward careful work, such as scraping paint off surfaces to be cemented and trying to get a clean even surface so that cemented parts are clean and tightly connected, that sort of thing. Expecting parts to fit tight as a drum right out of the box is expecting too much, in other words. But they can be made to be tight. My Con-Cor kit was a custom lettering job (they came 2 in a box -- my Walthers kit was one in a box) offered years ago by the C&NW Historical Society so I cannot testify to the quality of Con Cor's run of the mill painting and lettering, but based on other Con Cor cars in my collection as a rule their paint and lettering of plastic cars was at least OK to good in quality (I put it that way because when I was a beginner Con Cor was known for WOOD car kits).
Both build up into nice looking cars (Walthers also has or had the larger Airslide with two bays). Objectively I'd say that in many instances, such as the side ribs and end ladders and cast on grab irons, the Con Cor body casting seems a little finer in detail although if you are the sort of fussy modeler who reflexively scrapes off molded ladder and grab iron detail in favor of separate parts, that might not matter much.
A bit of internet searching suggests that Athearn now offers such a car and perhaps that tooling --decades newer than Con Cor or Walthers -- is finer yet. With a price to match of course. I think I now have enough Air Slides on the layout so I won't be looking for Athearn unless one happens to fall into my lap as a miracle, in which case I will say "thank you very much."
HO GATC 2600 Airslide Hopper, B&O #830117 (ATHG87652): Athearn Trains
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATHG87652
Dave Nelson
Yet another one for my Forum friends. What company makes/made these particular prototype cars: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3193827 and http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1886517. As I have had people have problems with these links with other groups, the other links for the cars are: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=762028 and http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=484246.
I have looked via internet auction at offerings from both Walthers and Con-Cor. The two options I'm looking at are: http://www.ebay.com/itm/384787524113?hash=item59971faa11:g:pUIAAOSwK-liNN5j and http://www.ebay.com/itm/401750762489?hash=item5d8a3623f9:g:PmAAAMXQ8OdRMoa2. I realize that the Walthers cars are a tandem set and might need a bit a work as not all the details are there from what it looks like but it would appear to give me two cars for one price.
As usual, any assistance that can be provided would be most welcomed.