Weathering Old Coal Hoppers

CofGa 50T Offset Hopper

It should come as no surprise that someone who runs a site called “Appalachian Railroad Modeling” loves modeling coal hoppers! While unit trains dominate the rails today, a few decades ago it was common to see coal hoppers of all different vintages running together, and the condition of cars ran from “nearly new” to “how is this thing still on the rails!” Last year I wrote a shorter article on weathering a specific hopper using some of the same techniques, but in this article, I’ll go through each technique step-by-step because modeling variety in your hopper fleet requires the combination of many weathering techniques. Not all hoppers get every technique, but most hoppers get most techniques, especially those that … Read more

URR Clairton Branch, PA track plan N

  • Size: 18′ x 19′
  • Scale: N
  • Minimum Radius: 15″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Union Railroad LogoThis plan is good for those who like big industries and modeling a small area in a big space with little compression. The Union Railroad has served US Steel’s Pittsburgh, PA steel mills for more than a century. While the URR’s own coal tipples played out long ago, the Union still hauls a lot of coal from it’s coal-hauling neighbors and serves the largest coke plant in the nation at Clairton. N scale was chosen for this layout to allow the huge industrial complexes … Read more