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Modeling a Southern Extended-Height Twin Hopper in HO Scale

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Southern Extended Height Twin Hopper - Athearn Offset Finished

One of the things I love most about modeling coal-hauling railroads is the variety of hoppers employed by all the railroads. Each line seemed to have their own unique preference for sizes and mixes of cars, and the manufacturers made them in so many varieties. The 1960s and ’70s were especially eclectic as railroads engaged in hopper rebuilding programs to extend the lives of otherwise obsolete cars, especially 50-ton twin hoppers that were the mainstay of coal hauling for most of the 20th century. This is an easy kitbashing project to bring one of the more distinctive modifications in Appalachian coal hopper history to your layout.

History of the Southern’s Extended-Height Fleet

Rebuilding programs often involved increasing the capacity of … Read more →

Weathering Old Coal Hoppers

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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 →

Upgrading an Atlas Trainman Coal Hopper

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Upgrading Atlas Trainman Hopper - Finished

These days, you can find some really nice, super-detailed, ready-to-run HO scale coal hoppers from the likes of Tangent, Kadee, ExactRail, and others. While these models are beautiful, creating an entire coal train can really break the bank, and there are just some hopper prototypes that are only modeled in a lower level of detail. In either case, it’s not too difficult to bring these cheaper plastic kits closer to the detail level of a more expensive brand, and it doesn’t have to be super time-consuming. One of my favorite starting points is the relatively cheap and readily available “Atlas Trainman” ready-to-run hoppers, especially the 9-panel, 70-ton car that’s pretty close to the Southern’s 70-ton fleet I model. There’s a … Read more →

How To Make Fresh Coal Loads for Model Hoppers

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Finished fresh coal loads

When most people think of “coal loads,” they probably picture the slightly mounded loads of coal perhaps barely visible above the sides of a hopper or gondola on a passing coal train, but this is far different from what these loads look like at the origin. We usually see them after they’ve settled for many miles, but at their source, coal loads are much taller, and depending on the loader type, they come in some very interesting shapes (see ARRM’s article on coal loads here). I model the ’60s and ’70s when most loaders were variations of simple “truck dumps.” Most truck dumps had a fixed chute, and they would run the car under the chute a little at … Read more →

Modeling a 2-Bay Short-Taper Offset Hopper in HO Scale

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CG 55T Offset 14

HO-scale modelers are blessed with a lot of coal hopper models and kits to work with. One fairly common car that’s still tough to model is a 2-bay short-taper offset hopper. This car is distinct because of the smaller and more steep angles in the side sheets to get from the inside of the car to outside the ribs and the three thick rivet strips at the ends and center. This car was also longer than most 2-bay cars at 34′ versus the 33′ of a more common offset. Most people would be content to just use a 33′ car (and I don’t issue any judgment here), but I’m kind of a hopper nut, so…

Athearn made an old blue-box … Read more →