Modeling Question - Interstate Coal and Southern RR

[bierbass]

I've seen photos on Tom Daspit's site taken out of old issues of Ties that have 55 ton hoppers with notched arched ends on offset sides. Does anyone know if these would have been lettered for Interstate or Southern, and if Southern, newer font style or Roman style? Or both?

Thanks,

Dan

[bierbass]

Here's one of the models I've been working on. Based on a photo of Southern's transloading facility in Appalachia, VA.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/500/Interstate9524.JPG

[Flash Blackman]

Sure is a nice looking model. I didn't know that Interstate was a part of Southern. Are you going to have a coal train of these cars? I wouldn't expect Southern to be a big coal hauler.

Of course, I don't have an answer to your question, but I do like the model.

[bierbass]

Thanks. Southern acquired Interstate in the mid-60's. Southern had a huge trans-loader in Appalachia. They would do their mine-runs with 55 ton hoppers which came in several varieties. Several were lettered for Interstate in the "Southern" style font. The 55 ton hoppers would bring the coal to the transloader where the coal would be loaded onto unit trains of 100 ton hoppers. So my plan is not to have entire trains of the 55 ton hoppers, but rather have some models representative of the variety of hoppers.:smile2: