I need some n scale hoppers to carry cement and fly ash. Anything special about that type of car or will any covered hopper work? Any suggestions on specific cars (mfg/model/etc) that would fit this need?
For cement, you would need a 2 bay hopper. It is denser, so better suited to smaller cars. Are you modeling modern or more transition era? In HO scale, American Limited makes a pretty good 2 bay hopper. That style is what you should be looking for in a modern car. A 2 bay PS-2 would be a better fit for an older layout. Regarding fly ash, I don’t know too much. I just did a Google search, and CSX has a PDF about transporting it in covered gondolas, and I also saw some photos of coal hoppers with tarps. On the Lionel Freight Car Friday blog, they show cylindrical hoppers, so it looks like you have some options. For an older layout, I would lean towards a tarp or a 4 bay cylinder, like the original Canadian ones. The more innovative ideas like removable gondola covers and pressure differential hoppers would fit on a modern layout. You might want to do a little more research just to find what was most common, because I was just listing some things I knew off the top of my head.
For cement, I use Atlas PS 2-bay covered hoppers. Others make 'em, but I stick with the Atlas cars. They seem to provide more variety. I use standard bottom cars for cement and Airslide cars for other commodities. This way, cement doesn't wind up where silica sand should be !!!
Good call. I already have one Atlas PS-2 and I can see that it is a good fit for this application. Need to get some more.
Good advice. For many years portland cement was shipped in two bay hoppers, because of the fact that it is a very high density cargo and so really heavy. More recently I've seen hoppers on a team track being unloaded into trucks with trailers that look like small cylindrical hoppers. They were being loaded from three bay hoppers, but that would be for the modern times, as in the last ten or so years. There are also two bays from MT, Deluxe and Kato that all would be perfect as well. Variety would be best. When weathering you can use real portland to give the appearance of cement that was spilled on the roof during loading, and the car went through rain and it hardened. Don't know about airslides, might be just the thing.
I run a string of the Deluxe 2-bays for my cement train, mostly ATSF/SP/SSW. I also have a couple sets of the Katos mixed in. They're nice cars too, although it took some hacking to get MTs to work with them. They all play nice together. ETA: I believe the Deluxe molds were damaged or destroyed, so pick them up if you want them.
It's a shame that the DeLuxe two bays are gone now, but The tooling came from someone else, and then was sold along with all the other DeLuxe stuff. I would suppose being shipped all over the country and used in different factories could cause problems. Don't know what's up with the Deluxe line today but maybe they could take on the two bays again. Or, as I believe at least one of the principals in Blueford Shops is a former DeLuxe person, maybe they could do it.
Intermountain's ACF 2 bay covered hoppers are prefect for cement service. They even did their ACF 2 bay in the Southdown INC scheme, in 6 different car numbers. Southdown is the name of the company that currently owns Medusa Cement.
Thanks all. Exactly the info I was looking for. Sounds like the Intermountain Southdown car would be perfect for my late 70's layout but I cannot find any. Looks like Atlas now offers the same car but the detail is not as good as the Intermountain car. Guess I will get a few Atlas cars and add the Intermountain ones to my shopping list.
***But the Atlas car will operate better. My Intermountain cars all seemed stiff and had derailment issues, even after overhaul. I would stick with the Atlas cars for now. I am hopeful the announced 3281 frac sand cars perform better.
Hi JPF, I own three of the Intermountain ACF 2 bay covered hoppers and have not had the problems you mentioned. The trucks on my cars swing very freely. The only change I've made on my cars is adding Fox Valley Metal wheel sets to the cars that came with plastic wheels. If you're having derailment issues, another option would be to switch your trucks out with a pair of Micro-Trains 100 ton roller bearing trucks. Also check to make sure the truck center pin is not too tight, causing tracking problems. In my opinion, the Intermountain cars have far better detail than the Atlas cars.
I have no disagreement with the detail comment. My overhaul consisted of complete truck change out and they were still to rough. Not sure where the drag was but after the cost of the car and the new trucks, it was time to find something else, and sold them.
