Is there anything close on the market out there that I could use to attempt to build a Santa Fe Super Hopper? Any and All inputs are appreciated!! dave t
Do you mean one of these? because the only picture I could come up with from a Google search were Hoppers like this one. Hope it helps http://www.some train store.com/product_p/atl-40000.htm
Reminds me of photos I've got/seen, of the Trough Train that BN ran years ago. Have photos in Pacific Rail News magazine, I think. Would be a neat project for sure.
Yes indeed that is one large car. I've never seen one like that before. That would be a nice car to model.
I remember seeing one in person ONCE when I was really young. Can't remember where I saw it. I'll have to check, but I think my dad has a copy of an article in The Warbonnet with blueprints to the Super Hopper. It would take a LOT of modifications, but you could use just some two bay cylindrical hoppers. It will probably take some styrene too. I'll look later and see if I can track down that article. If you do this, it will be really cool when it's done.
Hoppers Here are a couple of photos from the UP Fresno Yard December 2005. I have larger vesions if they are useful to you. :thumbs_up: Steve E.
Woah 2005!? I thought they were scrapped only a few years after their introduction. Huh. alister, I'll check, but I think my dad has some from an article from The Warbonnet.
I hope this helps. The opposite page shows through and you might have to save it to your own hard drive in order to enlarge/merge the pages.
Thanks Steve, those are gold!!!!:thumbs_up::thumbs_up: Going to have a good hard look and see what I can come up with!!!
They are still all around. There are 3 of them moving between Kings Park(BNSF) and Fresno(UP Fresno Sub). I saw them today, but really can't take pictures at 55mph. They are getting covered pretty good with graffiti. I think Steve's diagram might just work. dave t
Okay so we have some more pictures and some plans so what do we use to make a set? I've spent a couple of hours going through some pictures of model hoppers and while there isn't a single one hopper that is the one to use the Trinity 5161 Covered Hopper looks like a good candidate mainly because of the correct looking panels on the side of the hopper. The ends don't look bad. Any hopper you base it on even the ACF 2 bay Atlas trainman hopper you will have to chop it. The 3 bay trinity has more correct shutes and the panels. I'm looking to get an Intermountain one and err experiment. The sill looks thin enough so. I have some ACF 2 bays but they just aren't good enough as a starting point. You'd be better off scratch building it if you start from there and whatever hopper you use they will be around 6 N Scale inches too narrow at the middle of the hopper cylinder thingy. Any thoughts as to a good starting point? Start with a 2 bay with most details incorrect or start with a 3 bay with the shutes and shute doors being close, the sills close to being correct and the panelling on the side looking like it would be a goer. Anyone have an Exactrail hopper would that be better? Any thoughts? Alister
Not me, but thanks for bringing the thread back to the front! That's a pretty cool setup. Some intermodal well cars use the same idea today. I wonder if they could be used as a starting point for this. They seem longer than the hopper units though.
We had one of these at Saginaw Yard for about a year or so. One of our yardmasters who was near retirement at the time and in the know said they were waiting for the trust to expire so they could scrap the car. I sent some emails to local rail historical societies advising them of the car's status. I never heard anything back from them, but apparently it ended up with the Oklahoma Railway Museum.
The middle trucks' wheels are larger diameter than the end trucks' wheels, at least on the intermodals, due to more weight per wheel in the middle. Were the multi-unit coal cars the same way?
