I was wondering if any of our knowledgeable and well informed gang might be able to help me out with a question about hopper freight cars.
My question is this :
What if any date can anyone give or direct me to on ATSF 70 ton 14 panel hoppers? Specifically when did they first see service and were they exclusively used to haul coal or bauxite, or did they haul other loads as well and if so what sorts in general might you expect to see?
Any help, information or redirection will be greatly appreciated.
I don’t know if this will help, but I have found accurail’s website very helpful in planning my rolling stock roster. In their product listings they state the “built date” that is on the car. I am assuming (yeah I know what assume spells lol) that these dates are at least somewhat accurate. Wish more manufacturers would give such information.
Oh yeah. Accurail also offers number decals so that the cars can be renumbered. Cool offering!
The only problem with Accurail is they use liberties in their rolling stock, lettering cars that don’t exist in prototype. Check out if the ATSF has a historical society web site, someone their would be able to give you the direct info you’re looking for.
The car number you gave, ATSF 8000, is given to a 50’ boxcar on the date you’re interested in. This is according to the Railway Equipment Registers for October 1950 and July 1956. So, if you’re looking at a Santa Fe hopper with that number, the answer to your question would be no.
Perhaps it is in the 80000 series. I have seen 3 bay, open top hoppers in that series. Considering I saw this in revenue service in the past few years, if that is the correct number, I would say that the 1950s would be too early, unless other hoppers held that number series before these.
Is this a Bowser car? They give information about their 100 ton hoppers, so they may eventually give information about their 70 ton hoppers.