Looking to pick up a few hoppers for the 1/87 C&O. Does anyone have any experience with these?
Stewart Hobbies 55-Ton Fishbelly Hopper
Accurail Inc 50-Ton Offset-Side Twin Hopper
Accurail Inc 55-Ton Wood Side Twin Hopper
Accurail Inc USRA 55 Ton 2-Bay Coal Hopper
Bowser Manufacturing Co. Pennsylvania Railroad Class GLa 2-Bay Open Hopper
I’m not really worried about prototypicosity (Accurail USRA is the closest out of the box) but especially any problems. Any kudos are also welcome.
Thanks, guys & gals.
I have the Stewart’s in 55ton and 70ton and I am not sure on the Browser’s your describing but I have PRR H21a’s with the shadow Keystone lettering and the plain Keystone/black cars some where around 2 dozen of each i think. I picked up a bunch of Stewart 70 ton3 bay models at a train show in Allentown Pa for $5/ea couldn’t pass up the price. I am a self confessed coal hopper junkie If it’s out there I pretty much ave it and if not I’ll buy it.
All of the cars you’ve mentioned are fine models but that being said no matter what you buy it’s a good practice to get into is what I call pre-delivering them to your own railroad. I take em out of the box and weigh em, every single last one. You would be surprised at how many ready to run cars aren’t really ready to run.after the weighing/adjusting I check the wheel sets with an NMRA gage and usually will use the truck tuning tool and give them a little tic of La bell’s ( if they do not come with metal wheels I have been swapping them out with new metal wheel sets but lately I have found the Proto wheel sets to be working well.) on the tips of each axle.I then check coupler height with the Kadee coupler height gauges I have tow on a piece of sectional track mounted on a board that has them at eye level. When I’m satisfied they are ready to run. I set them aside to weather them which has nothing to do with running but it is the final step before they hit the rails.
I was informed by a pretty smart man who models a very large coal hauling railroad that this is a must practice to get into if you want reliable equipment. actually for any rolling stock weather you have 10 or 1000 pieces reliable equipment is a must
I have over a dozen of Bowser’s hoppers both 70 and 100 ton all built from kits. They were easy kits to assemble and as Allegheny has done I made sure that all the couplers (I use Kadee #5s) match the Kadee coupler gauge. I have been very satisfied with their performance and would recommend them. They are not as well detailed as some of the higher end models but at the price they are a bargain.
Joe