One thing fairly common in the South were two bay hoopers with a peak end. Was this something usually added by the railroad itself or were cars actually manufactured with the peak ends? It seems trying to find HO scale models of these is impossible.
I don’t think it would take much with a little styrene to add some peak ends. Anyone else run into this?
Thanks
Larry
Athearn still lists peak end cars under 34’ hoppers. Thay have not run any for a while but they should still be out there.
Does anyone know why a railroad would want cars with peaked ends? I am assuming there’s a practical reason for using them.
The ‘peaked’ end help control spilling coal as the load shifted. Some railroad ordered them, other s did not.
Jim
In his definitive history, Coal Cars, the First 300 Years (Scranton University Press), author Bob Karig refers to peaked hopper (and gondola) ends as “heap shields.” That’s a pretty descriptive term for their function, as they allowed coal to be heaped higher at the ends of the car. By the way, that book also includes the best illustrated history of freight car trucks that I’ve seen in print.
So long,
Andy
It’s pretty amazing someone would actually write abook on coal cars - sounds intresting though. I may have to find it.
Larry
Looking at prototype photos, I noticed that some had peaked ends that were formed as part of the basic structure, while others seemed to be separate parts, after-market add-ons. Also quite common were peaked ends ‘notched’ at the B end at the top of the end ladder adjacent to the brake wheel.
As usual, the ultimate answer is to research what your pet prototype railroad did. A few good prototype photos are worth ten tons of semi-informed opinions.
Chudk (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Athearn & Stewart make HO scale peaked end hoppers. They were popular with some roads and the N&W used them almost exclusively.
Roger Huber
The Atlas 50-Ton two bay offset side hopper is also produced with end peaks. They refer to it as an oval end hopper. They also make a flat end variant.
N&W and other roads favored the peak end with a flat top while C&O favored the oval top. I’ve often suspected this might have been a matter of refusing to be seen as one of them imitating the other. B&O didn’t have that problem; I think I’ve seen both types wearing B&O reporting marks. Then there’s PRR. Why did PRR not have any peak ends at all (or at least none that I recall seeing)?