My layout is going to be mid 1950s Union Pacific (and Utah Railway) with a focus on coal hauling and coal operations. I need to build a fairly large ‘fleet’ of coal hoppers. What coal hopper styles/models would be prototypically correct for 1950s Union Pacific and Utah Railway?
Thanks!
1000 War Emergency composit hoppers built by ACF in 1943. The Proto 2000 model with wood sides would be a start, but these cars had crosswise hoppers (like ballast hoppers).
The 1949 ORER lists 496 short taper twin hoppers but once again these were side dump like ballast hoppers.
The UP preferred GS gons for hauling coal like the other Western roads. They received 1000 composite GS gons in 1944 and another 2000 all steel cars in 1951. The Red Caboose and Detail Associates kits would be close.
You would also see hoppers from the Eastern roads mixed into these trains. I would say that for the mid 50s most of your coal traffic should be in gons not hoppers.
Trix produced these UP triple hoppers:
They were UP 16000-17949, class H-70-1, built 1948.
Also, Atlas has made these:
The above were UP 90000-90999, class HK-70-1, built 1947.
Ed
Here’s an image of the Spring Canyon mine loader as shown in a magazine from 1962, but the date may be earlier.
See http://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/UtahRailway/Utah-Railway-Miscellaneous/ . Note that coal is loaded in gons, and there isn’t a hopper to be seen. This was typical well into the 1960s at some mines.
Here’s a Utah Railway gon. I’m not sure any models of these are available.
From the same site as above, here’s a view of the mine at Wattis, UT showing UP hoppers.
This undated photo of a coal mine in Wyoming on the UP also shows the prevalence of gons, although it looks earlier than the '50s. See http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/coal.html .
Didn’t freight cars have a shelf life around 20 years (for interchange service)? After that, they’d need to be rebuilt or taken out of service so anything with a ‘new’ date 20 years before your era would be correct. Older cars would probably be ok if they were restenciled with a newer ‘rblt’ date.
I have been sweating the dates on cars too but lately found out some mfg put the wrong dates (compared to prototype photos) on them so I don’t worry too much anymore. I think a few ‘rivet counted’ cars are good to have for photos though (small details like that seem to stand out in still photos). I need to get an ORER for my time period to help me make better choices in what models (and how many of each) to buy; I’ve recently come to realize how useful those could be for my late 60’s time frame (lots of old 40’ers and new 86’ers in the same train)…seems like as long as the car held whatever it needed to, while keeping the customer happy, it was used regardless of it’s exact type or age.
The underframe rule was 40 years for cars built prior to 1974 and used in interchange service. As of 1979, a Rule 88 rebuild or extended service recertification could extend the life to 50 years.
Mr. Wolf,
It has been a couple of weeks since you posed your question. And you have been strangely silent. I do hope our responses have not bowled you over with their insight and utility. I recall that very thing happening to another modeler. He received a concussion. But he recovered. More or less.
Anyway:
I am honestly quivering with anticipation: did my answer help you the least little bit?
Ed