Just ordered some of these....


goscrewyourselves

goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
Every day I see trains going by my side yard, about 50 away if that, and every day I look at the different cars that these trains are pulling. One common piece of rolling stock is the Grain Car/Covered Hopper and I love them, 2 bay, 3 bay or 4 bay - they just look great to me. As such, and after receiving a 25% discount Code Coupon from Micro Trains, I decided I needed some Covered Hoppers and this is what I have ordered:

66Pc0XC.jpg


I actually ordered two sets giving me 8 cars all up. I can now add these to my Intermodal Cars, Auto Racks, Box Cars, Tankers and Coal Cars giving me something close to what I see every day in the "real world" and at a 1:1 scale :)
 
Hmm, that's a nice idea mate. I think I maybe able to incorporate a Cement Plant on the layout. Might require some minor modifications to the track plan but hey - it IS still in the design phase :)
 
Yes most 2 bays are used for carrying cement & also the raw materials to make it. They are also used to carry silica sand & limestone for making glass. There were 2 places on the Los Angeles Junction Ry that each received 10 cars per day.
 
The cement then can go to a concrete making plant, which will need open hoppers of aggregate, or a nearby quarry.
 
Those are sharp! They wouldn't look out of place sitting at many of your industries when not in use. Being Micro-Trains you know they will roll, and operate like a dream. Sounds like you have a nice variety of cars for mixed freight. add a few centerbeams in the mix.
 
Those cars look really nice Tony. They'll make a good addition to your RR. Ray (Toot) and Andy have it right, those two bay covered hoppers were used primarily for transporting cement. BN got them when they merged SLSF (Frisco) into the BN banner, there were between 200 & 225 of them all built in 1975. Most of them made it through the BNSF merger and that is an early 2000's paint scheme that not all cars got. By 2006, there were only about 100 left in service, mostly hauling sand. I was still seeing them in 2017, which made them 42 years old.
 
tootnkumin said:
The cement then can go to a concrete making plant, which will need open hoppers of aggregate, or a nearby quarry.
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Your costing me money Chet :)

migalyto said:
Those are sharp! They wouldn't look out of place sitting at many of your industries when not in use. Being Micro-Trains you know they will roll, and operate like a dream. Sounds like you have a nice variety of cars for mixed freight. add a few centerbeams in the mix.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about center beams as I see them as well. Here is my dilemma though: I have Auto Racks and they look too big for the layout, at least running around my test track (about 12') so am wondering how they will look on the full layout with 175' of track work and scenery etc. My understanding is the center beams are not much smaller (if at all) than the Auto Racks.

santafewillie said:
Those cars look really nice Tony. They'll make a good addition to your RR. Ray (Toot) and Andy have it right, those two bay covered hoppers were used primarily for transporting cement. BN got them when they merged SLSF (Frisco) into the BN banner, there were between 200 & 225 of them all built in 1975. Most of them made it through the BNSF merger and that is an early 2000's paint scheme that not all cars got. By 2006, there were only about 100 left in service, mostly hauling sand. I was still seeing them in 2017, which made them 42 years old.
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I am really leaning toward a Cement Plant but the only one I have seen is another Walthers (arghhh) Kit. I was contemplating a scratch built but haven't found any "plans" for one and I don't really want to guess at dimensions or the parts of a Cement Plant.

Last night I revisited my Track Plan and think I can incorporate the Plant into it. Doing so would give me 1 Industry but will also fill an area in the top right corner of the layout as well. I'm not big on industries cos I believe if you have them, you then need to ensure that it/they fit and serve a purpose, not just another structure for the sake of a structure.
 
Tony,

They are 72FT so smaller in length than the auto racks. I believe Micro-trains made a 60FT center beam as well. If you can still find them defiantly go for Red Caboose. They glide on glass, right up there with Kato rolling stock!
 
Mike, thanks for the info and 72' is a good length I think. Never dealt with Red Caboose BUT, if they are as good as Kato, then I'll definitely be looking at them.

If I do get these, does that mean I need ANOTHER industry? :)

Crap, Red Caboose has been sold to Fox Valley Models and after my experience with an FVM engine, I' a little wary.
 
Am also getting 6 X Atlas 4 Bay Covered ADM Hoppers from a guy on another forum for a good price. They are all in great condition and their original "boxes". I will be repainting them as "Lease" (no name) cars and possibly replacing the trucks and wheels for metal ones.

On a side note (hi jacking my own thread here) but am also looking at replacing all of my Plastic wheels with metal from Micro Trains.
 
Okay, found a set of 4 60' Center Beam Cars (NS) from Micro Trains. Looks as though they will be on my shopping list after all :)

Found the exact same Micro Trains 4 Car Set Center Beams at another place (top hobby something or other) for, get this:

Super Discounted Price of ONLY $81 plus dollars :)
 
wombat457 said:
Mike, thanks for the info and 72' is a good length I think. Never dealt with Red Caboose BUT, if they are as good as Kato, then I'll definitely be looking at them.

If I do get these, does that mean I need ANOTHER industry? :)

Crap, Red Caboose has been sold to Fox Valley Models and after my experience with an FVM engine, I' a little wary.
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3 industries actually. Forestry to cut down the trees, timbermill to saw them into flitches and then dimensional lumber and a lumber yard (or 2) to market them. The centerbeams fit in between the timbermill and the lumber yard.

As far as Fox Valley rolling stock is concerned and I can only speak for HO, I have a number of their box cars that are very nice, both in detail and running. Usually where something passes to another maker's hands, they get all the tooling, so should turn out the same product.
 
Toot'n,

Thanks mate and your most likely right, the tooling and everything would have gone to FVM. It is more the quality control (or lack there of) when they are assembled that concerns me, especially when I found a 4 car set from MT for only $28. Guess I am just a beast of habit and stick with what I know will work.
 
Yep, as noted above by others, not all covered hoppers are created equal, and many are not suited to carrying grain.

Three main features set covered hopper cars apart:
1 - size
2 - outlet gates
3 - roof hatches


Size: Smaller 2-bay cars are used for heavy, dense, materials like sand, cement, rock salt, etc. Grains and fertilizers are usually carried in "standard" size 3-bay cars. Really light commodities like DDG (dried distiller's grain - an ethanol/alcohol making by product) and plastic pellets are usually in larger 4-bay cars.

Outlet gates: Method of unloading is immensely important. Many products can be simply dumped out using standard gravity outlets (simple sliding door that opens to allow product to dump out). Plastic pellets are shipped in cars with pneumatic outlets where vacuum hoses are attached to the outlets and the product is sucked out. Fine-grained or powdered materials like flour and cement are often shipped in pressure-unloading cars, these have all the distinctive discharge piping on them. Carbon black (basically a hydrocarbon soot, used to make tire rubber black) is shipped in further specialized cars with special butterfly outlet values, and special "sparger" outlets are used on cars in sodium chlorate service, which tend to have a fairly unique appearance.

Hatches: mostly this distinction will apply to standard gravity-outlet hoppers, and hoppers with other types of outlets will always have matching sealed hatches. However gravity hoppers may have full-length "trough" hatches, or a series of round hatches. Most grain cars will have trough hatches, while often cars in chemical service will have the round hatches which may seal against the elements better.
 
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