Trying to make up my mind which way to go here. USA offers CSX and undec. where aristo. doesn’t. My concern is that the USA hoppers are 70 ton vs. aristo. 100 ton. I have not been able to find any dimensions (hieght) for either one. I think the aristos will be slightly larger and would like the bigger cars. Does anyone have any pictures of the two brands side by side so I can compare.
Aristo does make an undecorated 100 ton hopper. I just bought 2 off of ebay. Aristo did make a 6 car CSX set as it’s 2007 AristoClub cars. You may be able to find them on ebay, I see them every once in a while. Usually if Aristo does something as a club or show car, if they end up with a lot of extras or if it is popular they will add them to the catalog in a few years. Your other option is to buy cars and redo them. I am currently buying PRR hoppers #41403 and removing the roadname and number and redoing them in BNSF Swoosh logos. I buy that particular car because it has the least abount of decorating to remove. Get custom CSX decals from shawmutcarshops.com
You can also go with one of our sponsors Stan Cedarleaf for your decals
Here’s a few pictures… The light blue is Aristo, the burlington car is USA…
The Aristo is taller, and longer…
The USA car comes with a coal load, Kadees and a Geep 38-2 !
David Russell said:for the right price, I bet it would.... :)
The USA car comes with a coal load, Kadees and a Geep 38-2 !
Purchase a bunch of Bachmann hopper cars, in kit form for around $30 each, and save a bundle of money…they come with metal wheels. All you will need is a rattle can, a pair of Kadee couplers and a decal set from your favourite source…
This makes for a great indoor winter project for your shop. You could have a “Fleet” by Spring at over half the cost. Body mount the Kadees, and the cars look great, run well. (Even come with a coal load)
Actually meant to type…“At less than half the cost”…
The five Bachmann (EBT) coal hoppers that I have have been patched for my railroad herald. They do represent good value indeed. They sit fairly comfortably, in my view, with Aristo 100T and 2-bay hoppers -more so the 100Tonners. I only have two 100T(PRR) ones: they make ideal battery trailing cars due to their length. I think your modeling era is more recent in time Phil so the smaller 2 bay hoppers might not fit; but they are nice models. Six 2-bays are approximately the same length as five Bachmann cars.
Andy,
Thanks for the photo’s. Exactly what I was looking for. I now see how much larger the aristos are.
As for considering bachmann’s, I had not thought of that.
Alan,
Do you have the 100 tonners and bachmanns? If so, would you be able to post photos like above. I really don’t need many, so breaking out a black can of spray paint and adding some decals would be no problem. I’m sure I could give them a more modern look while at it. As was suggested, I am going with modern era equipment. $100+ saved, is also a compromise I can live with if need be though.
Phil,
The Bachmann 3 Bays and the LGB 2 Bays are certainly of an older era hopper, than the Aristo and USA Hoppers Andy is displaying in his pictures.
the Bachmann 3 bays are good hoppers, however, I changed out the trucks on mine and changed them to USA trucks… MY Bachmann hoppers got painted, and decaled for the CB&Q, trucks changed, body mounted kadee’s, and the brakewheel was relocated to the end of the car horozontally, instead of sticking up in the air… here’s a shot of the bachmanns behind a GP-40…
Yes; change the brake wheel to an end mount…that makes them into a more modern appearing car.
Andy…do you still have the B’mann trucks ?..if they were the “Andrews appearing ones” (Not the archbars) let me know if you could part with them.
Fred Mills said:
Yes; change the brake wheel to an end mount.....that makes them into a more modern appearing car.Andy…do you still have the B’mann trucks ?..if they were the “Andrews appearing ones” (Not the archbars) let me know if you could part with them.
Fred… Yes, I do still have the trucks because they have small sideframes, and I use those sideframes on my Autoracks and TOFC’s. They had smaller diameter wheels than regular freight cars, and the smaller sideframes make the appearance more appropriate… sorry…
I removed the brake wheel and cut the staff on the Bachmann steel hopper. The box portion of a hook and loop coupler was glued under the end lip of the car and over the staff. The Bachmann brake wheel was the added to the box. A modern brake wheel would have looked better, but I didn’t have any at the time. Tipped the car over and dusted it with some gray primer to weather it.
It regularly runs in the standard gauge operations at Fred’s, and nobody has noticed it wasn’t a standard gauge car.
The undecorated (boxcar red) and Peabody (bright yellow) come with more modern side frames than the EBT model. Right now there is only one on-line discounter that shows any in stock. Is the 1:22nd scale line being discontinued?
There is no word of discontinuing the “Big Hauler” line by Bachmann. I just purchased a case of the box car kits, a month or so ago.
There were no flat kits available, last time I inquired.
…I do notice, on closer examination, that the 2010 Bachmann catologue, only shows kits for passenger cars, box cars, flat cars and cabooses (8 wheeled).
They do list an undecorated hopper car (98270), and three others, under rolling stock. (98204, 98229, 98230)
Street price on the hopper cars is usually around $40, or so…kits were a bit less.
Telephone a few of the major dealers, listed in Garden Railways magazine, and see if they have any kits, or built-up ones in stock, and check on the price.We are looking for modern looking 40 foot flat cars and steel hoppers for the quarry train on the Northland Railway. If we can’t find any “blowout sales” on them, it will give us something to do at the ECLSTS other than filling the chairs at Ric and Jan’s display.
I got most of my hoppers, a few years ago, ok, maybe 6-7 years ago or more… Time flies when one is having fun… 
Averaged about 27 bucks a car… Changed the brake wheel location to the end side, added 830 kaddes, and replaced the stock bachmann trucks with USA trucks… Painted and decaled them, CB&Q, to run with my CB&Q GP-7 & 9… I think I have 18 completed, and a few more to go…
Are the AMS (Accucraft) three bay coal cars worth the extra cost at slightly over $100 each for retail price?