Large Scale Central

Best sized coal and hopper cars for 1:29

Modeling Rolling stock
#1

Ok, I’m not a rivet counter, but I do notice the difference between 1:20.3, 1:29 and 1:32.

I want to make a coal drag, with cars appropriate for the era of the Aristo mallet, and Aristo pacific I have. Would also use early diesels. Want to follow the prototype.

I model Santa Fe.

What I know is available is:

  1. MDC 70 ton hoppers, 2 bay, look nice, out of production but still some to be found. Seem to be 1:32, might look a little small. Will have to add metal wheels, and the trucks are ok.

  2. MDC 70 ton ore cars, 1 bay, look nice too, but look really small. Will have to add metal wheels, the trucks on the 4 I have are poor.

  3. USAT 70 ton hoppers, 3 bay, look to be accurate 1:29, but seem to be way too modern for steam. The build date on the model says 1973. Trucks and wheels are fine, typical USAT ultimate.

  4. LGB ore cars, look to be 70 ton like #2 above, scale unknown (anybody check them out?), look about right, but expensive. Do they have plastic or metal wheels?

  5. Bachman 2 bay hopper, no picture on web site, scale is supposed to be an honest 1:20.3, have not seen them yet. Come with metal wheels. Probably too big for 1:29 locos.

Suggestions, comments, experience?

Thanks, Greg

#2

MDC 2 Bay hoppers are prolly the best, the N&W had some cars that looked almost like that. Bmanns 3 bays also work OK…Those others are either too moderen or obviously NOT coal hoppers…

#3

Running a Bachmann Annie with 4 of the mdc hoppers and 4 of the ore cars right now. The ore cars look way too small. The MDC hoppers look better, but still a bit small. Of course, the Annie is not 1:29 is it? (What is it?)

Added the Bachmann hoppers. My guess too big for 1:29 locos, but might be a good fit with the Annie?

Regards, Greg

#4

The MDC 2 bays are quite ok for what you want. Ditch the ore cars as they are the wrong type. You might try modernizing the older 1:22.5 Bachman 3 bay cars (ie: get rid of the narrow guage breakwheel and add an SG one…and add bettendorf trucks instead of archbar). Actually the USAT hoppers are ok for late steam though they may not be painted correctly. The Aristo’s are too modern. And your Annie is 1:22.5. Also, the 2 bay MDC hoppers and the Bachman 3 bays look quite ok together but you will need lots of both. Most coal drags would have blocks of one size or the other rather than running them mixed helter skelter.

Warren

#5

Ron Wenger and some of his cronies did up over 100 of the Bachman hoppers by doing what Warren suggested, with Aristo parts, of course. :smiley: Go take a look at his web site. I think they look pretty good.

SteveF

#6

Warren, I have one of the USAT hoppers, it is a 14 panel, I belive that they started in the 60’s so I think it’s too modern. The 70 ton AAR ones were late 40’s I believe.

I do want ore cars also, so will also investigate the LGB ones.

Right now, a coal drag behind a mallet is my goal. The MDC’s are a smoothside, looking for prototype pix. Most of what I see are 8 panel 55 ton or 11 panel 70 ton.

I don’t think anyone makes a 55 ton in 1:29.

Thanks! Greg

#7

I just looked at both a USAT and an Aristo hopper. Both are 14 panel. But according to USAT their hopper is 70 ton. Aristo’s is 100 ton. The Aristo is considerably bigger and looks more modern. The Aristo comes with roller bearings and the USAT has friction bearings. Without finding pictures and counting rivits I would call the USAT hopper a 50’s model. The MDC model comes in both the smooth side and the paneled. The paneled version has 8 panels. See my link elsewhere to my pictures from Marty’s last weekend. That’s an MDC 8 panel. It is with Aristo 14 panel 100t hoppers. I did a quickie google and found that 14 panel 3 bay 70 ton hoppers did/do exist. A historical note: If you recall a major train wreck in So. Cal a few years back where the train derailed and took out several homes, the majority of remaining 70t 3 bay hoppers were destroyed then. They were 14 panel. What I did find were built in the 70’s, but that doesn’t mean they were not built earlier. It only means I didn’t find them. The only hoppers I found from the 50’s were the C&O 11 panel 3 bay. Research both the N&W and Virginian. I have no idea what exactly they had. I recall seeing long strings of 2 bay hoppers as a kid in Virginia.

Warren

#8

The MDC’s I have are smoothside, and I believe that is called “offset”, but I may be wrong. I believe the way they are smooth, is the reinforcing channels are inside the hopper.

Saw an LGB today, it is an 8 panel, and 55 ton, twin hopper. The build date said 1934. That might also be perfect in time, but need to see if the scale is ok. Anyone know? (yeah, don’t start laughing when I have LGB and scale anywhere near each other!!)

Regards, Greg

#9

I’ve seen the LGB hoppers and in my opinion they are a little large for 1:29. They appear to be more like the EBT 2 bays done in 1:22.5 Below is my MDC 2 bay outside braced car. The others are Aristo 100t which are quite a bit bigger…as they should be.

#10

Some B’mann 3 bay hoppers came with a different truck…other than an arch bar…if you can find them they look fine for what you want. Kadee 820’s work well with them, and a string of them will be within a reasonable cost range over the other offerings. I forget the name of the trucks…maybe “Andrews”…they are supposed to resemble the trucks used by the EBT on some of their hoppers…the B’mann trucks on their EBT van are much the same, only with leaf springs.
If you like 2 bay hoppers; the 3 bay ones cut down nicely with a bit of work. The MDC cars are a bit small for 1:29, but can pass if you are not too critical.
The LGB hopper cars are models of an EBT 2 bay hopper, and look like an EBT hopper no mater what they are painted up as.

From what I’ve seen; the USTrains and Aristo hoppers are a bit too modern for what you are looking for, in my opinion…go for the B’mann 3 bays with the “Andrews trucks” if you can find them.

I just put Kadee 820’s on 5 LGB ore cars…they look fine in a 1:29 operation, but the air lines are wrong for most railroads as they are up high, as on the B&LE.
The Kadee 820’s, body mounted bring the cars close together as they should be.
Running the LGB ore cars with a bunch of others looks OK, but the old Lionel ones best match them; the MDC ones are a bit small, although ore cars came in a lot of sizes depending on what road.

Ore cars were seldom interchanged, so they all should be painted and lettered for your home road…with different numbers of course.

The B’mann wooden ore cars are way too old a model for what you are looking for. A string of them look great in operations on an early era NG pike…price is right. I have about 20 of them and like them…definately 1:22.5 scale.

The “NEW” B’man 1:20.3 EBT hoppers, soon to be available will be great cars, but too large a scale for what you want. They will definately be a must for anyone wanting 1:20.3 hopper cars…I had the test shot car in my hands, and am ordering a dozen…but they are definately a model of the EBT 2 bay hoppers…

…hope this helps…

#11

Fred Mills said:
Some B’mann 3 bay hoppers came with a different truck… [i]

Resident EBT Fan Here - They are Vulcan Trucks - A cast side-frame similar to Bettendorf, but not the same shape. From Chris Coleman’s EBT Website http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/

JR