Way back, in 2009 to be precise, I figured my new table saw would let me make some scale lumber. So I dug out the pics of a wooden ore hopper that EBT acquired from the Hancock & Calumet, and that they rebuilt many times - finally with extra height and a steel lining. I only knew of 2 photos, so I figured even if I got it wrong there wouldn’t be much criticism. So I popped the pic into the background on my Visio and started sizing the various parts:
I then did a drawing and cut the wood, using basswood for the frame and balsa for the side planks, as it has a strong grain. For most of the winter I toiled away, making the frame and the sides. The uprights were drilled in a jig, and small pins made the boltheads.
At this stage (late 2010,) the sides slotted into the stake pockets, and the trucks were the EBT vulcans off some old 1:22.5 3-bay hoppers I had cut up. Very little underframe detail has been added. Then the problem arrived, in the shape of a very nice On3 model from Bill Adams. He exhibited his at the FEBT model contest that year, and won the prize (I didn’t enter this hopper.) When I asked him where he got the dimensions, he says: “from the plans” !! Turned out he had a set of un-published plans and also some more photos of the prototypes. So he sent me a copy, and while my dimensions were good, the bolt heads weren’t. The photos I had were fuzzy but his photos clearly showed the bolts were actually nbws (nut-bolt-washer) fitted inside the steel lining. (It figures really - why would you want to catch coal on bolts sticking inside?) Anyway, I sat on the project for more than a year, until recently, when I said “to he** with it” and got on with finishing the hopper as it was. One incentive was a pair of correct Vulcan trucks - the same ones used on the Bachmann 2-bay. (Thanks to Mark, who took the body off my hands!)
The main pieces needed to finish it were Ozark castings - turnbuckles, tie rod pads, nbws, brake wheel, and a full K brake kit. The latter is very useful if you are populating the underneath of a freight car! On these cars, with their central hopper bays, the brake cylinders hang on the side and are very visible.
So now it is sitting nextt to my other old 2-bay Pressed Steel Co hopper waiting for a chance to give it some light coats of flat black paint.
