Good News, Not So Good News.

Good news is, Full Throttle has come out with Mopac 3 bay hoppers !!!!! Bad news is, why only a 2 pack? Frustrating. Coal trains are usually long and pretty much the same company´s cars. (there are exceptions)
I would love 12 with different numbers, but I know Uncle Will is a one man operation, and so that won´t happen.
Still, I am glad that there are 3 bay hoppers of Midwest coal lines coming out again!! With any luck, perhaps in CB&Q colors, in 3 sets of 2. Now THAT would look real nice behind a triple set of GP7s!

Kelley,

Just a thought, but you can sponsor run with Uncle Will. If you want a number of cars, you can basically produce a special run. Will just did this for another customer. The extra cars the customer did not want were offered to dealers. If enough folks are interested in the road name, Will may he able to offer you additional road numbers. I know with our own special runs, we have done upwards of 4 road numbers, but with little more quantity, I am sure he can do more. It is definitely worth looking into if you want a unit train of matching hopppers.

Rob

Back when I had a pot of money, fresh from downrange, I did make some inquires. There were a few interested in going in with me, but it just never happened.


I also realize that small companies want to keep the overhead down,and dont want to have a lot of stuff sitting on a dealers shelf.

There are just collectors out there, that just want one car of whatever flavor. Other folks are happy just to put a couple of cars in the consist of a freight train. Still others are happy to run a big long train full of every flavor of hopper there is, with no rhyme or reason, because they are "pretty".

Im sure Id have to find a dozen people to try and make it work. Or I could just ignore the numbers, or do the scratch and re-decal. The weathered over the numbers trick only goes so far.

Kelley,

If you want to revisit, then we are happy to help. Post a photo of what you would like to see. I would be happy to work from this end with Will and see what we can come up. We can post photos of what you are thinking about in Ztrack and on the other forums to see how many interested folks we can come up with. I love projects likes this. I know Will does to. Like all small manufacturers, having a run that has no risk is so important to help keep things going.

Rob

Sure. Let me dig around and find a good original picture or two.

My reference book is still buried but I sent a message to the CB&Q guys, lets see what they say. I dont want artwork based on another model, I would like to have original source. I have some HO hoppers and some of them are all kinds of crazy wrong.

If there is a minimum amount of cars that could be run with one number, say 200, that would mean a string of 8 cars would be 1600 cars. that would have to be sold. dont know if 200 sets would sell.

However now that people are selling STARTER sets again, this might be a great opportunity to sell off the excess. Only trouble would be a proper caboose.

So far, all I can dig up www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=215046

Kelley,

That is actually a great shot. I would never have thought wrecked ones would have been transported upside down of flat cars. I don't think it helps the cause, but still an neat photo!

Rob

www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1935261

Kelley,

Have you tried the following site for some additional CB&Q hopper photos?

www.rr-fallenflags.org

Bruce

Lot of great pictures, but unfortunately none of the 3 bays. (Love those composite wood/metal hoppers) Ill have to find my book. Meanwhile the 2 pictures I did post at least establish that both models of the 3 bay hopper that are produced, could be used. Artwork is already out there for the 2 bays. I will just have to dig around until I find my books.

I did find a consultant, who would do the artwork and research. But it is not going to be for free.

So Kelley what are you looking for?

I am wanting a string of 3 bay hoppers, with at least some of them with different numbers. Like a 6 pack or and 8 pack or a 12 pack. Like AZL did with the fruit cars.

Wish I could help Kelley but I don't think this will happen any time soon I'm afraid.

I don´t think it will either. There is a gaps between what people can make and sell vs what was really used on railroads. We are doomed forever to run our cute trains in tiny circles. From now on I ´ll concentrate on getting a supply of lumber. I have permission to set up in the living room.

Kelly,
A couple of thoughts for you. First, have you considered "weathering" over parts of duplicate road numbers? If you look at MTL's weathered and graffiti cars, they reuse existing road numbers and just obscure parts of the number.

As far as research, I was wondering if the documents you need are in a CB&Q library somewhere? I make use of the CSRM library in Sacramento. For WP,UP, SP and ATSF they have original drawing from the roads, much like the one you found for the CB&Q tenders, for just about everything. Another thought would be the NMRA archive.

Kelly, all,
Would there be value in producing a car without the road number and adding it as a decal?
MTL did this with some of their passenger cars.

Mark

Mark, I agree that this would be an excellent option for most anything on the rails where there are many identical. However, some folks really like those numbers pad printed like the rest of the car. Having it offered both ways would be cool

And how many Z scale modelers can actually read the numbers? I'd venture very few.

I think Mark's idea has real merit. Dirty them up a bit and who can tell?

Karin,
I've thought about that too. In Silly Con Valley we have pad print units with a serial number attachments. Mark the car, push a button, get the next number and mark another. I'll admit the logistics of handling the 300-1000 road numbers is a nightmare. Maybe a set of 10 cars and the only promise is that they are all different.

There are also times, IMHO, when decals should be preferred. As an example, the AZL WP Mikados. WP ran the units with attached plates with the road number and logo. A properly cut decal simulates the edges of those plates quite nicely. However the decals for the MTL UP cars just look wrong without a lot of work.

Mark