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Miles, First of all, a little history on the CB&Q PS 2893 cu ft covered hoppers and HO models: In 1954 PS delivered 30 70-ton 2893 cu ft class HC-2 covered hoppers 85000-85029 to the Q in mineral red paint. In 1965, 15 of these (85015-85029) were upgraded with 100-ton Barber S-2-A roller bearing trucks at Havelock but still classed HC-2. These care were painted black to differentiate them from the mineral brown 70-ton HC-2's still in service. (See Burlington Bulletin 20 on covered hoppers for the definitive guide to Q covered hoppers.) In 1958 CB&Q received two batches of very similar 3219 cu ft class HC-3 covered hoppers from PS. These were numbered 85100-85124 and 85125-85199. They cars were delivered in the CB&Q gray scheme and are slightly taller (about 5-8", but enough to be noticeable) than the HC-2 covered hoppers. As you will note, the Athearn PS-2CD 2893 covered hoppers on eBay that you reference are actually painted and numbered for the HC-3's, not the HC-2's. More on this now as we consider models available. Many years ago, Con-Cor made a PS-2 3219. Since at that time there were no 2893 cu ft PS covered hoppers available, in 1996 the BRHS had some special runs painted of the Con-Cor 3219's as 2893 cu ft HC-2 covered hoppers. They did these as both the early and rebuilt HC--2's. I have CB&Q 85003 (BRHS #2B), 8505 (BRHS #2A), and 85008 (BRHS #1B) all in mineral red (one has the external maximum load lines printed on it). I also have 85050 (BRHS #3A) in black. But as I mentioned, these were not really 2893 cu ft HC-2's. (I also have Con-Cor 9517 CB&Q 85117 which is prototypical for a 3219 cu ft HC-3). About 5-10 years ago Athearn and Walthers both introduced true PS-2CD 2893 cu ft covered hoppers. Both were very well done models. Both were released in CB&Q. The Athearn is the pre-157 design, so is what you want for a 1954 built CB&Q HC-2. The Walthers model is the 1957 design and later design. Athearn made the 2893's in both mineral red and black, which is nice. The detailing is great on the Athearn cars, with wire grab iron, etc., but I do have a note that the hatch arrangement is slightly off since the Q cars were very early production 2893's and PS slightly changed the hatch spacing thereafter. I decided to retire my BRHS models and go with the much better detailed Athearn models. Later Athearn released a third run of the PS 2893 covered hoppers painted as HC-3's. They are also very nice models but simply are not HC-3's. If you don't mind running 2893 cu ft HC-2's as 3219 cu ft HC-3's these are definitely of higher quality than the Con-Cor HC-3 model. I decided to keep my Con-Cor model as it is taller than the Athearn HC-2, just as it should be. I figured the height would be more noticeable (as it would be on the prototypes) than the grab iron detail, so I never ordered the Athearn models. Now onto commodities transported. A CB&Q wheel report for Train 97 from Galesburg to Mpls/St-P on July 2, 1966 shows two HC-3's paired on the train and heading to Hamm's Brewing Company in St. Paul, MN loaded with grits. I believe all the HC-2's and HC-3's were still in service in 1969, so if you want to go with the Athearn HC-2's numbered as HC-3's it would not surprise me if they were still used in grain service to breweries since the higher capacity cars worked well for that. Tom Mack Cincinnati, OH
---In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, <nathanp3@...> wrote : Group These hoppers have recently appeared on eBay, but I could find no trace of them in my 1969 NP wheel reports. However, there were many, many examples of other, larger PS2CD4000s and PS2CD4740s and General American GA 4500 cu ft cars reflected during that entire year. Does anybody know where these cars ranged on and off the Q, and what commodities they were carrying by 1969? I'm guessing they were relatively rare by that time. Thanks in advance Miles On the old NP Bitter Root Branch __._,_.___ Posted by: thommack@yahoo.com __,_._,___ |