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