I posted the link to the you-tube video higher up on this page. Btw good find Les! How many are there?

I believe that there were 66 cars listed the last time I checked the list that Rob Davis started. Most are confirmed, but not all. This car at the TLE&W is an example and now that a photo has shown up, it can be changed from Unconfirmed. We may even have lost a car or two since Rob started the list. I am also not sure that all of the cars mentioned in this long-ongoing thread made it to Rob's list.

Les

I do need to update the list, but I welcome all of you to do the same.

Our collective power is infathomable.

Lately, I have been obsessed with one 2 bay hopper, but more keep turning up!

Rob

I visited North Lake, Wisconsin this past weekend and managed to get a photo of the mentioned Colorado & Southern USRA hopper car so thought I'd post it and add it to this long running thread.

Les

Just for sake of correctness, it doesn't appear to be a USRA design car; the stub side sills at the end of the car are the wrong shape, and it appears longer than the 30'-6" IL of the USRA design. I'm sure if we had the number, someone could track down the builder and built date.

I do not believe this car has been mentioned. Former Belfast and Moosehead Lake # 46 (at one time used in interchange service?) now serving as a ballast car for the Downeast Scenic Railroad in Ellsworth, Maine.

http://www.downeastscenicrail.org/ride/rail-equipment/maintenance-of-the-way/

Three two bay offset side open hoppers are at Milbank, S.D. Pictures taken early this month.

Dennis -

When I was at North Lake, I didn't check the frame or the truck bolsters for a car number. My bad! The number might be there, I just don't know.

Les

Olin -

I think that this car must be second hand from a major railroad, rather than being built for the B&ML. I just can't see a coal mine on that line where they would have needed coal hoppers. But....maybe I'm wrong.

Thanks for posting the photo. Car looks in decent shape.

Les

PRR8157 -

Nice pix! Without going back through this whole thread, I believe that these are ex-Milwaukee Road hoppers. Mr. Huff may know if that is correct. The cars look in very good shape. What do the SMRR reporting marks stand for?

Thanks for checking these out and posting the photos.


Les

Les-

It's a good bet that these are ex-MILW, but I can't say positively. Don't know the RR name, but the M might stand for Milbank. Maybe somebody else knows. The SMRR treats them rough as per attatched photo.

8157

I don't recall that shade of green on any Milwaukee Road equipment. It might be C&NW, however it appears to be the same shade of green and about as weathered as I saw on two hoppers at the end of track in Tuscola, IL. They are gone now.

Those cars were former C&IM, then later in a contractor's service I believe, and lettered "HALLETT" or something like that. The sides were badly rusted out. On these three green cars, you can see that the side sheets were replaced and Huck bolted into place. They are good cars to be preserved, and seem to have been OOS for some time.

Are those two Hallett cars the ones that ended up in Boone, IA?

Rob -

I know of the two Hallett cars that were in Tuscola that Olin mentioned. They were up against a dirt pile that was apparently put there when the grain elevator sidings were lengthened. The two cars were in pretty rough shape. If they are the cars that ended up in Boone, they were nicely restored. My guess is that they came from some other location, but who knows?

I'd sure like to know the original owner of the three cars in Milbank. The green paint reminds me of the Hallett cars. But this paint could have been applied later. The trucks might be a clue, depending on what is cast into the side frames. If I recall (it's been quite a while), one of the cars at Tuscola might have had NYC trucks.

I agree that the cars deserve to be preserved.

Les

Thought I'd add to this very long roll-call on two-bay hoppers.
The Illinois Railway Museum has a couple of cars that just might fit the criteria:

C&NW #110509, a two-bay ballast car that easily looks like it was modified from a standard two-bay hopper. If it helps to identify the car's history, the load limit is 210,000, the lightweight is 53,000, and the cubic feet is 1,700. The car is equipped with 2" HF comp shoes. The car is not listed on their website, but here's a link to a photo: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3107227.

C&NW #X201775, another two-bay ballast car that also might have been modified from a standard two-bay hopper. Here's the weights listed: the load limit is 169,600, the lightweight is 50,400, and the MW capacity is 154,000. Stenciled next to the weights is "CNW 2-84". This car is also not listed on their website, but here's a link to a photo: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1545163

These are the only two-bay cars I remember seeing from when I was there (albeit briefly) in July of 2009 (there might've been others I missed). Perhaps if I make it back there next year I'll make a more thorough survey.