A Fountain Of Hoppers (really April 1 is not until Friday)

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_4riverportmar28,0,6269820.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed

Anyone know the pedigree of the hoppers being suspended over a water in fountain in Bethlehem, PA?

See link.

bobyar2001 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:23 pm

Sounds like they might be from the Looney Tunes Railroad. Hard to believe that people actually get paid to dream up such projects..

scottychaos · **Posted:** Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:07 am

actually, that fountain idea sounds pretty cool to me!
a big tall sclupture of hoppers, with water running down through them..
well, it looks cool in my head anyway! ;)
the reality could be far different..

and it will keep the real history of the site right in peoples sight.
"whats with the train cars in the fountain?"
"they are old steel hopper cars, this whole area was once a giant steel mill."

how will they keep the hoppers from rusting away in a few years though?
with all that water consantly running through them?
paint only does so much..

it says they are "ore cars"..so it might be these little hoppers:
http://www.wig-wag-trains.com/Atlas%20Pictures/70T-Ore-Hopper/ATL-32292.jpg
was this style of ore car used down there?

Scot

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

Scotty,

I I got to tour the plant several times in its last year of operation, and the number of different types of cars on the property that could be described as "ore cars" was astounding.

There were many "normal" two bay and three bay hoppers, plus even some of the style in the photo you posted (which I always think of as a mid-western type of car, and very uncommon out here). There were several PRR cars on the property as well. These are all the standard guage cars and were used in ore and coke movements.

The narrow lines had a handful of little hoppers, but not alot.

The broad ga. electric ore cars were huge. All were still on the property as of last year. Called "Charging Larries", they brought the ore blend to the furnaces. If they build a fountain with these, it would surely be the only trolley/hopper/ore car artwork in the world!

Rob

Mike Piersa · **Posted:** Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:10 pm

I e-mailed the COO of the company redeveloping the property and found out that the cars for the fountain are actually â€œtiny ore cars, not railroad cars.â€