Quick and inexpensive detailing of HO twin hoppers

While this article is aimed primarily at detailing the Atlas twin hoppers that the C&OHS is selling, the techniques will work also with hoppers made by Athearn and MDC.

We're going to begin by correcting a few visual flaws in the typical hopper kit. One important area is the brake wheel. Check car diagrams to see who manufactured the power brake on the prototype of your model. On a pre-lettered car don't remove the brake housing, just install the proper brake wheel or one that looks better.

Another big item for C&O hoppers is the lack of slope sheet braces which are almost universal on C&O cars from this era. The lack of them leaves the ends of the cars looking much too open.

WHEELS FIRST

The easiest and most visually impressive change even if you don't weather the car or do anything else is to repaint the wheels. Remove the underframe from the carbody and pop the wheels from the truck sideframes. They're nice metal wheels but too shiny for a freight car. I painted mine with Floquil's "Rail Brown," to which just a touch of their "Rust" was added. Remember not to paint the wheel treads. Pop the wheels back into the trucks and glue a brake lever to the shaft coming out of the brake cylinder.

BRACE YOURSELF

Start the installation of the slope sheet braces by scribing a line 1/4" away from the top of the slope sheet. An easy way to do this is to use a piece of 1/4" wide by .025" thick brass strip stock as a straight edge.

Cut two scale 6'-0" long pieces of 1/16" angle stock and glue in place, centered along the scribed line. Next cut four 4'-0" long pieces of 3/64" angle and glue these to the 1/16" angle, 1'-0" to either side of the car centerline. After the cement has set a bit bend them so they touch the frame 6" off the centerline of the car. After everything is dry trim the excess angle with a flush cutter until it is just below the lip on the car frame.

HIT THE BRAKES

The train air line is next. Turn the car upside down with the brake platform towards you. The air line will run on the left side of the car body. Drill three holes vertically in the lower edge of the car side, one at the center and the others at each end. Drill the holes two rivets past where the slope sheet intersects the car side, then install and align the eyebolts and thread a piece of .019" diameter brass wire through them.

Bend the brass wire towards the truck kingpin at a 45-degree angle just past the outer eyebolts. The wire can rest on the body bolster without interfering with the swiveling of the truck. Don't glue the wire in place yet.

Moving on to the brake platform, add a piece of scrap photoetched tread to the brake platform. I used some leftover "Farr" diesel air grille. Stick with brass material if you can here; it is difficult to work with stainless steel. Cut the tread to fit the brake platform and glue it in place. Glue the new brake wheel in place now. I also replaced the Ajax housing at the same time. Just shave off the round boss, which accepts the pin on the back of the Atlas brake wheel and glue the new part in place.

Finally, install an eyebolt in the square plate below the ladder on both car ends. After everything new is painted, and the frame is assembled to the car body, glue the Z-braces provided by Atlas in place. Thread the cut bars through the eyebolts and lightly glue to the bottom of the coupler pockets. Except for weathering, the car is finished.

REFERENCES

C&O Freight Car Diagrams book (Diagram #60); C&O Freight Cars, Vol. 1 Hoppers and Gondolas; C&O 1937 Freight Cars book (all available from the Society). &

Copyright Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society, Inc. Sep 1999
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