I used to ride my bike on the MARC commuter train parking lot.  In the wee hours of the morning, a huge coal train (not to be confused with the great saxaphone player) would roll into the Brunswick MARC train freight yard.  They would pull up past the signal into the freight yard until the last car was past, throw the switch and back up the coal train onto one of the 2 spurs.  They had already dispatched a CSX truck to go to the end of the spur and signal when the coal cars had reached the end of the spur.  If I timed it right, I could go out to the end of the spur before the train from Cumberland came in and before the CSX pickup got out there, so I could conceale myself and watch how close they came to the end of the spur line.  Once the consist had backed as far as it could, they would signal, stop and detach up at the beginning of the spur, pull forward, throw the next spur switch and back the rest of the consist onto the second spur.  After splitting the locomotives to head each of the trains on the spur lines, they would sit until the last MARC commuter train departed at 7:35 and then roll one of the consists down the line to the Electric Generation Plant.  But that is another story.  Have fun with the variety you see here, but have enough of each to be realistic.  Enjoy

During World War I, the US railroads experienced a critical equipment shortage due to increased traffic needs. This 55 Ton Hopper Car was one of the body types designed by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) to relieve this shortage. Built in 1918, 25,000 of these cars were primarily assigned to the great coal-hauling roads of the east and mid-west. The car design was very successful and later became one of the standard cars of the American Railway Association.

Features include:

„Die-cast centerbeam and chassis

„Wire grab irons

„Die-cast stirrups

„Opening sprung hopper doors

„Die-cast Andrews trucks

„Prototypical painting and lettering

„Die-cast articulated couplers with trainline detail (3-Rail)

„Scale die-cast couplers and 33” wheelsets (2-Rail)

„Minimum diameter curve (3-Rail): O-31

„Minimum radius (2-Rail) : 24”

hgr