The PS-2CD 4000 cubic foot covered hopper was produced by Pullman-Standard between 1962 and 1964 in the company’s Butler PA shops. These cars led a very long service life, with some remaining in revenue service throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico until the early 2000s. One of the most distinctive Pullman covered hoppers, this common 90/100-ton car was mostly used in grain, malt, fertilizer, and similar bulk services.

These cars were built during a transitional period for covered hopper design. It was a time when customers were regularly using 40-foot boxcars for bulk commodity movements, and the inefficiencies of hand-loading and unloading boxcars were becoming issues for customers and railroads alike. Customers wanted faster loading and unloading processes, and railroads wanted the cars back sooner. The PS4000 was one of the first successful bulk commodity designs. The most common production version of these cars featured distinctive round hatches on the roof of the car.

Underneath these round hatch cars were two choices of outlet gates. Some railroads opted for gravity-only outlet gates, while other railroads opted for gravity-pneumatic combination outlets. Tangent offers both of these outlet gate versions on these models, appropriate for the paint schemes you choose.

BN 1990 Green Repaint comes in the last iteration of the BN paint scheme which includes the small BN logo with lines above and below the reporting marks, applied to new and repaint cars alike. The PS4000s were no exception, with a few painted in this scheme after 1990. Mostly utilized in sand or bentonite service in the 1990s.

Features:

• Dimensional accuracy – scaled from Pullman-Standard plans
• Razor-sharp printing and paint separations
• Exact fonts and lettering placement
• Thoroughly-researched colors
• Bay lettering where applicable
• “Lacy” end and underframe details
• Thin-profile brake piping
• Air hoses
• Painted, scale-sized wire grabirons for strength and durability
• See-through etched metal running boards and brake platforms
• Nicely-detailed outlet gates (and pneumatic outlet gates added where applicable for roadname-specific details)
• Kadee scale metal couplers
• Accurate 100-ton N-11 trucks with free-rolling metal wheels
• Models include customized details applicable to each paint scheme – pneumatic outlet gates or standard outlet gates
• Car number selection process – Tangent selects car numbers from online or published sources, focusing on late era numbers to represent more than 35 years in continuous operation
• Designed and tooled in USA
• Recommended age 14 years and older
• Model will operate on 18″ radius curves