Menards 275-9319 Pennsylvania Smooth-Sided Hopper O Scale NEW

Railroads have freight cars for super-sized loads, special cars for liquids, and plain old boxcars for cargo in crates. But what do they use for granular cargo? Material that might range in size from grains of sand to crops like wheat or corn, or industrial products such as fertilizer, soda ash, or even plastic pellets? This is where the center-flow hopper shines!

Today’s hoppers are an evolution of 19th Century open top coal cars. They had open tops for loading, high sides for storage capacity, and multiple hatches down below for rapid emptying.

The American Car & Foundry modified the concept a bit, rounding the sides outward for increased capacity and adding multiple topside hatches for speedy loading. The car also utilizes a single channel to route material to the discharge hatches.

THE MODELS
The cars have the familiar boxy shape of a hopper, but with smooth, gently curving sides. They mount smooth-running Menards® premium trucks with the same popular swinging coupler design used on the scale flatcar.

Each car has an add-on brake wheel, and the four corners have ladders on the front and side for worker safety when moving, loading, and unloading the car. Up top is a finely detailed walkway running around four sides of the roof, with loading hatches running along centerline. On the frame are two discharge hatches.

The new center-flow hoppers from Menards® will let you add some colorful renditions of railroading’s king of granular cargo to your fleet!