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Bluford Shops - 60292 - Open Hopper, 2-Bay, USRA 55 Ton - Litchfield & Madison - 9135, 9242

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N Scale - Bluford Shops - 60292 - Open Hopper, 2-Bay, USRA 55 Ton - Litchfield & Madison - 9135, 9242 Image Courtesy of Bluford Shops
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Stock Number60292
Original Retail Price$47.90
BrandBluford Shops
ManufacturerBluford
Body StyleBluford Open Hopper 2-Bay USRA
Image Provider's WebsiteLink
Prototype VehicleOpen Hopper, 2-Bay, USRA 55 Ton (Details)
Road or Company NameLitchfield & Madison (Details)
Reporting MarksL&M
Road or Reporting Number9135, 9242
Paint Color(s)Black with White Lettering
Coupler TypeGeneric Magnetic Knuckle
Wheel TypeChemically Blackened Metal
Wheel ProfileSmall Flange (Low Profile)
MultipackYes
Multipack Count2
Multipack ID Number60292
Announcement Date2016-06-01
Release Date2017-04-01
Item CategoryRolling Stock (Freight)
Model TypeOpen Hopper
Model Subtype2-Bay
Model VarietyUSRA
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era II: Late Steam (1901 - 1938)
Scale1/160



Specific Item Information: Litchfield & Madison was a 44 mile railroad linking Madison, Illinois (across the Mississippi River from St. Louis) and Litchfield. They funneled through traffic from Chicago & North Western and Illinois Central to the St. Louis area and loaded coal from large deposits along the line. L&M had 250 of these USRA design hoppers. They were merged into Chicago & North Western in 1958.
Model Information: These ready-to-run cars feature: die cast slope sheet-hopper bay-center sill assembly; injection molded plastic sides, ends, and hopper doors; fully molded brake tank, valve and air lines; body mounted brake hose detail; coal load; lever-style hand brake; body mounted magnetically operating knuckle couplers; close coupling; and Fox Valley Models metal wheels.
Prototype History:
The USRA 55-Ton hopper was designed by the United States Railway Administration during World War I as a standardized hopper to be used by all railroads in order to aid the war effort. After WWI many railroads continued to use the USRA 55-Ton hoppers, as well as build many thousands more clones. The USRA hopper was in use on North American railroads from 1918 until the 1970’s
Brand/Importer Information:
Bluford Shops began in 2007 as a side project of two model railroad industry veterans, Craig Ross and Steve Rodgers. They saw a gap between road names available on N scale locomotives but not available on cabooses. They commissioned special runs of Atlas cabooses in Atlantic Coast Line, Central of Georgia, Monon, Boston & Maine and Southern plus runs on Grand Trunk Western and Central Vermont on the MDC wooden cabooses. While these were in process, they began to develop their first all new tooling project, 86' Auto Parts Boxcars in double door and quad door editions in N scale. By January of 2008, Bluford Shops became a full time venture. Along with additional N scale freight cars and their own tooling for new cabooses, they have brought their own caboose line to HO scale. They also have their popular Cornfields in both HO and N. The future looks bright as they continue to develop new products for your railroad.

The town of Bluford in southern Illinois featured a small yard on Illinois Central's Edgewood Cutoff (currently part of CN.) The yard included a roundhouse, concrete coaling tower (which still stands) and large ice house. Reefer trains running between the Gulf Coast and Chicago were re-iced in Bluford. Things are more quiet now in Bluford with the remaining tracks in the yard used to stage hoppers for mines to the south and store covered hoppers. Intersecting the IC line in Bluford is Southern Railway's (currently NS) line between Louisville and St. Louis. Traffic on this single track line remains relatively heavy.
Item created by: gdm on 2016-06-24 16:50:20. Last edited by gdm on 2018-01-24 07:35:53

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