Bowser - 37400 - Open Hopper, 4-Bay Steel H21a - Undecorated

Prototype History: 1911 thru 1917 70 ton H21a "quad" hoppers were introduced for coal service. During 1922 and 1923 all early H21 hoppers were converted to H21a's by replacing the 50 ton trucks with 70 ton trucks equipping them for coal service and bringing the total to 36,000 H21a hopper cars. The original 1909 thru 1930 quad hoppers were built with the "old style" double door hopper. During the 1930's and early 1940's all old style double-door hoppers were replaced with the "saw tooth" hopper, increasing capacity by 39 to 40 cubic feet making them easier to maintain.

Road Name History: Although they may be molded in color, unpainted and unlettered, undecorated products are marketed to modelers who seek to custom decorate their models for private roads and/or road and/or company names that were not commercially produced by any of the major manufacturers.

Undecorated models are frequently also unassembled or only partially assembled and required modelers to be comfortable with glue, paint and sometimes solder in order to prepare their models for display. Materials for these models can vary but often include plastic, pewter and resin. Models may or may not come with decals or other decorations such as plastic signage, railings and ladders to enhance the appearance of the final product.

Brand/Importer Information: On May 1, 1961, Bowser was purchased by Lewis and Shirlee English and moved from Redlands, CA to their basement in Muncy, PA. The original Bowser Manufacturing Co first advertised in the model railroad magazines in November 1948. At that time, the company had only one (HO Scale) engine, the Mountain, which had a cast brass boiler that is no longer available. It was sometime later that Bowser (Redlands) developed the NYC K-11 and the UP Challenger. The molds were made by K. Wenzlaff who introduced himself at the MRIA Show in Pasadena, CA in 1985 These two locomotives are still current production.

Bowser entered into N Scale in 1998 with their acquisition of the Delaware Valley Car Company, a manufacturer of N scale freight cars.