B&T Model - Coal Car - Open Hopper, 2-Bay, Composite - Painted/Unlettered

Specific Item Information: This car is equipped with MTL couplers and trucks. Less expensive versions exist with no trucks/couplers or with Accumate trucks/couplers. An unpainted version is also available.

Model Information: B&T rolling stock models are created using 3D printing. They offer unpainted and pre-painted (unlettered) models.

Prototype History: The story of these 2-Bay War Emergency Hoppers begins in 1942 when the War Production Board directed car builders to substitute wood for steel wherever possible in car superstructures. The familiar 2-Bay War Emergency Composite Hopper was a result of this directive. Those cars had wooden side sheets and end slope sheets (although the middle slope sheets remained steel.)

The wood siding was thicker than comparable steel sheeting and this reduced the capacity of the cars. While you could build ten composite cars with the steel from nine all-steel cars, it took more composite cars to move the same amount of coal. This combined with the more frequent repairs required by the composite cars soured the War Production Board on the design.

During 1944, the directive was set aside and cars that were on order were delivered with the familiar diagonal bracing but with all steel construction. After the war, as composite cars came due for serious maintenance, the wood side and slope sheets were replaced with steel. A large majority of the composite cars were rebuilt in this manner sometime during the 1950s.

From Bluford Shops

Road Name History: Some items are designed to have their owner add whatever company marking they choose, usually in the form of decals or dry-transfers. These items are painted in a generic prototypical fashion but with all company affiliation deliberately left off.

Brand/Importer Information: Like any great idea, ours came from of a personal desire for a realistic, N-Scale frontier layout. Old West Scenery answers that need with more than 60 complete N-scale ready buildups and scenery items. These structures are created with such amazing detail, you’ll feel like you have been transported back in time!

Our laser printed buildings & scenery products draw inspiration from iconic western towns, like Deadwood, Yuma, Dodge City, and Tombstone. Rustic frontier towns such as these tamed the unforgiving territories, alongside the mighty railroads that made their way across the American Frontier. All our N-Scale products are 3D printed using the latest laser technology in a process called “Additive Manufacturing”. This process allows us to produce complete buildings, ready to be painted and placed on your layout. No more glue or tape. No more finagling with small parts. And best of all, no more frustration and disappointment when your DIY kit just doesn’t turn out quite the way you hoped!