This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
not necessary to their efficient opera- tion, much of the equipment was unsuit- ed to the railroad’s purposes, and the prices of the cars were abnormally high. After the war ended in November,


1918, traffic pressures soon disap- peared. By early 1919 some railroads were declining to accept their allocated cars which they no longer needed or because they disputed their original al- location. By April 30, 1919, some 18,972 cars were not accepted. In 1920 the final assignments of the USRA twin hoppers were to 23 railroads – mostly eastern. The railroads assigned 1,000 or more were: Chesapeake & Ohio (2,000); Philadelphia & Reading (2,000); Baltimore & Ohio (1,900); Car- olina, Clinchfield & Ohio (1,750); New York, New Haven & Hartford (1,500); Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis (1,000); Delaware & Hudson (1,000); Illinois Central (1,000); Louisville & Nashville (1,000); Mor- gantown & Kingwood (1,000); New York Central (1,000); Pere Marquette (1,000); and Wabash (1,000). Large numbers of the cars served for


more than 25 years. The American Railroad Association adopted the basic design for the 55-ton hopper as its rec- ommended practice in the early 1920’s and tens of thousands of near dupli- cates of the USRA standard hopper were built. The twin hopper dimensions were


inside length 30′-6″, inside width 9′-6″, length over strikers 31′-11″, external width 10′-3″ and distance between hop- pers 7′-0″. They had a capacity of 55 tons and 1,880 cubic feet when level full. The capacity with a 30″ heap was 2,235 cubic feet. The contract price per car was $2,816.00. The USRA car featured seven pressed-steel side stakes, two steel- channel end-posts, center sill of twin 12″ steel channels, 30-degree slope sheets and cross-ridge sheets, two body cross-ties, a center cross-tie with two rhomboid gussets above the cross-ridge sheets, Enterprise Type-C door-operat- ing mechanisms, drop-handle ratchet


hand brake, Westinghouse KD brake system, Carmer uncoupling levers, and Andrews-style trucks. After the war and throughout the


1920’s and into the 1930’s, car manu- facturers continued to sell more of these USRA-design cars to various railroads with variations, such as dif- ferent hand brakes, lifting coupler levers, door locks and trucks. Also, many of the original cars were later modernized with power hand brakes, lifting coupler levers, Wine door locks and various cast-steel sideframe trucks. The C&O hoppers had Enterprise


and Simonton door fixtures, Blackall folding-lever ratcheted hand brakes, Westinghouse detached K Triple (KD- 10-12) series schedule brake hardware and USRA design trucks with An- drews-type sideframes with separate bolt-on journal boxes. Many of the cars were eventually owned by a large num- ber of railroads through secondhand purchase or by amalgamation or acqui- sition of railroads. Thus, many carried numerous paint and lettering schemes throughout their long lives. Over the years most the hopper cars received changes. Most had their inter- nal cross-ties replaced with gussets. The folding-lever, ratcheted hand brakes were replaced with a vertical shaft with wheel hand brakes. Hopper doors were replaced with Ajax cast- steel doors. The original Enterprise Type-C door-operating mechanisms were replaced with Wine door locks. After 1938 most had their original K- triple brakes replaced with AB brakes. Some received end extensions for in- creased capacity. Some were rebuilt with panel sides for increased capacity. The cars had a long service life. For example, of the original 2,000 cars as- signed to the C&O in 1920, 1,869 re- mained in service in January, 1950, and 24 in January, 1954. For further information one can refer to: Railroad History Bulletin No. 128 U.S.R.A. Freight Cars, An Experiment in Stan- dardization by James Lane, and to the


MTS IMPORTS, INC. December 6, 2011


will be on vacation in Florida from


thru March 6, 2012 During that time you can reach us at our regular e-mail address:


mtsimp85@yahoo.com Sidetrack Laser


HO,N & O Scale Laser Cut Model RR Kits HO & N Scale Snow Sheds


N Scale Shown


HO, N & O Scales Kits & Accessories


www.sidetracklaser.com Check Our Website for All Our New


PO Box 447


Newberg, Oregon 97132 503-449-5361 Dealer Inquiries Welcome


POSITION SIGNALS


NEW! PRR


Signals from Left to Right Standard Position Signal #1045 ....$39.99 Home Signal #1046 ...................$45.99


EXACT HO SCALE ALL BRASS WITH LED’s


Dual Head Signal with clipped lower background #1047 ..........$49.99


PRR Signal Heads


HO Scale- Wired


w/LEDs $19.99 ea. Standard Head No.1048 Clipped Head No.1049


Shipping $6, AZ Res. add Tax www.njinternational.com P.O. Box 1029, HIGLEY, AZ 85236 Ph: (480) 219-4135 Fax: (480) 219-4185 E-mail: signals@njinternational.com


RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN N.J. INTERNATIONAL, INC. 81


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100