Model Railroading > Scratchbuilding a hopper, while Livin' Large

Here is a composite hoopper I just finished in my garage, angle iron frame, steel sheet bottom + ends and plywood sides.

It isn't up to the standards of most modelers but my goal is to have a complete train consisting of
homemade cars.  As is obvious in the first photo, this is a non-working car with no dump mechanism in the bottom.
I'll probably make a fake rock load just for looks.  

This is my second hopper.  The first hopper I built is actually full of coal and is the fuel
​car for the steam engine which normally rides directly behind the tender. Also completed are
two gons and a tank car.

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Looks fine to me. But it would be nice to have one that works to dump some ballast.

Seems so but in reality they don't work that well.  We have two operating ballast hoppers at the track I work on.

It is quicker to empty them with a shovel than using the bottom doors.  Doors clog easily or too much ballast 
results in too much rock under the car causing the car to derail - not fun re-railing a loaded ballast car.  By the time
one of these is emptied prototypically, one could unload 3 by hand.

Very nice!

Jeff Johnston

Very nice.  You probably save some money this way too!

            What is the track gauge for this car ?
 

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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>             What is the track gauge for
> this car ?
>  

7.5" gauge on the track, 1.5" / foot on scale

materials cost about $50 less truck and couplers - trucks and couplers about $450/set

homemade tank car behind tender, homemade gon behind the Sante Fe gon.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/15 10:15 by WrongWayMurphy.

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Are those flags the signals displayed when the crew goes dead?

TAW

I agree.  We have two side discharge cars and you really need to be watchful.
1/8 scale is the true freelance scale.

WrongWayMurphy Wrote:
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> Seems so but in reality they don't work that well.
>  We have two operating ballast hoppers at the
> track I work on.
>
> It is quicker to empty them with a shovel than
> using the bottom doors.  Doors clog easily or too
> much ballast 
> results in too much rock under the car causing the
> car to derail - not fun re-railing a loaded
> ballast car.  By the time
> one of these is emptied prototypically, one could
> unload 3 by hand.

Looks great.

Curious about the plywood sides. Is this a weight savings measure, cost savings measure, or both?

Chris

Larry020 Wrote:
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> Since he is modeling a "composite hoopper", it
> would be improper not to use plywood and steel.
>  
>
> Larry

Yeah, i sure missed that one :-)!

You build what you want, let those nit pickers worry themselves to death looks great to me keep building your way!  During the meet here at Train Mountain I saw many things that were built in the eyes of the owner and the smile on there face told all. One that I didnt see this time was the steam engine made mostly of wood and electric powered. Very nice looking along with the cars behind it and the owner was having fun. Another fellow that I helped out in the back shop had an 0-4-0 tank engine that was gas hydraulic powered and a train of about ten or so cars behind it. All had 1/8 scale farm equipment on them. So the bottom line is build what makes you feel good. Thanks for the shots of your hopper looks great. Boyd at Train Mountain soon off for the last full day of the meet for me.