Model Railroading > recent purchase Rio Grande four bay hopper

Just picked up this Walther's four bay hopper. This has a BLT date of 5-64.
Has the Reddy Kilowatt logo. I remember thos adds from my younger days.
Coal makes good electricity!

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Nice! Aren't some of these still in service? 1964 I think would be out of service by now. Maybe some were rebuilt.

SantaFeRuss

Posted from Android

A lot of the RIo Grande's Steel Fleet are being cut up for scrap. There are still a few around, but they are getting rare.
This has a BLT date of 7-71, and I think there are a few of these out there...

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I really mulled over whether to order the special logo DRGW coal car or not.   I went for it, but it's still sitting on the shelf.    Amongst all the Rio Grande fans out there, was this really a big deal at the time?   How many of them got the logo?   I probably should have asked these questions before ordering.

Jason Eminian
Smith Brothers Hobby Center

Fizzboy7 Wrote:
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> I really mulled over whether to order the special
> logo DRGW coal car or not.   I went for it, but
> it's still sitting on the shelf.    Amongst all
> the Rio Grande fans out there, was this really a
> big deal at the time?   How many of them got the
> logo?   I probably should have asked these
> questions before ordering.
>
> Jason Eminian
> Smith Brothers Hobby Center

Jason, it probably depends on a number of factors.  Basically Rio Grande bought their first set of 125 Bethlehem quad cars to serve a power plant (I'll have to look it up in Jim Eagers Color Guide - he has a photo from this series of small herald cars in there with a bit of information).  With the highly detailed ExactRail cars, many have sold off the older, less detailed Walthers cars, or shifted their attention to the more detailed quads.  Plus Walthers has run quite a few of their cars over the years - I bought the three 6 car kit sets (#1, #2, and #3) back in the 1990's and have picked up about 14 more cars since - I'm not sure what the demaind is like now for the Walthers cars.  If someone wants to put together a unit train of the 1964 cars, they'll have to renumber most of them.  I don't know how long the 1964 cars operated as a set before being broken up and mixed in with later ordered quads. 

When ExactRail first came out with the first run of 48 individually numbered cars in the 1979 12xxx number series, some modelers bought all 48 numbers and the entire run sold out within a few weeks time.  ER ran a second run in 2014 and nearly all of the 16xxx series are sold out and probably 3/4 of the 12xxx series are sold out.

From Jim Eagers table (copied below) from MRG magazine, D&RGW first order of 125 quads from May 1964 were numbered 16875-16999.  From list of HO D&RGW models at  http://atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/5232/ho-guide-rio-grande-models#ixzz4bajN9BIJ

- Walthers 4-bay Bethlehem 100-ton hopper (D&RGW small logo 5/64, large logo 1968/69/71 and 72), model has angle iron stiffeners on the upper side-sill - standard on the early orders.

- ExactRail 4-bay 3483 cu ft Bethlehem 100-ton hopper (D&RGW large logo 1974/75/77/78/79 & 82) the model has no angle iron stiffeners on upper side-sill, matching the orders from 1974 through 1982)

Rio Grande Great Steel Fleet order history - orders with Y had angle iron re-enforcements on the top chord, orders with N did not.

5/64---16875-16999-L=Y
68-----16775-16874-L=Y
3/69---16625-16774-L=Y
7-9/71-16375-16624-L=Y
2/72---16275-16374-L=Y
74-----16160-16274-L=N
10/75--16000-16159
10/75--19000-19194-L=N
6-7/77-19195-19394-L=N
12/77--19395-19644-L=N
12/78--19645-19944-L=N
7-9/79-12000-12499-L=N
5/82---12500-12849-L=N

I already have 34 of the old Walthers kit built quads and have since been adding the ExactRail quads to my feet (now up to 29 ER quads - most of them 16xxx series).  Technically the ExactRail 16xxx series cars should have angle iron re-enforcement stock on them being from the 2/72---16275-16374 order which Jim Eagers table shows with angle iron on them.  Apparently Blaine had reference material for that order but not one of the 16xxx orders that came later without the angle irons.  To make the ER cars more accurate, some Evergreen angle stock would need to be cut, painted and added.

For grins, I might pick up one of the Walthers 1964 small herald cars.

Cheers, Jim Fitch


 



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/17 07:28 by SPDRGWfan.

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SPDRGWfan Wrote:

> Rio Grande Great Steel Fleet order history -
> orders with Y had angle iron re-enforcements on
> the top chord, orders with N did not.
>
> 5/64---16875-16999-L=Y
> 68-----16775-16874-L=Y
> 3/69---16625-16774-L=Y
> 7-9/71-16375-16624-L=Y
> 2/72---16275-16374-L=Y
> 74-----16160-16274-L=N
> 10/75--16000-16159
> 10/75--19000-19194-L=N
> 6-7/77-19195-19394-L=N
> 12/77--19395-19644-L=N
> 12/78--19645-19944-L=N
> 7-9/79-12000-12499-L=N
> 5/82---12500-12849-L=N
>
> I already have 34 of the old Walthers kit built
> quads and have since been adding the ExactRail
> quads to my feet (now up to 29 ER quads - most of
> them 16xxx series).  Technically the ExactRail
> 16xxx series cars should have angle iron
> re-enforcement stock on them being from the
> 2/72---16275-16374 order which Jim Eagers table
> shows with angle iron on them.  Apparently Blaine
> had reference material for that order but not one
> of the 16xxx orders that came later without the
> angle irons.  To make the ER cars more accurate,
> some Evergreen angle stock would need to be cut,
> painted and added.

OK, understand the Y and N, but what is the L as in L=Y?

Rob

OregonOldGuy Wrote:
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> OK, understand the Y and N, but what is the L as
> in L=Y?
>
> Rob

I don't have the copy of Model Railroading Magazine handy atm, but can try to dig it out at home to get the actual wording of the caption for the table.  Suffice it to say that Jim Eagers table was set up with L=Y or L=N to indicate whether there is angle iron re-inforcing stock on the top chord (Y = present, N = not present.)  L may stand for L stock or L shaped angle stock maybe.

Cheers, Jim Fitch



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/17 10:36 by SPDRGWfan.

Here is the caption from Jim Eagers Color guide on the 1964 Bethlehem quad:

"In  1963 Bethlehem Steel introduced a larger, 100-ton, 12-panel quad hopper especially suited to Western bituminuous coal, which has a low moisture content,making it less dense than Eastern coal.  The Rio Grande ordered 125 of the new 47-foot, 11-inch, 3,483-cubic-foot cars, built in May, 1964.  They were the first of many, but this was the only order adorned with the classic flying Rio Grande, as worn by number 16977 at Phippsburg in June, 1969.  The car also has a "Randy Kilowatt"log proclaiming that it's carryinga load of Routt County Coal, and a stencil assigning it to the Public Service COmpany of COlorado's Cherokee power plant on the Grande's Northwestern Terminal line in Denver."

Great thread!    Had no idea about any of the car info.   Very interesting and thanks for sharing the data.     I think we have a buyer here...

Jason Eminian
Smith Brothers Hobby Center

I have 95 of the Walthers cars...which is why I can't afford the Exact Rail cars. I did fit most of my quads with Genesis trcks, they all have metal wheels and KayDee couplers....

It's true, the ExactRail quads are roughly twice the cost of the RTR Walthers cars, and a lot more than the kit versions.  All of the Walthers quads I have so far were the kit built quads and cost me an average of about $7-8 each.  I picked up the original three individually numbered six packs when they were first produced in the 1990's and later, around 2005, someone on the Rio Grande Yahoo Groups email list offered up 12 more from the six car sets for $80; sold!  I later found a few kits as singles.  I didn't have a layout for about 15 years so I stood pat on 36 Walthers quads.

ExactRail first offered their highly detailed D&RGW quads in Dec 2012 which represented the 12xxx series built in 1979.  Since the E-R quads were signature coal cars on the Rio Grande, I splurged just to order 6 before all 48 numbers were sold out by the end of that December.  I figured I could run those six E-R quads at the front of a coal train where they would be more visible and the Walthers cars behind them were the train tends to blend into a long unit train.

In 2014 ExactRail produced another run of quads and included 1972 and 1982 built D&RGW quads; those have gone on-sale at ExactRail at least twice but it wasn't until the second sale last December that I had sold off enough older models I didn't need to help finance a bunch of the ER quads at the sale price.  But even if a unit train of E-R quads is unaffordable for fans of the D&RGW, it's worth getting a couple of these fine signature coal cars anyway and putting them behind the diesels.

Cheers, Jim Fitch 

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is the caption from Jim Eagers Color guide on
> the 1964 Bethlehem quad:
>
> "In  1963 Bethlehem Steel introduced a larger,
> 100-ton, 12-panel quad hopper especially suited to
> Western bituminuous coal, which has a low moisture
> content,making it less dense than Eastern coal.
>  The Rio Grande ordered 125 of the new 47-foot,
> 11-inch, 3,483-cubic-foot cars, built in May,
> 1964.  They were the first of many, but this was
> the only order adorned with the classic flying Rio
> Grande, as worn by number 16977 at Phippsburg in
> June, 1969.  The car also has a "Randy
> Kilowatt"log proclaiming that it's carryinga load
> of Routt County Coal, and a stencil assigning it
> to the Public Service COmpany of COlorado's
> Cherokee power plant on the Grande's Northwestern
> Terminal line in Denver."

Randy?  Really?  I always knew him as "Ready Kilowatt".  Anyone else remember him as Ready?

Rob

> I always knew him as "Ready
> Kilowatt".  Anyone else remember him as Ready?

Sure do.  Used by CIPS among many, many other power companies.

OregonOldGuy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Randy?  Really?  I always knew him as "Ready
> Kilowatt".  Anyone else remember him as Ready?
>
> Rob

For what it's worth, I quoted directly from the caption in Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment.  I really don't remember what the name was.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

I remember him as READY. But I also remember what Jim Eager put in the RIo Grande Color Guide.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OregonOldGuy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Randy?  Really?  I always knew him as "Ready
> > Kilowatt".  Anyone else remember him as Ready?
> >
> > Rob
>
> For what it's worth, I quoted directly from the
> caption in Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight and
> Passenger Equipment.  I really don't remember
> what the name was.
>
> Cheers, Jim Fitch