Model Railroading > Scaletrains Gunderson 5188

My Scaletrains.com's shipment of Gunderson 5188 covered hoppers arrived yesterday and I am rather impressed with this latest offering. I ordered several cars of two different paint schemes and was pretty impressed to find out that there are some interesting differences between these cars. So, obviously these are just not the same model differently decorated, but actually different models of the prototype.

I got a couple of ex-CSX cars that are "patched" CMO for the Union Pacific. Why the UP would want anything that the CSX had ownership in is beyond me, but I suppose these fairly new hoppers were probably purchased at a decent price to supplement the Union Pacific's own fleet of covered hoppers. These cars are also just plain interesting and a good start in decorating equipment that reflects today's railroading. This afternoon I put the finishing touch on one of the CMO cars and added it to the fleet.

The Union Pacific car hasn't been "aged" yet, but I wanted to include a shot of one of these, fresh out of the box. The UP model has far more lettering than the CMO car making it a little more interesting to study.

I'd like to find something to nitpick about on these cars but I can't. Assembly is well done and the paint and labeling is awesome,even though I need a magnifier to help me read some of it. It is simply amazing at the detail level we have on today's commercially available models.

Andy

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Thanks for the review---those cars are sharp! Even sharper though is the "aging process" you've added to the CMO car!!

Your weathering looks perfect! Are these cars the "Rivet Counter" versions?

map

Those sure are nice looking hoppers!

Unfortunately waaaayyy too modern for me.

Cheers, Jim

I should have mentioned, yes, these are the Rivet Counter series...

Just received the BNSF/NP heritage car. The detail and workmanship is impressive.

Where do you get it that these are ex CSX cars and patched for UP?  Those are UP cars as they took over a RR like that I believe, upkpfan

"Where do I get"?
1. Prototypical research
2. CSX equipment info
3. Documentation that comes with each car...

That's where "I get it"

SMH



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/18 18:57 by wheel_slip.

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Opened up mine this afternoon and I love them. Have a small mix of the UP and CMO's. Working on wheathering the CMO's now as they will hit the tracks as-is.

Goal is to convert at least some of the UP marked cars to a higher series for unit grain train service. I have decals to do the renumbering, but still on the fence about the gates. Would be great if Scaletrains offered those as a separate part. Suppose I could ask them, but I dont know if my anal voice would be enough.

Either way, glad these guys got together and invested the time, energy, money and talent and hit the ground running.

The beige color and UP shield patch in near dimension to the CSXT shopping cart logo is a pretty good giveaway to its former self.

Nice looking hoppers for sure.

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Thanks for the review and unveiling of these fine models. I have just one question.............. My God man, is that a PACER in the first two pictures? Love it! Should be out front of an aquarium supply store.

Nice layout, nice post, Thank You.

Cliff Rutherford
Grain Valley, MO

upkpfan Wrote:
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> Where do you get it that these are ex CSX cars and
> patched for UP?  Those are UP cars as they took
> over a RR like that I believe, upkpfan

The CMO cars were originally bought by CSX in Jan & Feb 2008 and then subsequently sold to CMO / UP sometime around 2010 / 2011, and got patched and not fully repainted as they were virtually brand new when they were sold.

Russ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/18 06:29 by NSTopHat.

As for the UP ex-CSX patched cars the story I have heard was UP short on covered hoppers back in late 2010, couldn't wait for the delay new production would have been, was hunting for existing cars, and found CSX had the group of 110 extra/spare Gunderson/GIMSA 5188cf cars (built 2008) they were willing to long term lease (which would also fit in with a prior story I had heard about UP using CMO mark for leased cars). Because of rush to get them in service cars were left with same number and just quickly patched.

CSX had also bought 115 Trinity 5201cf cars at about the same time as the 2008 GIMSA cars, and then about the same time that CSX sold/leased the GIMSA cars, CSX was starting to get the first batch of 1,600 new Trinity 5201cf cars (delivered late 2010 through 2011 with the newer "boxcar" logos).

The Gunderson/GIMSA cars had been built in Mexico whereas the Trinity cars are built in US. Perhaps CSX liked the Trinity built cars better and/or decided to standardize on those leaving the GIMSA cars as spares they could lease/sell to UP.

So I decided to do a little more research on the roots of this series of car. Umler is a database that the railroads use to store info about equipment. Basically what it is, who owns it, who leases it and who pays the bills associated with the equipment, along with the standard data...

It appears that CitiRail, part of CitiCorp (CREX) is the owner of the car. It's prior marking was CSXT but I am guessing that these were leased to CSXT first and recalled by the owner and then leased to the UP.

CMO is a reporting mark owned by the UP.

Andy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/18 07:08 by wheel_slip.

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If cars were CitiRail(CREX) owned and on long term lease to CSX (as would be standard practice) then CSX sold that lease to UP.
(Recalled??? Can a lessor end a lease on a whim? If you lease an auto from GM this week can they call you back next Thursday and ask you to bring it back because another person wants it?)

With 1,600 newer US built, slightly larger capacity covered hoppers being delivered CSX probably saw getting out of that lease as a plus, and UP needing covered hoppers as an opportunity to get out of or even profit from it.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/18 08:54 by CSX602.

Latest Gimsa cars for the UP note the differant paint shades

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Look how high the reporting marks are... Probably hoping it is too high to be vandalized... ;)

Andy

Those new up hoppers are also a slightly different model. They are 5200 cuft cars and 2 feet shorter

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