O 4-Bay Cylindrical Cvd.Hopper LIRR

Until the advent of the covered hopper, bulk commodities like
grain and cement were packed in sacks and loaded into boxcars. Loading
and unloading was a tedious, time-consuming affair. In the 1930s, a few
railroads took the basic coal hopper design and added a roof with
loading hatches, enabling bulk commodities to be loaded from the top
and unloaded from the bottom. In 1953, Pullman-Standard’s
70-ton PS-2 became the first mass-produced covered hopper to be widely
owned by U.S. railroads.

But these pioneering covered hoppers had one problem: Like
other cars of their time, they were built on a frame with a center
sill, or support beam, that ran down the middle. Some of the load would
cake or collect on the beam, making it difficult to fully unload the
cars. In 1961, American Car and Foundry solved the problem with the
first center-flow covered hopper, with its support beams on the outside
of the frame and unobstructed, full-width unloading doors.
Today’s cylindrical hoppers are all descended from that ACF
innovation. Our model represents a modern 100-ton, 4-bay car designed
for lighter density loads like grains and plastic pellets; denser
commodities are generally shipped in 2- or 3-bay cars.

High quality, traditionally sized RailKing Freight Cars
provide detailed bodies and colorful paint schemes for the O Gauge
railroader. MTH makes an enormous variety of RailKing Freight Cars,
including many different car types and roadnames. No matter what era or
part of the country you are modeling, RailKing is sure to have
something for you.