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Hoppers


lead photo copyright © Peter Vanvliet; used by permission.

Hopper cars are freight cars used to transport bulk materials, such as coal, ore, gravel, sand, cement, track ballast, plastic pellets, and food items such as grains and sugar. For those materials that can safely handle weather conditions, an open-top hopper is used. For those that require protection from weather and contaminants, closed-top hoppers are used. Hoppers are loaded from the top, and unloaded from the bottom (with the exception of those that are designed to be used in a rotary dumper). Hoppers are different from gondolas, in that they have one or more bottom-opening bays and sloped sheets on the interior to ease the unloading of their goods. Unloading is usually done by gravity, but some specialized hoppers have a built-in pneumatic pressure system to clear out their content (usually for those that carry food-grade commodities). Hoppers also tend to be full-height cars, whereas gondolas are usually more half-height (to allow for transporting of odd-shaped items). It is not unusual to see "unit trains" of coal or grain hoppers. Unit trains are those that have nothing but one type of car and one type of commodity in them. According to the Union Pacific web site, a single covered hopper carries enough grain to make 258,000 loaves of bread! For the sake of our Product Gallery listing, we consider side-dump cars and ore jennies to be a separate category from hoppers, while real railroads tend to classify these as hoppers as well.

Below are links to the various reports that show all of the S-scale hoppers ever produced. Click whichever report gets you to the information that wish to find. The bottom of this page has additional references that might be of interest.

Contact person: Webmaster

  1. By Model Manufacturer
    Entries are sorted by manufacturer, then by road name, and then by type of hopper.
  2. By Model Manufacturer ID
    Entries are sorted by manufacturer, then by the product ID, and then by road name and road number. This report is handy if you know the manufacturer and the product ID.
    This report is limited to entries that have a known manufacturer ID set.
  3. By Road Name
    Entries are sorted by road name, then by model manufacturer, and then by type of hopper.
  4. By Type
    Entries are sorted by the hopper's type, then by road name, and then by model manufacturer on the final pages.
  5. By Gauge
    Entries are sorted by wheel gauge, then by manufacturer, and then by type of hopper. The final pages have the entries sorted by the hoppers' road names.
  6. By Model Introduction Year
    Entries are sorted by model year, then by manufacturer, and then by type of hopper. The final pages have the entries sorted by the hoppers' road names.
    This report is limited to entries for which the model introduction year is known.
  7. By Material
    Entries are sorted by the dominant material from which the model (especially its body) is made, then by manufacturer, and then by type of hopper. The final pages have the entries sorted by the hoppers' road names.
    This report is limited to entries for which the dominant material is known.
  8. By Photo
    A mini photo album of sorts, this report shows the primary photo for each entry. Click on a photo to see that model's details and possible additional photos. The photos are sorted by road name, road number, and then by manufacturer. This is a huge page, so it may take some time to load.
    This report is limited to entries that have at least one photo set.
  9. Missing Photos
    This report lists all of the entries for which we do not, yet, have a photo. If you have this model and can take a photo of it, please contact the webmaster.
  10. All Entries
    This report lists all entries in one page, and you can click on an entry to see its model information.
  11. All Entries (text only)
    Entries are sorted by model manufacturer, type, road name, road number, model year, and product ID, all on one page (no details, no photos). This is handy for when you just want a basic list of what has been produced.
  12. Downloadable Text File
    Entries are sorted by model manufacturer, manufacturer ID, road name, road number, type of hopper, gauge, model year, product type, and finish. Note: To import or open this file in a spreadsheet software application, use the hat, ^, character as the column separator (see the "6" key of your keyboard). Most spreadsheet applications will let you pick the separator or delimiter; if not, open the file with a text editor and replace all "^" with a character of your choice, and then try it again.

Report Definitions

These definitions, in alphabetical order, may clarify some of the terms used in the reports linked to above:

  • Finish
    Where the "|" (vertical bar) is used in the text, it indicates that the model was available in more than one finish, where each finish format is separated by the "|" symbol.
  • Gauge
    "AF": for models that come only with A.C. Gilbert-style or -compatible wheels and couplers, and generally have no built-in support for scale couplers (e.g. pre-drilled holes compatible with Kadee couplers).
    "S": for standard-gauge (4'8-1/2" rail-spacing) models that come with either no wheels and couplers, with scale wheels and/or couplers, or with "hi-rail" wheels and couplers but have scale wheels and couplers included in the package.
    "Sn3", "Sn2", "Sn42": for the various narrow-gauge rail spacings.
  • Model Manufacturer
    A special note here is that some of the cars by Central Hobby Supply, Funaro & Camerlengo, and West Shore Line were duplicated, so that they can be found regardless of which information you might have. These kits were manufactured by Funaro & Camerlengo for the Central Hobby Supply hobby store which sold S-scale items via their "West Shore Line" brand name (which is how the boxes were labeled).
  • Prototype Length
    While most of us think of this as the length between the strikers (i.e. the outside length), the prototype seems to indicate the length of the interior on the ends of a hopper.
  • Prototype Volume
    The non-heaped volume as marked on the car's data decal, which likely will not reflect the actual 1:64 volume of the scale model.
  • Prototype Year
    If the real-world introduction year of a car is not known, then we indicate the year printed on the model, if shown. Note that the model's year number may indicate a built-new, rebuilt, or re-packaged date, whichever is later (or both, if that is shown on the model's decal).
  • Road Name
    The railroad name (prototype, freelance, or fictional) for which the model was decorated by the factory, or, if undecorated, for which the model was specifically designed. If no road name is listed, then it is a generic model.
  • Road Number
    If the model was factory-decorated with a road number, it will be listed. If the model was released with more than one road number but otherwise is identical, then each road number is listed separately. However, if a series of question-marks appear, then that indicates that a road number was released but we don't know what it was. Each series of question-marks represents one unknown road number, thereby indicating the total number of unique road numbers with which we know the model was released.
  • Style
    The overall configuration of the hopper.

Additional External References

Click the red header text for the external web site, listed here in alphabetical order; the sentence below it provides a high-level description of what you will find on that web page.

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