After 1962, hopper cars began getting freight car red paint and survivors in 1967 were typically renumbered with six digits.

Some of these 34′ coal hoppers made it through the sixties but I’m sure most got the red paint. It’s easier to rationalize having something in older paint than may have escaped being rebuilt than having a 1982 era paint scheme show up in 1974.

it is likely the move away from Illinois coal because of its sulfur content made many of these cars surplus by the 1970s. I also understand these cars were frequently rebuilt with new side sheets because of the caustic nature of the coal they carried.

Jim Ogden