Atlas covered hopper color

[peggyrothschild]

Both these cars were recent ebay purchases so I wasn’t aware of the four different runs, in fact being completely new to modeling a modern Mopac, I’m not aware of what models have been issued in prior years so I’m on a steep learning curve. While some of the early models made by Athearn and others are somewhat heavy handed in details these Atlas cars are pretty impressive in the thinness of the plastic details. As to the two models the first car I bought (MP 710222 with the Plano roofwalk) came with the NMRA ‘horn hook’ coupler. My second purchase (MP 710279) has a Kadee style coupler so that explains the different carbody colors.

Talking to Jim Rose, who was in Mopac’s car management and distributed these cars, he educated me that these are not in grain service but used for lime, clay, sand and fertilizer service due to having round hatches. So mine will be hauling fertilizer down the branch to the farm supply dealers.

[John Garavaglia]

They did another run of two cars with the Screaming Eagle scheme.

http://www.atlasrr.com/Images/HOFreightCars/ho36baycylin/72506/1957-6TQ.jpg

[peggyrothschild]

It got up to the 50s today so I was able to do a more little weathering on the Atlas car. I didn’t want to over do it but figured a car built in 1965 with its original coat of paint and stenciling would have a little rust and grime 14 years later. After applying the Reeves oil paint ‘Burnt Sienna’ yesterday today I decided to sealed it with a coat of thinned Dullcote. This allows the car to be handled whereas the oils can take several days to dry. The areas around the trucks and outlet gates were airbrushed with my mixture of Dullcote, brown and black. Here’s were things went south; one of the blogs I read on weathering recommended you use turpenoid (which is not as strong as turpentine) and a Q-tip and go over the hand holds so they lighten up and stand out from the rest of the weathering. So I decided to pour a little turpenoid into the cap on the bottle and in doing so I managed to drip the turpenoid all over one side of the car. This required me to redo the rust streaks on the car side again.

Obviously this was one of those Homer Simpson ‘doh!’ moments when you asked yourself “..why in the hell were you pouring paint thinner directly over the top of the car”? Anyway the car was saved from doom and is now waiting for the COTS and ACI decals.

For reference I added a shot of the Reeves water mixable oil paint I’ve been using. I bought a set of 24 of these small tubes for under $13 off Amazon. Here’s the link http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E9KI842?keywords=reeves%20oil%20paints&qid=1454197484&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

For weathering purposes, I use the white, black and the three different browns for rust and if you don’t like how it looks just get out the turpenoid and remove it.

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[mopac]

well done, Charlie

[madonnasuffolk30]

Charlie,

The car looks great. I can’t tell a difference in the colors of gray from the model and the upgraded parts.

Nate

cduckworth wrote:

It hit in the mid-40s today in Omaha so I mixed up a blend of Tru-Color MP covered hopper gray, white and Eagle gray until I got a close match to the Atlas car.

Here is the results ‘close enough for a color blind guy’ results; formula is just like your grandmother’s old recipes “..a pinch of this and a dash of that”.

[bargetanika]

Please explain the difference in loadings between round hatch and square hatch covered hoppers, and why the difference.

[peggyrothschild]

The round hatches are designed to seal out moisture better; so the lading carried was normally lime, sand, and fertilizer. Commodities that would be difficult to unload by gravity if they got wet. The grain covered hoppers had large rectangular hatches that allowed a grain elevator to easily load the car from a spout. These hatches would keep out moisture but not as well as the round ones.

[bargetanika]

Rock salt covered hoppers would have had round hatches then, right?

[peggyrothschild]

Makes sense but I never saw a covered hopper with rock salt.

[bargetanika]

The New Iberia yard on the NI&N was always full of covered hoppers loaded with rock salt from the Jefferson Island mine. Salt traffic was the mainstay of that branch and when the mine flooded in 1980 it didn’t take long for that branch to die.

A loaded train ran every night except Sunday north to the old NOT&M main line at Port Barre La. A former engineer told me once that it was 50 or more loads nearly all the time. As kids we never saw this train because we had to be home by the time it left. If only I’d had the sense to ask for a caboose ride between 1966 when I turned 18, to 1980 when the mine flooded.

There were little piles of salt between the rails everywhere that had escaped from the bottom of those cars, a nice modeling touch.

[clemmie_doris12]

I can’t remember the name of the shipper(s), but vast amounts of rock salt is shipped out of the central Kansas area. One of the larger receivers in Kansas City is Pavlich, Inc. They receive rock salt in covered hoppers and distribute it by dump truck to local highway and road districts. They used to be located on the MP in the Kaw Bridge area (formerly known as State Line Yard), but moved across the Kaw River next to where the UP freight house and diesel shop was located.

The salt is generally shipped in private owner cars, but railroad owned cars are used, as well. Not too many years ago, I noticed the main salt company (can’t remember name or reporting marks) that sends cars to Pavlich had purchased several well used cars from UP. These cars carry paint schemes from just about every railroad that the UP has absorbed including the MP. I think UP picked out the worst functional cars that they had in their fleet. Most of these cars have trough hatches.

[peggyrothschild]

How about Independent Salt Co out of Kanopolis, Kansas? There was a very small depot there probably 10′ wide and 50′ long. The blank train orders in the 1970’s still had pads with 195_ on them! I don’t recal, if the outbound loads of salt were in covered hoppers to boxcars. Believe Hutchison was also a large salt origination point on the MP.

[princessclyne69]

On Google Earth, most of the right-of-way of this branch is still visible where it was by the creeks, but in open flat land a lot of it has been completely obliterated by the farmers plowing it over.

I suppose this topic should really move somewhere else now.

Ron Merrick

[clemmie_doris12]

Charlie, that’s it, Independent Salt. The reporting marks are INSX.

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