DECALS - COAL CARS SSC HOPPER CAR, MOD., CNJ Price: $4.00 Shipping: $0.00 Part Number: DECAL 7452 Qty: ERAS: 20s 30s DECAL_CNJ MODELS: car given safety appliances and running to scrapping in late 1930s. ROADS: CNJ CRRof NJ In 1903 Standard Steel Car Co. designed what was to become the second standard all-steel hopper car used by the railroads. (The first was the PSC fishbelly hopper of 1899; see our kit series 2400.) Over 13,000 were installed by 1911, principally for the anthracite roads where it became the most numerous car on the railroads. However, little publicity remains on these cars except for several blurry reproductions in the 1906 Car Builders' Dictionary. What fame the cars retain is as the small class Pennsylvania RR GLB, 700 cars. More numerous were identical cars used by coal companies serviced by Pennsy. Although at first glance the cars of each road appear identical, they varied enormously in small details, including: end sills, grab iron size and placement, door locks and hangers, brake stands, brackets and wheels, side gussets, towing rings, and corner steps. Most of the cars were delivered before the Safety Appliances Act and lacked side and end ladders. These were retrofitted in the late 'teens and 'twenties. Each of the kits duplicates the details of one or more specific classes of a particular road or coal company. Central of New Jersey received 500 cars series 49500-49999 in 1903 and another 1,000 series 50000-50999 in 1904. 1903 cars had no end sills and used a single door lock. 1904 cars had a tapered end sill and early double door lock. Lettering also differed between the deliveries. About 1913 the 1909 MCB recommended lettering was applied to the cars. They were rebuilt in the 1920's and went through several more lettering styles until scrapping in the late 1930's. See series 7400 for additional photos. WESTERFIELD 53 RIVER LANE CROSSVILLE, TN 38555 Telephone: 931-484-7233 Fax: 931-484-7233 E-Mail: westerfield@charter.net