The Lionel GLA Hoppers are very nice cars. After reading Chris Crane’s review, I decided to get a three pack. I sold one, and two railed another.
This is what I started with:
And this is what I ended up with
I really did not need any more hoppers, as I already have an excess of Atlas H21s and GLds. But what attracted me to the GLa is the prototype car is only 10’ high, whereas the others are 10’6” to 10' 8" high. So I thought I could get a neat looking (and prototypical) “stair step” effect by mixing in a couple of GLa’s into my coal drag.
When my set arrived, I found that Lionel did not disappoint me. By that I mean I expected them to be too high and they were. BUT, it does not take a whole lot of work to lower them considerably. I can’t quite get them down to the 2.5” height above the rails, but I can get more than half the distance to the goal. Which is enough to achieve my desired effect.
I decided to use the excellent brass 2D-F8 trucks provided by Rich Yoder. They are pricey, but they are correct for this car, and they bolt right in. (Alternatives are given at the end of this post.)
Those black rings are 4-40 nylon washers that Rich supplies with the trucks. You need two per truck. When you lose them, you can get replacements from any good hardware store. Rich also supplies the truck screw and (not shown) the truck spring. When you lose them, you are on your own,
The coupler pocket on the real GLa is recessed upwards into the frame. This allows this relatively low car to have the correct coupler height. Believe it or not, Lionel includes this feature. Lionel even included a cast in row of rivets above the opening to simulate how the coupler pocket is held to the frame. A standard Kadee coupler pocket is too wide for this opening, and the standard kadee box cover lip would obscure those rivets. So I used brass coupler pockets sold by Rich Yoder.
By the way, I got both these and the trucks at the Strasburg 2 rail show. And a special thanks to Ray Grant for pointing out that these exist
You don’t need or want the flat plate (on the right) that composes the top of the coupler box. It lowers the coupler too much and fouls the Lionel casting. You also don’t want the “ears” on the sides of the coupler box. There is nothing on the frame behind then, so it would look like the coupler box is riveted to air. I used Kadee 745 Medium Center Set Shank Couplers. Finally you need to file down one of the screw mounting tubes on the coupler box, so the box will sit flush on the frame. The photo below shows the details of the coupler box mounting:
The green line shows where the coupler box ears have been removed. I used the existing Lionel provided holes (but not the Lionel Spacer plate). This positions the box a bit too far inboard. But it’s only a cosmetic thing and I can live with it. Particularly because the alternative would be to drill and tap 2 mm holes in the diecast frame that are right next to the existing ones.
The blue line shows where Lionel has thoughtfully cast in wheel wells into the slope sheet. Without these, the wheels would scrape the slope sheet, so the car would be forced to sit a good .020” higher. That does not sound like much, but remember the effect we are going for here is a noticeable ride height difference.
The red line shows where you need to nip away part of the brake hardware. This allows the inboard axle to clear. I may have over done it here, and you may be able to get away with cutting less. But determining how much required too much thinking.
So now the question is..how well did this come out? The answer is the top of the car is now 2.570” above the rails, .070" in real life, and about 3 3/8” in O scale, too high. Which means nothing, The proof is in the appearance. The photo below shows an Atlas GLd on the left and the Lionel Car on the right. The height is noticeable, so objective achieved;
By the way, the Atlas coupler is too low. The Lionel coupler is at the correct height
I am going to York this Thursday. I hope to find a prefab coal load for this hopper (The ones for the Atlas GLd are a bit too long). In the meantime, I’ll run it as an empty:
ALTERNATIVE TRUCK OPTIONS:
1) If you just want to convert to 2 rail, you can use the Lionel Trucks, and the factory supplied Kadee Coupler pads.). Saw off the coupler, and remove the trip plate by drilling out a few rivet. I have done this several times. Then pull out the springs on one side, remove the truck side frame, pull out the Lionel Wheel sets, and insert Intermountain Wheel sets. HOWEVER, you will maintain the original ride height of 2.675” (10’ 8.4") 
This makes the hopper looks like its on stilts and prime candidate for the freight car equivalent of cow tipping. Moreover, it makes them higher than the Atlas GLd, which is at a nearly prototypical height of 2.65” (10’7").
2) I could have used Intermountain Plastic trucks with Intermountain wheel sets. That would have been a lot cheaper and I might have gone that route if I have a fleet of these to do. But they are Bettendorfs, which are not prototypical. If you go the IM route, you need to make up spacers to go between the top of the IM Bolster and the boss on the Lionel car. I think about .120” should do it.
APPENDIX: How I weathered the car
Dull Cote everything
Interior:
- Rattle Can mist of Krylon Brown Boots
- Airbrush: Black wash
Exterior:
- Airbrush- White wash, to make paint look faded
- Airbrush- My grimy brown wash. I have no idea what’s in it, because it keeps changing. Mostly Grimy Black and Railroad Tie Brown
- Airbrush- Black wash. Before wash dries, use a 1” foam brush with windex to remove and streak
- Airbrush-Wash of Polly Scale Zinc Chromate Primer. (the car had lost its color)
- Final spot weathering with Pan Pastels
Trucks:
- Brush paint trucks grimy Black
- Brush paint wheels and axles with Grimy Black/Roof Brown Mix
- Airbrush- My grimy brown wash (roll the trucks while you are doing this, to uniformly coat wheels
- Final spot weathering with Pan Pastels
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