Lionel Die-Cast Scale 50-Ton Offset Hoppers

I second that.  Especially if they make some more Rock Island, amongst others.

Hello Paul. I have a couple of the Rock Islands. I like the gray “rock” load as a fun alternative to the coal loads in the other cars. Like you, I hope they come back around. 

I agree - these are great! I must have 15-20 of them and would probably make room for a few more if they were offered again. There is usually a healthy supply on the secondary market although I haven't checked in a while. I wouldn't mind having the 5 or 6 car Century Set although I may have a couple from it already.

Rider,

      I was also a big fan of the die cast hoppers that Kline and Lionel have issued in the past. The problem I discovered is a simple one.......they are too darn heavy. Yes they are very nice and detailed and feel great in your hands but once you put ten or more on a train and if you have say a 2 1/2% grade on your layout they will lift the front of even your biggest steam engines up so if you go over a switch or go into a turn your steam engine will derail. 

     I now stick with the new Lionel plastic body 2 bay hoppers (GLa) and the derailing problem never happened again.

    However if you still like the die cast hopper you probably can pick them up for a good price at train shows or auction sites as I think a lot of modelers have discovered the weight issue with die cast.

JohnB

Rider Sandman posted:

Hello Paul. I have a couple of the Rock Islands. I like the gray “rock” load as a fun alternative to the coal loads in the other cars. Like you, I hope they come back around. 

Yes indeed.  I painted over the limestone rock load with pretty much the same flat color, then applied a grimy-black wash to help accentuate the rocks.

I managed to find 2 single cars a few years ago, so they both have the same road number.  I know Lionel also offered a 3-pack in these, hopefully I can find a set of these someday.

They are fantastically detailed.  Due to their weight though, I probably would want to run much more than 6~10 or so at the very most.  And that's on level track! 

I have around 15 or so of these cars. Love them! Great detail and great looks. Yes the weight is an issue, but putting two steamers or one big one on the head end will generally nullify that issue. 

Have a bunch of them as well, both the 2-bay and 3-bay versions. They are terrific. Agree though that you can't run very many of them at once. I once had a coupler snap because of the weight. Good question for Ryan or Dave regarding issuing more of them in the future, but my sense is that we may have seen the last of them from Lionel.

Pat 

Paul, the stones look great with the black wash. It really makes the contours come out. Like all things, you’ll eventually come across the three pack if you keep enough lines in the water. I collected a bunch of mine used - that was half the fun. 

Pat, I suspect you are right. My guess is they would be very expensive to do today given the cost of the current plastic hoppers. Fortunately, they did a bunch of road names before they disappeared. 

Did Lionel ever make these in a Pennsy paint scheme ??? - just curious

Thanks

@dorfj2 posted:

Did Lionel ever make these in a Pennsy paint scheme ??? - just curious

Thanks

Yes they did. I have three of them. And to the surprise of many of us, Lionel did commence to manufacture die-cast hoppers again, just the two bays,  commencing a few years ago. I did not buy any of them, and it is likely that they are no longer made with articulated couplers, like many other of the newer Lionel freight cars.

Pat

Fun thread to have resurrected. I still say the Lionel die-cast offset hoopers and the Lionel PS-1 boxcars (prior to the truck “upgrade”) are some of the best rolling stock ever made.

Please correct me if I’m wrong. I believe Lionel began its use of die cast in rolling stock when it issued the Standard O 9464 boxcars with the die cast frame(s). Not all the boxcars (and sporadic reefer) in the line received die cast frames. There are approx. 25 such cars.

Lionel has been in dire need of redoing these.

While I do see the occasional 'paint rash' on these cars today, they're still some of the best scale hoppers Lionel's made. The VISION Class A has been in dire need of something worthy to match it, among other recent coal hauling road locomotives.

It would be cool to get these in ABS and not diecast. They are just too heavy. A train of 20 or more of these are great for finding weak traction tires.

Norm, do you know who ended up with Weaver's offset hopper tooling?

Am also a huge fan of the diecast hoppers from Lionel. Have also been finding some KLine that are excellent quality. Probably I'm buying more than I can manage but the prices are too low to pass up.