removable coal loads

Possibly Blue Mountain, or someone's custom made loads. The owner of Blue mountain passed many years ago.

Ed,

Do you weather the insides of your hoppers?

John

Ed, I purchased several nice coal loads at a show several years ago. Probably same vender as the one at the Strasburg show. They were from Blue Mountain Hobbies, 610 N. Rt. 934  Annville, PA17003-9038

Phone number (717) 867-2528. The package label listed loads for three hoppers including O-49 Intermountain USRA and 0-54 Atlas 55 Ton Fish Belly Hoppers

I notice one responder saying the vendor passed away, So not sure where that leaves you unfortunately.

Bob

With a tip from a friend I purchased 7 Blue Mountain 30' loads on eBay.  I need to make similar ones for 10 cars of various lengths.

John -  I do weather the insides of hoppers - though quite a few remain to be done.

Ed,  Would you please share any techniques or 'don't do this' in reference to weathering the insides?  I have a Weaver Santa Fe hopper that's been on my 'To Do' list for almost a year.  Thanks, John

@flanger posted:

Ed, I purchased several nice coal loads at a show several years ago. Probably same vender as the one at the Strasburg show. They were from Blue Mountain Hobbies, 610 N. Rt. 934  Annville, PA17003-9038

Phone number (717) 867-2528. The package label listed loads for three hoppers including O-49 Intermountain USRA and 0-54 Atlas 55 Ton Fish Belly Hoppers

I notice one responder saying the vendor passed away, So not sure where that leaves you unfortunately.

Bob

The gent from Blue Mountain also supplied loads for Weaver hoppers. It was sometime between 2010 and 11 when he died.

@rail posted:

Possibly Blue Mountain, or someone's custom made loads. The owner of Blue mountain passed many years ago.

Oh wow!  I remember buying coal loads from that gentleman over 20 years ago!  I think they were for Weaver 2-bay "Coal goes to War" hoppers.

George

ED, I remember making coal loads similar to these using some sort of foam. I dont recall what type of foam it was but its the kind that you can buy in a crafts store. It comes in sheets and I would rip it in strips that were just smaller than the width of the inside of the hopper. after that you I cut it to length to suit the hopper cars length. then using a knife, carve the foam to look like a rounded coal load. then spray it with a rattle can of solvent based paint. the paint will immediately attack the foam making it sticky. then sprinkle real coal over it and it will stick to the soft sticky foam. 

bury 2 disc magnets in the foam before adding coal. use 2, 3/8" hex bolts, one in each hand, to easily pull the load out of the hopper.

The foam looks to be the consistency of Owens Corning pink insulation board. The first step would be to paint it black to make it less visible. Instead of embedding magnets, I would embed steel washers, and use magnets to lift out the loads, which would probably be cheaper than embedding magnets. Just my 2 cents.

Simon

@Simon Winter posted:

The foam looks to be the consistency of Owens Corning pink insulation board. The first step would be to paint it black to make it less visible. Instead of embedding magnets, I would embed steel washers, and use magnets to lift out the loads, which would probably be cheaper than embedding magnets. Just my 2 cents.

Simon

that was my thought also. I like the magnet idea. but I would use the magnet as the lifting tool.  good thing is that this makes removing the loads easy and you don't have to touch the car with your hands.

Here's a short video showing a method I use. Others have tried it with positive results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnsjd-KDPWI