NEB&W Guide to GLa-Type Twin Ribbed Hopper Cars - C

Last Update: 2009-09-11

USRA-Type Twin Hopper Cars Table of Contents
Twin Hopper Cars Table of Contents
Hoppers Table of Contents
Freight Car Guide Table of Contents
Rolling Stock Table of Contents

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Cambria & Indiana

• Richard Burg (Feb. '02 RMJ) said that Cambria Steel Car Co. built GLa's for the C&I (a road corporately linked to the car maker) between 1911 and 1916. The earliest cars were near matches, the later cars some five inches taller. He gave the series as: (very confusing)
  • 200-799, 600 cars built in 1911. There were 500 cars in this series in 1922, but all gone (apparently renumbered to 1500 series) by '38.
  • 1500-2399, 400 cars built in 1912 and 500 more in 1914, with cars added from the 200 series between 1914 and '18.
  • One thousand cars were built in 1916, apparently 2400-3399 series. These were about five inches taller, but still one inch lower than the USRA car.
    • [C&I 2516, photo from the Richard Burg collection. Note the T-section Bettendorf-type trucks. This car has seen a number of repairs.]
  Apparently the older cars were all retired first, with 959 cars left in the 2400-3399 series by '44.
  Burg also included a c. WWII Paul Dunn photo of no. 3059, a car rebuilt during the steel-scarce war years to a 6 panel composite car. (Extremely odd - I never heard of an all-steel car getting rebuilt to composite construction.) This car had hat ribs in a Pratt truss, but with the first and last panel still steel. This would be possible more or less, to represent with the Accurail composite car. (Or kitbash a Bowser with the Accurail to get a more accurate version.)
  • [C&I 3059. Paul Dunn photo from the John La Rue collection.]

Canadian National

• The CN did NOT have GLa's, but their pre-USRA hoppers would be better represented by the Bowser GLa than by any other plastic (or even cast-resin) hopper car kit currently available. The CN had pre-USRA hoppers in the 115100-117599 series, built in 1911, not true GLa's. There were 2,170 cars in this series in 1949. They were 30 feet long inside and 10 ft. 1 in. to the top of the sides, with a cubic capacity of 1,680. There was a Ed Mines photo in the article on panel-side cars in Model Railroading. These were only 30 feet long inside, 10 ft. 1 in. to the top of the sides and had a capacity of 1,680. The listing suggested they still had their vertical brake staffs in 1949.
  • [CN 117386. Photo by Paul Dunn, courtesy Richard Burg.]
  • [CN 117492 c. 1940. Broadside. Photo from our collection.]
  • [CN 117492. End view.]

• In 1940, there were 98 cars in the series 119550-119649 with identical dimensions to the 115100 series. It appears they were built in 1923.
  • [CN 119630. Builder's photo.]

Canadian Northern

• In 1918, the bankrupt CNoR was designed Canadian National, with the official name change occurring the following year.
CDS dry transfer set no. 351 is for a pre-USRA twin hopper c. 1910. The series was said to be 80401-80549.
• [CDS lettering diagram, used by permission.]
• In 1932, this road was listed in the Register under the CN's listing, with a couple of hundred cars still with "C. Nor." lettering 13 years after the name change. However, I will have to check to see if any of these hoppers were still so lettered.

Central of New Jersey

• The CNJ had USRA cars, but also, according to their class diagrams, they had pre-USRA hoppers (sort of), built in 1912 by Standard Steel, with no side gussets, a half ladder on the right instead of the long grab and the pair of angles for the end supports with the right-angle gussets. The series was 62000-62999, 560 cars in 1949. These were 30 feet long inside, 10 ft. 5 ins. to the top of the sides (okay, these are maybe too high), with a capacity of 1,753. They still had their vertical brake staffs in 1949, according to the listing. (Most of the rest of the cars were listed under the same number series on the CRP.)

• Vic Roseman sent me an in-service photo of CNJ 60433, c. 1930. In 1940, there were 618 cars in the series 60000-60999, which were 30 ft. 0 ins. long inside and 10 ft. 5 ins. to the top of the sides, with a capacity of 1,763 (not the 1,753 cubic capacity of the 62000 with identical dimensions.
  • [CRP 60433 c. 1930. Photo courtesy Roseman.]

• There were 968 hoppers in the 61000-61999 series in 1940, which had a cubic capacity of 1,753 and otherwise identical dimensions to both the 60000 and 62000 series.
  • [CNJ GLa-type hopper in the coke plant in south Troy c. 1952. Gerrit Bruins photo.]

Central of Pennsylvania

• The Central of Pennsylvania, the CNJ's subsidiary, had 416 hoppers in '49 in the series 62500-62999, essentially the same cars as the parent CNJ's 62000 series.

Central Vermont

• The CV did NOT have GLa's, but their pre-USRA hoppers would be better represented by the Bowser GLa kit than by any other plastic hopper car kit currently available. The sides were only 10 ft. 1 in. high and the cars had ends supports like the PRR H21's. (Basically these CV cars were the same as the CN's cars.) I believe these were built in 1912. While 85 cars had been converted to panel-side hoppers by 1949, 110 cars in the same 20000-20199 series retained their original sides. This class of cars were the only CV hoppers.
  • [Builder's photo of CV 30000. I believe this photo is courtesy Al Westerfield. (I'll have to check when they renumbered them.)]
  • [CV 20150, c. '52 photo courtesy of Rail Data Services, I believe. Do my eyes deceive me, or are the ribs welded on?]
  • [CV 20173 c. 1960's, clearly showing the end details. (Note how the end grabs are extended over to the upright support instead of a standard ladder stile.) Color photo by Bill Brigham.]
  • [Pair of cars, one red, one black, unfortunately unknown date (but likely 1960's). Bill Brigham photo.]
  According to John Riddell (Oct. '95 RMC), the number of raised panel cars was down to 10 cars by 1951 (some rebuilt back to regular ribbed cars), with one car lasting until 1956.
  There were 81 cars CV hoppers left in '65, with one lone survivor in Jan. '77.

Chesapeake & Ohio

• According to the Freight Car Equipment Of The C&O Railway, 1937, the C&O acquired 2,000 twin hoppers from Standard Steel, Pressed Steel, and Ralston Steel, in 1917-'18, series 60000-61999. These were pre-USRA cars, only 10 ft to the top of the sides, no gussett on the rib over the (Andrews) trucks, and a pair of angles with gussets like flanger signs supporting the end. They had a capacity of 1,702, compared to the USRA 1,880. Last cars retired by '47.
  In 1932, 9 cars were converted to bulk cement service, 10 in 1934, and five more in 1936. The hoppers were retained but modified. Homemade roofs were added (taken from other converted hoppers that proved less than satisfactory -see below), with 8 evenly spaced roof hatches, hinged along the running boards. On the last five cars only (nos. 219-233), new steeper slope sheets were installed, reducing the capacity to 1,328. On the other cars (200-218), vertical bulkheads were installed at the location of the truck bolster, reducing the capacity to 1,456. The converted cars continued to sit on 50 ton trucks, and retained their vertical brakestaff. The cars were painted black, the same as the C&O coal hoppers.
  The last of these rebuilt covered hoppers were retired in 1950.

• According to the Freight Car Equipment Of The C&O Railway, 1937, the C&O got 10,500 nearly identical hoppers between 1906 and 1912. There is a 1910 builder's photo of no. 55381.
  • [Builder's photo of C&O 55381.]
  It had a tiny gusset on the truck rib, had the grabs to the top on the middle of the end, using the pair of uprights as ladder stiles. The car rode on T-section Bettendorf trucks.
  The overall combined series was 50000-58999. (Some of the other cars were quite different in appearance. For example, the 55000-55999 series (built by ACF in 1910), later got peaked ends. The 53000-53999 series (also built by ACF in 1910) had the sides cut high. Most of these were replaced by 1937 by the new offset twins, with the last ones taken off the roster by '39.
  • [Standard Steel 1912 builder's photo of C&O 57000.]

• According to the Freight Car Equipment Of The C&O Railway, 1937, the Chesapeake & Ohio, the C&O got 1,500 cars from Standard Steel in 1906, series 21000-21999 and 25500-25999. These had 10 foot high sides, with a cubic capacity of 1,731, and a pair of flanger-like end supports. These were different from all other known pre-USRA type hoppers in having peaked ends.
  The last cars had been retired by '39.

Chicago Indiana & Southern

• According to the New York Central class diagram, subsidiary CI&S got 100 cars in 1907 from Standard Steel, nos. 185000-185099. These cars had the three upright ends typical of Central pre-USRA hoppers, but otherwise are a good match to the Bowser GLa model. In 1924, all these CI&S hoppers had been relettered and renumbered NYC 416000-416099.
  Bowser offers their GLa hopper lettered for the CI&S, kit no. 56238, with three road numbers available. (One car number is 185000.) The model is painted box car red with white lettering. I can't be sure, but I think the herald has "System" which if true, would date the scheme to 1935. And in '41, open top cars were changed from black to box car red, so this scheme is clearly WWII or later, yet in 1940, the CI&S was no longer listed.

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis

• According to their class diagram, the Big Four got 250 hoppers from Standard Steel in 1907, series 74700-74949. These cars had the GLa dimensions, although note on the diagram the three upright end supports, unique to the Central and their subsidiaries.
  • [CCC&StL 74700, 1907 Standard Steel builder's photo.]
  • [NYC class diagram.]

Clinchfield

• Clark Propst noticed the Clinchfield seems to have had true GLa's, series 40000-43749. (They aren't on the Clinchfield's roster in '53 or '58. In '53, the Clinchfield only had hoppers of the true USRA's 1,880 cubic capacity, or larger.)

Cumberland & Pennsylvania

• Ryan Hoover pointed out that in Deane Mellander's Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad, there is a photo of a C&P twin hopper no. 9005 coupled next to a side-discharge door NYS&W hopper. He said that the C&Pa car looks similar to a GLa in that it rides low on the trucks and has the distinctive drooping extended boxy end-sill of the PRR GLa. You can't see the end supports, the side stakes look straight, and the car looks taller than a GLa but lower than a USRA. The end sill is unmistakable, however, and Bowser's GLa would make a good representation of this car. Bev-bel once did Athearn twins in this scheme of cars no. 9012 and 9026, so we know that C&Pa (bought by WM in 1945) had hoppers in a series of at least 9000-9026.

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