New Tangent Hopper

Tangent Scale Models has just announced producion of the PS4000 Covered Hopper lettered and detailed for the Frisco. The following is their quote on their webpage.

"Frisco (SLSF) in the distinct “original gray” color scheme with the large and distinctive black “SLSF” lettering on the carbody. Our stunning Frisco replicas are precisely modeled in the August 1963 delivery scheme, and are available in 3 individual road numbers and do not include pneumatic outlet gates, exactly matching the prototype. These prototypes operated throughout the SLSF system and were frequently seen offline. Order a distinctive yet accurate car from us to bolster your SLSF hopper representation on your layout! Finally, don’t forget we offer 6 and 12 pack discounts when you mix and match covered hoppers from Tangent Scale Models – order a fleet of covered hoppers!"

The link to the website to view detailed pictures of the model is:

http://tangentscalemodels.com/ps4000replicas.aspx

For those of you that don't know about Tangent Scale Models they produce what some regard as the most highly detailed plastic freight car models yet produced. They are available through a few dealers, but sell mainly direct and at no discount except if you buy queantities of 6 or 12.

It has been brought to my attention that this car may have the wrong number of ribs and therefore I need some help possibly verifying this. I couldn't find a picture of it in Molo's book but am still researching it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

There are three road #'s available and they sell for $42.95 each. Stay tuned for updates.

 

It is now possible that Tangent has modeled the wrong car with the wrong car number. The number series they have chosen is the 100 ton PS4750 car. This is somewhat hard to believe as Tangent just hasn't made these types of errors to date. We will definately need to research this more.

 

I have been doing more research and bottom line this car is totally correct and in the opinion of noted Frisco modeler and researcher Nick Molo, besides the Kadee 2 bay covered cement hopper, is the only other totally correct Frisco covered hopper ever produced. The builders photo from the Jim Kinkaid collection is on the Tangent website. I just missed it. Scroll down to the Frisco car and juist click on the photo to enlarge it.

http://tangentscalemodels.com/ps4000prototype.aspx

Part of the reason for the confusion on my part is that according to Nick these cars were only on the roster for 10 years leaving in 1975 and there were only 25 of them. Their road #'s were replaced with the the big PS4750 hoppers that were received in June and July of 1977.

Nick also points out that they were rarely photographed and he has yet to see a photograph of one in service. This is a true masterpiece indeed!

In conclusion, I might add that Tangent is producing three road numbers.

Please excuse any initial confusion on my part.

 

I could find no evidence of a side braced 4000 cu ft covered hopper in my trusty Jan 1975 ORER. The only ones listed were 81001-81024 which were cylindrical hoppers.|-|

In addition, the 1975 ORER lists NO cars in the SLSF 811xx range. Looks like they totally missed the mark. Missed the hopper (4000 cu ft) and the car series number.

This is not to say that the ORER is the be all, end all, but it is usually pretty close.

Too bad.

The CGW and CNW 4000 cu ft hoppers are in the Jan 1975 ORER and appear to have the right number series.

 

Rick:

Our posts must have crossed halfway down the Afton Sub! The fact that they left the roster in 1975 is throwing everyone off! Bottom line, they're for real, but evidently no one photographed them on the Afton Sub or anywhere else for that matter!

 

http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1410329199

Check this out guys. Bob.

Nick Molo

 

Anything is possible. It is interesting that these cars were only around for 12 years. Maybe Nick could tell us if they were sold or scrapped. If they were scrapped, there must have been some sort of structural defect. It would be interesting if they sold the hoppers because they were big users of covered hoppers. Maybe they were just too small at 4000 cu ft.

On the other side of the coin, other railroads used their 4000 cu ft hoppers into the late 1970s. The mystery continues.

 

Rick,

You are correct on your second estimate. The cubic capacity was too small and the use of round hatches was too much problem at the elevators. The Frisco had gotten so many trough hatched, 4427s, that their customers were set-up for them. My speculation is that these factors and that there were only 25 cars with odd hatches (spaced outboard) was a pain to deal with and probably would be utilized less. The ACF cylindrical hoppers were probably kept because of their central hatches and their low light weight. In actual fact the PS4000 had less problem with stress cracking than 4427s because they only had round hatches not a long slot in the roof.

The CRDX took over the lease or purchased the cars.

The Frisco was mainly a wheat carrying road from their own lines. The roads that kept their 4000s could be used for many other purposes, initially purchased for MALT or Feed loading, especially soybean meal or alfalfa meal which were more sensitive to moisture. Some roads used them in chemical or sand loading later in the seventies and eighties. Interestingly, the Frisco had a lot of interchange from other roads that used them for Malt and Feeds, think Chicken industry in Arkansas or the Southeast (Alabama, Georgia, ZFlorida) or breweries like Schlitz in Memphis, Pearl in Atlanta, A-B in FLorida, Pabst in Peoria, Il on the ROCK. One of the BN train lists I post a few months ago was a PS4000 in feed service to McFadden Feed Mill in KC, Rick. I however have not been able to find McFadden on a Frisco industry list as yet.

So in conclusion, these new PS4000s would be very useful for traffic on the Frisco.

Nick

 

Mystery solved. Thanks Nick.

Where do you get all this info?

Unfortunately, I can't use these cars in my late 1970s era but they sure look nice. That will leave more $$$ for the sound equipped GP15-1s so all is not lost.

 

Rick,

I've been doing a lot of research on the car movement stuff for many years including the research on freight cars. Part of this research involves lengthy interviews with railroad employees (none yet from the Frisco) about these subjects, operations, car design, car uses, traffic flow, etc.

Unlike you guys who lived amongst a Frisco world when it was around, I didn't, so I have had to re-create it with all this research so I get a better feeling for it to model it correctly.

I agree late seventies era precludes one of these cars for me as well, but I'm willing to support an excellent manufacturer who gets is right from the assembly, large lettering to the small lettering and the paint colour. Need I remind everyone about the oversized or ill shaped FRISCO billboards on the Athearn and Walthers covered hoppers.

Nick

 

FYI--BLMA models has released (Or soon will be releasing) a similar model in N scale.

Tom

 

Looks like these wont work for me. Gone by 75 and $43 a pop