Prototype Information

Covered hoppers often have multiple owners over their lifetime. This car was formerly owned and operated by the Louisville & Nashville railroad before becoming property of the Southern Illinois Railcar company.

Model Information

This is a built kit car from Accurail for the ACF 4600 cubic foot 3 bay covered hopper. Accurail makes a nice covered hopper; this started life as an undecorated model, and went through a fair amount to get it to what you see. I've modified the trucks to take a screw instead of the stock peg; I've also swapped out metal wheels for the stock plastic ones, and Kadee couplers too.
I began with a base coat of blue, and black patches for the logos. Then came logo painting, and finally the weathering. Custom decals were created for the paintouts for the roadnames on each end. The weathering is airbrush, oils and, chalks. The car got a completely new paint job and was hand-painted for its new owner. Graffiti was inspired by this prototype photo (and others in the same series):
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=836269
Overall, I am very pleased with the result. I also did some work on the trucks and wheels, of course. The ends too got nice attention.

Back to Page 2 of Rolling stock.