2024 Premier O Scale Fish Belly Hopper Cars Announced
February 13, 2024 - M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing the 2024 Premier O Scale Fish Belly Hopper Cars in five different liveries late next Summer. Each of these offerings will be available in two car numbers as well as individually numbered six-car sets. The limited production run is set to begin shipping to M.T.H. Authorized Retailers in September 2024.
PROTOTYPE HISTORY
Unlike equipment that carried a variety of loads, like boxcars, flatcars, and gondolas, this two-bay hopper was designed specifically for one cargo: anthracite coal on railroads of the eastern seaboard. Its capacity matched the volume of coal that a pair of typical 50-ton freight trucks could carry. And its “fishbelly” slope sheets — the angled floors at either end of the car — were set at precisely the angle at which coal would flow easily from its bottom doors. (Covered grain hoppers, for example, require much steeper slope sheets.)
The two-bay car was ideal for delivery of clean-burning anthracite to coal dealers who served the home heating market. In contrast, dirtier-burning bituminous coal, used more commonly by large industrial customers, often traveled in bigger three- and four-bay hoppers.
Check out each of the offerings below.
