50 Ton War Emergency Hoppers

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Presenting the 50 ton War Emergency Hoppers, with all of their prototypical liveries and forms!  Composite hoppers (i.e. cars using steel and wood) had been a thing and not uncommon to order through the Great Depression, but had been on their way out before the war.  However, the need for steel for things like tanks, ships, and guns meant that domestic-focused manufacture of things like railcars fell by the wayside, causing a bit of a catch-22 situation: you need coal to create steel and power ships (and some factories, though oil was actually the most common source at the time) but can't use the steel for railcars, but you need railcars to get the materials for the steel.

These 50 ton cars were built in 1943 alongside a less popular 70 ton version, and were ordered by a huge number of railroads - 20 different railroads in total.  Like many of these kinds of cars, they were later rebuilt into steel-sided cars postwar.  Here, I've created models for both the as built wood-sided cars and the later steel upgrades, with prototypical schemes for all the roads that had them, and a data only version with a great degree of customization.

For the as built cars, the following liveries are included:

• []Ann Arbor

  []Atlantic Coast Line

  []Alton

  []ATSF

  []B&O

  []C&O

  []Burlington (with and without slogan)

  []Central of Georgia

  []Clinchfield

  []GM&O

  []Illinois Central

  []Illinois Terminal

  []L&N

  []Lehigh Valley

  []Monon

  []Nickel Plate Road

  []Pennsylvania Railroad (regular and war bonds)

  []Southern

  []Virginian

  []Wabash

For the rebuilt cars, the following liveries are included:

• []Atlantic Coast Line

  []B&O

  []C&O

  []Central of Georgia

  []Clinchfield

  []GM&O

  []Illinois Central

  []Illinois Terminal

  []L&N

  []Lehigh Valley

  []Norfolk and Western Patched

  []Nickel Plate Road

  []Pennsylvania Railroad

  []Southern

  []Virginian

  []Wabash

The data only versions cost $750, to represent that they are attempts at saving materials.

There are an excellent addition to many roads, and should help with those big coal moves up and down the line!

Huge thanks to RailSimStuff for fonts used!

Uses Aspen's TSW Freight Trucks and Lego's various mods.