Review: N Scale Atlas 100 ton 3 bay hopper in "late steam" lettering

[NW Modeling List]

I recently received a pair of Atlas "90 Ton" hoppers done up in N&W "late steam era' lettering. In 1963 N&W began production of the H11a class of open hoppers. I am pretty sure the N&W H11a through H11e hopper is the prototype for both the Atlas model I am reviewing here and the Micro-Trains 100 ton three bay hopper. These hoppers were initially rated at 95 tons, but were later re-rated to 100 tons.

When production began, N&W was still using on it's hoppers what was basically the same scheme they adopted in 1951 - a large 24" "N&W" with roman style lettering in other respects.

N&W built over 22,000 of this style hopper for use in hauling coal. The overwhelming majority were painted in the "hamburger" scheme adopted at the end of 1963 as shown on this earlier Atlas release:

[img]http://www.atlastrainman.com/Images/NFreight/n90ton/0407/40453A_TQ.jpg[/img]

Not many of the over 22,000 built wore the late steam era scheme. On page 65 of the N&W Color Guide to Freight And Passenger Equipment there's a pic of 92464 in the "steam scheme", so we can safely conclude that 92000 thru 92464 were in the same "steam" scheme. By the time 92863 was built they were painting them in the "hamburger" scheme (pic in Dow's book).

Here's a pic of car #92000 from the Virginia Tech Image Database:

[img]http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns2125.jpeg[/img]


Here's a pic of #92001 with some other equipment:

[IMG]http://i35.tinypic.com/3321fh3.jpg[/IMG]

Atlas once again nailed the scheme and have released the hopper in road # 92001 and # 92090(as they did on #s 12000 and 12009 in the "hamburger" scheme a year or two ago). The "N&W" is the proper scale 24" tall and all other lettering appears to match up to the prototype as well.

Mark

I recently received a pair of Atlas "90 Ton" hoppers done up in N&W "late steam era' lettering. In 1963 N&W began production of the H11a class of open hoppers. I am pretty sure the N&W H11a through H11e hopper is the prototype for both the Atlas model I am reviewing here and the Micro-Trains 100 ton three bay hopper. These hoppers were initially rated at 95 tons, but were later re-rated to 100 tons.

When production began, N&W was still using on it's hoppers what was basically the same scheme they adopted in 1951 - a large 24" "N&W" with roman style lettering in other respects.

N&W built over 22,000 of this style hopper for use in hauling coal. The overwhelming majority were painted in the "hamburger" scheme adopted at the end of 1963 as shown on this earlier Atlas release:

http://www.atlastrainman.com/Images/NFreight/n90ton/0407/40453A_TQ.jpg

Not many of the over 22,000 built wore the late steam era scheme. On page 65 of the N&W Color Guide to Freight And Passenger Equipment there's a pic of 92464 in the "steam scheme", so we can safely conclude that 92000 thru 92464 were in the same "steam" scheme. By the time 92863 was built they were painting them in the "hamburger" scheme (pic in Dow's book).

Here's a pic of car #92000 from the Virginia Tech Image Database:

http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns2125.jpeg


Here's a pic of #92001 (the Atlas model) with some other equipment:

http://tinypic.com/r/3321fh3/4

Atlas once again nailed the scheme and have released the hopper in road # 92001 and # 92090(as they did on #s 12000 and 12009 in the "hamburger" scheme a year or two ago). The "N&W" is the proper scale 24" tall and all other lettering appears to match up to the prototype as well.

Mark Peele, Maryland
================================
N&W in N scale