Important Note: Bluford Shops has announced new runs of their well received 70 Ton 3-Bay Hopper. Please reserve now. Your shopping cart will show a "free" zero deposit reservation. Your card will not be charged until time of actual shipment. A separate shipping charge of only $7 will be added at the time the actual shipment is made. Sorry, but in stock items cannot be held for advance reservations to arrive.

Cars shown in "green" field strip are advance reservation items - 4th Batch

Cars shown in "white" field strip are in stock for immediate shipment.

Coal hauling giant Chesapeake & Ohio received 1,000 of these cars from General American in 1949. They were one of the earliest groups of cars to beequipped with roller bearing trucks and received a prominant white band on the side to remind crews of this fact. In those days, cars with friction bearing trucks were frequently spotted and left without setting the handbrakes. Doing that with roller bearing equipped cars would be inviting disaster. This roadname will be available in 12 road numbers. 73251 single car; 73252 2-Pack; 73253 3-Pack. 73256 6-pack. Due - Early 2011

Detroit Toledo & Ironton picked up 320 of these 14-Panel Rib Side hoppers from Greenville Steel Car between 1959 and 1960. DT&I linked Detroit with the Ohio River at Ironton, Ohio. This put DT&I in position to move coal from river barges to heavy industry in northern Ohio and Michigan as well as other midwestern points via connections. This roadname will be available in 12 road numbers. 14121 single car; 14122 2-Pack; 14123 3-Pack; 14126 6-Pack. Due - Early 2011

The Erie served coal mines in Ohio and Pennsylvania. For many years they even owned both anthracite and bituminous coal mining operations in Pennsylvania. Within Erie ’s diverse hopper fleet were these 1,000 70-ton offset side cars. Erie held their own in the busy Chicago -New York corridor against arch competitors PRR, NYC and B&O. Much of the Erie mainline was even double tracked. The Erie merged with the Lackawanna in 1960. This roadname will be available in 6 road numbers. 73221 single car; 73222 2-Pack; 73223 3-Pack. Due - Early 2011

Illinois Central was the principle hauler of coalfrom the massive Illinois Coal Basin. Coal made up 40% of Illinois Central’s gross tonnage and their “ Central” location and high yield made this coal competitive in much of the country. Because of this, IC hoppers could be found nearly anywhere in the lower 48. This particular batch was built in IC’s huge Centralia Car Shops (not too far from the Bluford Shops) in 1966. Despite being built 17 years after the C&O cars seen below, IC used friction bearing trucks on these cars. This roadname will be available in 12 road numbers. 73231 single car; 73232 2-Pack; 73233 3-Pack; 73236 6-pack. Due - Early 2011

SCL -Family Lines. Seaboard Coast Line inherited these cars from both Atlantic Coast Line (previously available from Bluford Shops) and Seaboard Air Line (see the June 2010 announcements) in their 1967 merger. In 1975, a portion of the combined fleet received heavy service at SCL’s Tampa shops and emerged in The Family Lines paint scheme. The Family Lines encompassed SCL, Louisville & Nashville, Clinchfield, Georgia, Atlanta & West Point and Western Railway of Alabama. SCL had stock control of L&N. SCL and L&N jointly owned Clinchfield and jointly controlled Georgia Railroad. Georgia controlled A&WP and WoA. The latter two were together called “West Point Route.” All were folded into Seaboard System in 1983. This roadname will be available in 6 road numbers. 73241 single car; 73242 2-Pack; 73243 3-Pack. Due - Early 2011

Shown above are the first "test shots" of the new Bluford Hoppers ... Offset Side 70 ton 3-bay hoppers in Atlantic Coast Line - Prismo Stripe. ACL took delivery of these cars in this paint scheme in 1952. The use of semi-reflective “Prismo” stripes along the lower edge of freight cars set Atlantic Coast Line decades ahead of other railroads and the FRA in this respect. This roadname will be available in 6 road numbers. 73011 Atlantic Coast Line - Prismo Stripe single; 73012 2-Pack; 73013 3-Pack.

14-Panel 70 ton 3-bay hoppers in Burlington Northern. Burlington Northern inherited these cars from Great Northern.
They continued in service at least through the 1990s. This roadname will be available in 20 road numbers. 14011
Burlington Northern single; 14013 3-Pack; 14016 6-Pack; 14010 10-Pack.

Offset Side 70 ton 3-bay hoppers in Chicago & North Western. Chicago & North Western received a large fleet of these cars from builder Pullman Standard in the late ‘40s. Many remained in service in the ‘80s. This roadname will be available in 12 road numbers. 73061 C&NW single; 73062 2-Pack; 73063 3-Pack; 73066 6-Pack.

14-Panel 70 ton 3-bay hoppers in C&O Chessie System. Chessie picked up over a thousand of these cars second hand from P&LE beginning in 1985. This roadname will be available in 12 road numbers. 14051 C&O Chessie System single; 14052 2-Pack; 14053 3-Pack; 14056 6-Pack.

Offset Side 70 ton 3-bay hoppers in Canadian Pacific. Canadian Pacific had 3,500 of these 70 ton cars. The script herald was adopted in 1959 and survived in revenue service on some of these cars at least into the mid-80s. This roadname will be available in 10 road numbers. 73081 Canadian Pacific single; 73083 3-Pack; 73086 6-Pack

14-Panel 70 ton 3-bay hoppers in Rio Grande. Rio Grande was an early adopter of the NYC design with this first batch coming from Bethlehem in 1957. More came the following year. This roadname will be available in 20 road numbers. 14041 Rio Grande single; 14043 3-Pack; 14046 6-Pack; 14040 10-Pack. Due - Late Summer 2010

Offset Side 70 ton 3-bay hoppers in New York Central. New York Central obtained their first 3-bay offset side hoppers in the late 1920’s. Most were rebuilt beginning in 1949 and soldiered on for many more years. More new cars were acquired in the early 50s, before NYC switched allegence in 1956 to our other new body style. This roadname will be available in 12 road numbers. 73071 New York Central offset side single; 73072 2-Pack; 73073 3-Pack; 73076 6-Pack

Offset side 70 ton 3-bay hoppers first appeared in the late 1920s but by the late 30s they had evolved into the AAR standard design seen here. They were built in large quantities by many builders until the mid-1960s. Many remained in service through the 1980s. Coming in the first batch of Offset Side cars is Southern Pacific. SP had over 650 of these cars. They received the lettering seen here in the 1960s. This group was assigned to Collier Carbon & Chemical in California. This roadname is coming in 12 road numbers.

14-Panel 70 ton 3-bay hoppers in Western Railway of Alabama. WofA and sister roads Atlanta & West Point and Georgia Railroad formed a 550 mile system linking Augusta and Macon with Atlanta, Georgia and west to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. All were jointly controlled by L&N and ACL/SCL and as such were part of The Family Lines in the 1970s. These cars were delivered in the mid-60s and were still in service when WofA was rolled into Seaboard System followed by CSX a few years later. This roadname will be available in 6 road numbers. 14031 Western of Alabama single; 14032 2-Pack; 14033 3-Pack.

Click on photo above for listing of 86' Hi-Cube Boxcars.

Bluford Shops also offers a series of N Cabooses. Click on photo at right for listing of available road names ...