Dear N Scale Customers;

Bluford Shops is announcing a new group of runs on their N Scale USRA 30’6” 2-Bay Hopper.

New York Central had 11,533 of these hoppers. This combination of freight car brown paint with the black background on the New York Central System logo was applied to these hoppers during the Second World War. This classy paint scheme is available in 6 road numbers.

Philadelphia & Reading acquired 2,000 of these hoppers after the war under the USRA (note the C.T. suffix to the road number also seen on the C&O cars.) The P&R was the railroad subsidiary of the Reading Company. But, when the Reading Company was re-organized, it became a common carrier and there was no longer a need for a separate P&R subsidiary and the fleet was folded into the RDG. These P&R cars are available in 4 different road numbers.

Chicago & Eastern Illinois had acquired these hoppers from a secondhand dealer in 1940 (they were previously owned by New Jersey Public Service.) This is the second C&EI paint scheme applied to this batch. Notice the tiny reporting marks which fly in the face of AAR recommendations but were common on the C&EI. These cars will be available in 6 road numbers.

Big Four (the Cleveland Cincinnati Chicago & St. Louis) was the largest of the New York Central subsidiaries. They took delivery of one thousand of these USRA hoppers just as the war was coming to an end. These will be available in 6 road numbers.

Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis had 325 of these USRA 2-bay hoppers. NC&St.L ran from Memphis east to Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta. For a time, they had a route to St. Louis by way of Evansville but in 1879, L&N bought a 55% stake in the NC&St.L and transferred that line to themselves. The NC&St.L finally merged into L&N in 1957.

These ready-to-run cars feature:

• Die Cast Slope Sheet-Hopper Bay-Center Sill Assembly
• Injection Molded Plastic Sides, Ends, and Hopper Doors
• Fully Molded Brake Tank, Valve and Air Lines
• Coal Load
• Lever-Style Hand Brake
• Cody Mounted Magnetically Operating Knuckle Couplers
• Close Coupling
• Metal Wheels

Order Due Date: July 7, 2026

Anticipated Delivery Date: February 2027

Looking for more Bluford Shops Hoppers? Click here!