Illinois Central Gulf 3-bay offset side hoppers. Illinois Central was quite a fan of 3-bay offset side hoppers and continued to build them into the late ‘60s. In 1972, IC merged with the largely parallel Gulf Mobile & Ohio creating Illinois Central Gulf. The combined railroad was immense with 9,500 route miles (about 60 more than Union Pacific during the same period.) Mileage would fall by about 20% as duplicate routes were abandoned over the years. ICG retained the orange and white diesel scheme of IC with “Gulf” added to the name. The IC “split rail” logo was modified with the split closed up and the dot moved over the center of the rail. In 1985, ICG began spinning off large chunks of the railroad creating new regional railroads and shortlines in an effort
to slim down to a core Great Lakes-to-the-Gulf route structure. In 1988, they dropped the “Gulf” from their name and became Illinois Central once again. They were purchased by Canadian National in 1999 and continue to exist as a “paper railroad” today. As the old IC hoppers were shopped during the ‘70s, they emerged in this scheme complete with then standard ACI bar codes and con-stencils. This run will be available in 6 road numbers.

Features:

• Friction bearing or roller bearing trucks as appropriate for each road name
• Fully molded air tank and valve with piping, slope sheet braces
• Body mounted brake hose detail
• Separate brake cylinder, rod and lever detail (a first on an N scale open hopper!)
• Body mounted magnetically operating couplers
• Coal load
• Diecast slope sheets and center sill
• Injection molded plastic sides, ends and hopper doors

Order Deadline Nov. 29, 2011

Expected Release: July 2012