Wheeling & Lake Erie offset side hoppers. This is the original Wheeling & Lake Erie, a 500 mile Class 1 railroad serving Eastern Ohio and West Virginia. The W&LE linked Wheeling and Zanesville with Cleveland and Toledo. Coal was king on the W&LE and the majority of their 13,000 car fleet was made up of hoppers. They were a common sight throughout the Industrial Midwest. This group of hoppers delivered in 1948 was split between two builders. 1,000 cars came from Greenville Steel Car and 2,000 cars came from Ralston. Outwardly, they were identical. Late in 1949, the W&LE was
leased by the Nickel Plate Road (who already owned 80% of the stock,) sending these “WLE” lettered cars even further afield. This run will be available in 3 road numbers:

Features:

• 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