Bluford Shops is proud to announce all-new tooling in N scale for USRA 30’6” 2-Bay Hoppers. More than 55,000 of these cars were built making them one of the most prolific freight car designs of the twentieth century. 

These ready-to-run cars will feature:

• diecast slope sheet-hopper bay-center sill assembly
• injection molded plastic sides, ends, and hopper doors
• fully molded brake tank, valve and air lines
• body mounted brake hose detail
• coal load
• lever-style hand brake
• body mounted magnetically operating knuckle couplers
• close coupling
• Fox Valley Models metal wheels

All road names will be available in multiple road numbers. For instance, order a single, a 2-pack and a 3-pack to get all six road numbers on a run. (Some road names will be available in just three road numbers.) 

Pittsburgh & West Virginia had 1,830 of these hoppers. Just 132 miles long, P&WV formed a vital link in the Alphabet Route. Nickel Plate Road picked up traffic at Chicago or St. Louis and forwarded it to the Wheeling & Lake Erie who passed it to Pittsburgh & West Virginia thence to Western Maryland for Baltimore or they could pass it on to Reading for Philadelphia or Reading’s eastern connections such as Jersey Central for the New York metropolitan area, or Jersey Central could hand it off to Lehigh & Hudson River who would hand it over to New Haven to cross the Hudson and take it to Boston. Rather than trying to write all of those reporting marks for the car routing instructions, agents could just write “Alphabet Route.” This run will be available in three road numbers./span>

 Pre-orders are now open on the first group of nine road names.

Delivery is expected by the second quarter of 2016