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Mar 5, 2004
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General Modeling Info:
Conrail rostered several classes of coalporters. Over the past few years model railroad manufacturers have produced a number of coalporter kits. Unfortunately, many of these are models of western road and utility prototypes. Yet manufacturers insist on decorating these for Conrail and other railroads that never had such cars.The Walthers #5307 predecorated Conrail coalporter is such a car. These are 12-panel cars based on an aluminum prototype used out west. Walthers numbers these cars as Conrail steel coalporters, which is totally incorrect. Avoid this model if you plan on using it right out of the box. However, you can modify it to represent a G52W, which Rob Russell explains below. Update: Hubert's Model Railroad Mfg. Corp. is now manufacturing the old E&C Car Shops models, including the coalporters, as well as new, accurate models.
The other main manufacturer of coalporters in HO scale used to be E&C Shops, which went out of business in 1998. But you can still purchase their kits at various hobby shops and swap meets. The detail on their models was never up to the standard of other manufacturers, but was sufficient. Their cars are notoriously bad runners, but with some work and extra money you can significantly improve them. (Rob Russell explains how to below.)
Until a manufacturer committed to quality models, such as Bowser, decides to produce an accurate and well running coalporter, we are pretty much stuck with using E&C models. At present, you can use them to model the G52L, G52R, G42W, and G52X classes. Some classes will take no effort to model, while others will primarily be stand-in models until something better comes along.
G52L/G52R Modeling by Bob Waller:
Modeling Conrail class G52L is fairly easy using E&C Shops' kit #400. This is a semi-accurate model of this class. The length of the model is a bit longer than it should be. Plus the ribs and top chord are too wide, but will have to do. The ribs represent aluminum cars more than they do Conrail's steel coalporters. E&C made several series of these models with different road numbers.
Creating a fairly-accurate model of a Conrail G52R coalporter (pictured at right) is also fairly easy, but takes some work. This class is nearly identical to the G52L. Of course, this means that your G52R model will suffer from all the minor problems of its G52L cousin. Use the same E&C #400 kit as above. Using a #11 Xacto chisel blade, carefully remove the lower chord from the model. (The lower chord is a thin lip of steel that runs along the bottom of and between the side ribs.) If needed, sand the area smooth using high grit sandpaper as you would on any plastic model. If using a predecorated model, make sure to touch up the paint. If you create a few gouges, don't panic! No real coalporter is without damage. Simply use the defects to your advantage when weathering the car. And there you have it, a Conrail G52R. Now all you need are a couple dozen for your unit train.
G52W Modeling by Rob Russell:
For reasons that are now lost to time, Robert Russell and I originally thought these cars were made of aluminum. But then Robert Palmer was able to check them more closely and discovered that they were actually made of steel. If you check photos, you will notice that the ribs and sills are not as blockish as they are on aluminum coalporters. Plus the end slope sheets of these cars are different from aluminum cars.Now this is all fine and dandy if you like steel coalporters. But it does cause some difficulties for those of us who would like to model these interesting, second-hand cars Conrail purchased from SFIX. But Rob Russell, a die-hard Conrail coalporter modeler, has a solution!
Rob uses the Walthers #5300 Bethgon Coalporter mentioned above in the General Info section. He admits this is only a good stand-in and not a dead accurate model. Using a modeler's saw, Rob simply cuts 11" off the top of the model, then glues on a strip of styrene to replicate the top sill. He then uses a a Bowser H43 hopper model to determine the dimensions of the tow hole plate and hole, which are located in the lower end corners of the prototype but not the Walthers model. He cuts a piece of .010 styrene to the proper angled shape and drills out the hole accordingly. He does this for four pieces, then glues them in place.
Rob notes that not all of the SFIX marks are painted out on every car. You will have to go on a car-by-car basis, checking photos. Rob uses Islington Stations #150-098 "Coal Gondolas" decal sheet; it has both the SFIX cars and HJVX.
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