Ballast! A commodity that is rarely discussed, yet plays a pivotal part in the upkeep of any railroad’s infrastructure. Many railroads simply used older open-top hoppers to carry and “dump” ballast along their right-of-ways. In the mid-1970s, National Steel Car (NSC) designed and developed a welded open-top hopper specifically for ballast service, complete with four bottom chutes to spread the rocks along the rails. CN and CP purchased these cars in volumes, under the 1978 Government of Canada Branch Line Rehabilitation Program. Fleet numbers were also an identifier of these cars as well as their Branch Line Rehabilitation stencil and many continue to wear those to this day.
Rapido is the best at accurate, well-detailed models. They can be a bit pricey, but well worth it. Wish they would do more east-coast roads.
My mistake -- it is sometimes hard for me to notice when a model is N scale. My layout is HO scale.
A well made model, good to have.
A beautifully executed model, the era is exactly right for my layout. Glad to have it!
Haven’t installed them yet but woodlands scenic also produces a superior product always thought why have poles with no wires I’ll give it a shot from photos I’m sure they’ll look great
