Specific Item Information: Buffalo & Susquehanna took delivery of about 600 of these hoppers in two batches. The B&S was born in 1893 when Frank and Charles Goodyear consolidated their railroad properties in New York and Pennsylvania. The brothers had considerable timber interests in the area and needed the B&S to serve them. By 1905, B&S ran from Addison and Wellsville, New York southwest to Sagamore (not too far from Pittsburgh) a total of 254 miles. By this time, coal had become the chief commodity on the southern half of the railroad. The following year, B&S built a 90 mile extension to their Wellsville line going all the way to Buffalo. The Buffalo line was abandoned after just 10 disappointing years. Baltimore & Ohio purchased the B&S in 1932 and the Buffalo & Susquehanna’s sizeable hopper fleet went to work side by side with their new owners.
Model Information: These ready-to-run cars feature: die cast 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; and Fox Valley Models metal wheels.
Prototype History: The USRA 55-Ton hopper was designed by the United States Railway Administration during World War I as a standardized hopper to be used by all railroads in order to aid the war effort. After WWI many railroads continued to use the USRA 55-Ton hoppers, as well as build many thousands more clones. The USRA hopper was in use on North American railroads from 1918 until the 1970’s
Road Name History: The B&S was born in 1893 when Frank and Charles Goodyear consolidated their railroad properties in New York and Pennsylvania. The brothers had considerable timber interests in the area and needed the B&S to serve them. By 1905, B&S ran from Addison and Wellsville, New York southwest to Sagamore. By this time, coal had become the chief commodity on the southern half of the railroad. The timber business along with the tanning industry (hides – not people) kept the trains running on the north end. The following year, B&S built a 90 mile extension to their Wellsville line going all the way to Buffalo. Then Frank Goodyear died and things became difficult for the B&S. The Buffalo line was abandoned after just 10 disappointing years of poor traffic. Baltimore & Ohio purchased the B&S in 1932. Operations and car and locomotive fleets were integrated with B&O but the B&S remained a paper railroad until at least 1956 when much of the B&S was sold to the new Wellsville Addison & Galeton Railroad.
Brand/Importer Information: Bluford Shops began in 2007 as a side project of two model railroad industry veterans, Craig Ross and Steve Rodgers. They saw a gap between road names available on N scale locomotives but not available on cabooses. They commissioned special runs of Atlas cabooses in Atlantic Coast Line, Central of Georgia, Monon, Boston & Maine and Southern plus runs on Grand Trunk Western and Central Vermont on the MDC wooden cabooses. While these were in process, they began to develop their first all new tooling project, 86' Auto Parts Boxcars in double door and quad door editions in N scale. By January of 2008, Bluford Shops became a full time venture. Along with additional N scale freight cars and their own tooling for new cabooses, they have brought their own caboose line to HO scale. They also have their popular Cornfields in both HO and N. The future looks bright as they continue to develop new products for your railroad.
The town of Bluford in southern Illinois featured a small yard on Illinois Central's Edgewood Cutoff (currently part of CN.) The yard included a roundhouse, concrete coaling tower (which still stands) and large ice house. Reefer trains running between the Gulf Coast and Chicago were re-iced in Bluford. Things are more quiet now in Bluford with the remaining tracks in the yard used to stage hoppers for mines to the south and store covered hoppers. Intersecting the IC line in Bluford is Southern Railway's (currently NS) line between Louisville and St. Louis. Traffic on this single track line remains relatively heavy.
The town of Bluford in southern Illinois featured a small yard on Illinois Central's Edgewood Cutoff (currently part of CN.) The yard included a roundhouse, concrete coaling tower (which still stands) and large ice house. Reefer trains running between the Gulf Coast and Chicago were re-iced in Bluford. Things are more quiet now in Bluford with the remaining tracks in the yard used to stage hoppers for mines to the south and store covered hoppers. Intersecting the IC line in Bluford is Southern Railway's (currently NS) line between Louisville and St. Louis. Traffic on this single track line remains relatively heavy.
Item created by: gdm on 2016-10-13 19:40:15
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