Full Throttle - FT-2008-3 - Open Hopper, 2-Bay, Rib Side - Pennsylvania - 2-Pack

Specific Item Information: PRR 697341 & 715416

Model Information: Some of the most common cars to ride American railroad tracks during the 20th Century, the small, steel-paneled, rib-side, two-bay hoppers were instrumental to the growth of our nation. During the Industrial Age of the USA, coal was King and our appetite for "black diamonds" was sated by these pert little dumpsters. An improvement over drop-bottom gondolas, the self-emptying, gravity-release hopper car became reality during the early 1900s, and fed the fires of our burgeoning economy until well after mid-century. While no longer used for large commercial hauling, these mighty-mites are all-pervasive and found on short-lines still lugging coal, gravel, ore, sand, glass and a variety of bulk materials—an invaluable workhorse even for our contemporary railroads. For your Z Scale enjoyment, Full Throttle presents a universal model of these small omnipresent twin-bay hoppers.

Prototype History: The open hopper is an evolution of the gondola, a simple freight car used for the transportation of various materials without and facility for protection from the elements. The hopper had higher sides than the gondola and possessed a mechanism on the bottom (bay doors) for discharging the load.

2-Bay ribside coal hoppers were in common use in the first half of the 20th century. The ribbed sides added stability so the loads would not bow out the side of the hoppers. Steel was in plentiful supply after the second world wars and these cars were pretty much everywhere coal was being produced or consumed.

Road Name History: The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR) was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy," the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The PRR was the largest railroad by traffic and revenue in the U.S. for the first half of the twentieth century. Over the years, it acquired, merged with or owned part of at least 800 other rail lines and companies. At the end of 1925, it operated 10,515 miles of rail line; in the 1920s, it carried nearly three times the traffic as other railroads of comparable length, such as the Union Pacific or Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads. Its only formidable rival was the New York Central (NYC), which carried around three-quarters of PRR's ton-miles.

At one time, the PRR was the largest publicly traded corporation in the world, with a budget larger than that of the U.S. government and a workforce of about 250,000 people. The corporation still holds the record for the longest continuous dividend history: it paid out annual dividends to shareholders for more than 100 years in a row.

In 1968, PRR merged with rival NYC to form the Penn Central Transportation Company, which filed for bankruptcy within two years. The viable parts were transferred in 1976 to Conrail, which was itself broken up in 1999, with 58 percent of the system going to the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), including nearly all of the former PRR. Amtrak received the electrified segment east of Harrisburg.

Brand/Importer Information: Greetings, I'm Will, a Fine Arts graduate of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania who grew up in the Delaware Valley. I worked for 30 years with the Pennsylvania German Folklife Society. For ten years I had a permanent booth, each month showing my "PA Dutch" wares, at the country's largest under-roof Antique Market in Atlanta, GA. When Mom and Dad started to have health issues, I was forced to give up the nomadic life, but during my travels I came to love Z Scale Model Railroading, as I could easily take small layouts with me to the motels and play with my trains in the evenings!
Now that Mom and Dad are gone, and after many years of providing care for my "Pappy" in Florida, I find myself a homebody in the "Sunshine State" with a neat little business, supplying interested Z hobbyists with rolling stock and unique quality products!