Bachmann - 19561 - Open Hopper, 2-Bay, USRA 55 Ton - Waddell Coal - 103

Model Information: Bachmann introduced this model in 2016. It has Chemically blackened, low-profile metal wheels and E-Z Mate Mark II magnetic couplers.

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 Waddell Breaker, or Waddell Coal Mining Co. was put in operation in the late 1800’s. It was originally serviced by the O&W railroad. Sometime in the early 1900s, the breaker was rebuilt as a wet coal preparation plant. Although the breaker was destroyed by fire in the 1963, the machinery was salvaged inside the framework and continued to process coal up until the end of the 1980’s under the name American Silt Co. The breaker was owned by Pete Brojack, and sometimes referred to as the Brojack Breaker. A unique aspect of the operation was in the 1950s the O&W dedicated 5 specially painted hopper cars to be used in service taking coal from the Waddell breaker to the Keyser Valley Coal Pockets, at 1500 N Keyser Ave, Scranton, where the cars would be used as bins to hold coal for filling of delivery trucks. The cars were painted in a brilliant bright orange scheme as a billboard advertisement for the Waddell Coal brand. These cars were never taken out on the mainline and remained in use only on the Capouse branch traveling from Keyser Ave to Winton. When the O&W folded, the Erie Lackawanna Railroad briefly took over rail traffic but soon the line was abandoned and pulled up. The Waddell cars were stranded at Keyser Ave, and continued to be used as coal pockets, being filled from behind using trucks. At some point the coal dealer closed, these cars were scrapped and RJ Walker built on the site. Remains of the Waddell Breaker, out buildings, and miscellaneous mine equipment on site were finally scrapped and an old shaft used for pumping water for the breaker was filled in the summer of 2003. One of the last things to be scrapped was an old Erie Lackawanna Hopper car stranded at the breaker site.

Brand/Importer Information: Bachmann Industries (Bachmann Brothers, Inc.) is a Bermuda registered Chinese owned company, globally headquartered in Hong Kong; specializing in model railroading.

Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of its North American headquarters, Bachmann is today part of the Kader group, who model products are made at a Chinese Government joint-venture plant in Dongguan, China. Bachmann's brand is the largest seller, in terms of volume, of model trains in the world. Bachmann primarily specializes in entry level train sets, and premium offerings in many scales. The Spectrum line is the high quality, model railroad product line, offered in N, HO, Large Scale, On30, and Williams O gauge all aimed for the hobbyist market. Bachmann is the producer of the famous railroad village product line known as "Plasticville." The turnover for Bachmann model trains for the year ended 31 December 2006 was approximately $46.87 million, a slight increase of 3.36% as compared to 2005.