C6 100 ton 2970 cubic foot ACF covered hopper car for cement service, Big Sky Blue - 3 Pack

HO scale, RTR with trucks and magnetic couplers. Three car package.

Cement is a binder that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. The most common type, Portland cement, is made by roasting limestone, with other materials such as clay, to 2,640 degrees Fahrenheit in a kiln to form calcium silicates. Clinker from the kiln, plus a small amount of gypsum, is ground into a powder to make ordinary Portland cement, which is used to make concrete, mortar, and grout. Portland cement is very dense, weighing 85 pounds per cubic foot.

The first rail car specifically designed to transport the moisture sensitive commodities Portland cement and rock salt in bulk was the all-steel covered hopper car with a fixed roof with loading hatches. The first new built railroad fleet was the Pennsylvania’s H30 design of 1935, a 70-ton car of 1973 cubic feet. In 1937 ACF introduced its 1958 cubic feet, a nominal 70-ton capacity design that would dominate the cement car market until the introduction of nominal 100-ton cars in the 1960s. Covered hopper cars were and are AAR car type LO, and 100-ton cars were GN car type code C6, regardless of cubic capacity.

Between 1940 and 1953 Great Northern bought 405 cars of 70 tons and 1958 cubic feet capacity for cement service to the ACF design. In 1966 and 1967 the railway took delivery of 200 cars of 100 ton and 2970 cubic feet capacity from ACF. These cars were built to ACF’s ‘Center Flow’ design, which eliminated the traditional center sill greatly improving unloading rate and reliability. Great Northern was one of the first to purchase such cars.

Our Accurail model is numbered in series GN 173800-999, the 200-car lot of 1966-67.  GN cars had the ‘phase I’ body style with a stiffening rib along the upper portion of the car side, and carried 30-inch round roof hatches. They were purchased to haul cement, bentonite clay, and silica sand. Significant volumes of cement were moving at the time to support Department of Defense contracts for air fields and missile silos in Montana and North Dakota and to build Libby Dam in Montana. They were delivered in the light gray body color with the ‘Great Northern Railway’ herald.

Some of these cars were repainted to Big Sky Blue by the Great Northern between 1967 and 1970, retaining their original car numbers. These models include the consolidated stencil format used from 1974 to 1982. They are offered in either three car sets, or single cars with our choice of one or two of three random car numbers.

This model fills a unique niche in the Great Northern’s car fleet.  

The Accurail cars, whether Gray or Blue, are the only Great Northern 100-ton cement service covered hopper models available.

This is a three pack, three cars each with a unique car number.