Our current project is an Accurail 70-Ton 3 bay offset side hopper representative of Chessie System classes H-28, H-32, and H-38. We are offering 3 variants of this car, all in the H-38 Class. Approximately 85 cars will be done for each version. Two of the cars have custom numbers and the third car is an unnumbered version. Accurail has produced a decal set to add a custom number to the un-numbered version OR you may use it to renumber the other 2 cars if you wish to purchase more than 3. Unnumbered orders include a decal sheet. Additional decal sheets are available for $1 ea and shipped with your order. They are printed with the same black and yellow as the car.
Noted Chessie modeler Jason Quinn has been most helpful regarding selection of prototypes to reproduce, and in guiding Eric Cote of Accurail in preparing the artwork. We have purposely left the COTS stencil off the model as the size and location was changed over the years. This will allow the modeler to put it on the proper location for their modeling era. The cars come equipped with Accumate couplers and 33” plastic wheel sets mounted in solid bearing trucks. We made this choice to keep costs down rather than attempt to guess what other option would be best received, as individuals have a variety of personal preference for wheelsets and couplers.
The Accurail model is a nice car for filling those long trains of black diamonds on your home or club layout without straining your wallet. The 3-bay offset cars were in the following number series.
H-28 Class 625000 to 626499, H-32 Class 734000 to 735999, and H-38 Class 527000 to 529999.
Data gathered from various Official Railroad Equipment Registers (ORER) is as follows:
- The January 1970 ORER shows 1408 H-28 Class cars, 1642 H-32 Class cars, and 2944 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
- The January 1978 ORER shows 39 H-28 Class cars, 62 H-32 Class cars, and 2805 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
- The January 1979 ORER shows 27 H-28 Class cars, 36 H-32 Class cars, and 2773 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
- The April 1982 ORER shows 14 H-28 Class cars, 10 H-32 Class cars, and 2564 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
- The April 1985 ORER shows 892 H-38 Class cars on the roster. No H-28’s or H-32’s remained in the ORER data.
- The April 1987 ORER shows 80 H-38 Class cars remaining on the roster.
Not all cars received full Chessie System paint but many did. A few also received the “Bowling Ball” logo. B&O 529282 was one example remaining as late as 1986.
Pricing for the cars is $27 for CSHS members and $29 for non-members. Shipping is a flat fee based on the size of the order. 1 or 2 cars will be $8, 3 or 4 cars will be $10, and 5 or more will be $12. Checks, USPS money orders and Paypal are all accepted. Note, we will soon provide an option to order directly through the online store also (using PayPal).
To order your cars please send an email to our Company Store via ChessieStore [At] gmail.com with your requested car numbers and quantity. Once payment is received, cars will be shipped out to you.
Please remember to include your shipping address in the email.
Chessie System B&O 529806 QTY _____
Chessie System B&O 529377 QTY _____
Chessie System B&O Unnumbered QTY _____
