Used cars - low mileage and in good condition...

[doctorwayne]

Thanks, Charlie.  Those cars are P2K - very nicely-done, with metal grabirons.  The only modification which I made was scribing the interior and removing some of the original lettering.  Surprisingly, it wiped off very easily, using a cloth dampened with methyl hydrate.  I changed the BLT. date to better suit my era, and also added the re-weigh and re-pack data.  That and the reporting marks and numbers were done with Champ decals, while the herald is a C-D-S dry transfer from custom lettering.  One of the big drawbacks of these cars is, of course, the excellent detail:  it makes most of my other hoppers look kinda plain.    I've actually started adding slope sheet braces to some cars, either as I build new ones, or retro-fitting them to older cars, like this '50s-era Varney hopper....



...or this more recent Stewart hopper...





However, I haven't yet thought seriously about re-doing cast-on grabirons with wire ones - with 50-or-so hoppers and another 12 or 15 covered hoppers in service, (the only cars left still with cast-on grabs) it's too much to consider until I get some of my more major projects out of the way.  

Wayne