Bluford Shops N 63150 2-Bay War Emergency Composite Hopper, Lehigh Valley #15755

These 2-Bay War Emergency Composite Hopper cars were built during the Second World War with wood siding and slope sheets at the direction of the War Production Board in hopes of saving as much steel as possible for the war effort. This was especially the case with hoppers that were usually built with copper-bearing steel to resist corrosion. The car sides were built with the Pratt truss design using a combination of vertical and diagonal ribs.

Lehigh Valley had this group of 500 hoppers built by Bethlehem Steel in 1943. This group followed the official "War Emergency" design which the 1942 delivery from Bethlehem did not. The earlier cars had the same Pratt truss design but were about two and a half feet shorter. The war effort did not slow the push for higher capacity freight cars.

Features:
Die cast slope sheet-hopper bay-center sill assembly
Injection molded plastic sides, ends, and hopper doors
Fully molded brake tank, valve and air lines
Body mounted brake hose detail
Removeable load
Body mounted magnetically operating knuckle couplers
Close coupling
Fox Valley Models metal wheels