Lite and Narrow Column - 7
assigned to the cars – 618, 633, 636, and 638. These were the
four numbers of the H & C cars that were dismantled in 1927.
618 and 636 still exist at Mt. Union.
Modeling these cars can be done easily, using the old Gloor
Craft/Quality Craft hopper kits in both O and HO. You can mod-
ify the kit by replacing the wooden sides with styrene sides
that have been reduced to 22’. Replace all wooden parts with
the appropriate styrene, and use the metal parts to add to the
superstructure. The East Broad Top used Vulcan trucks on all
of their cars except the Billmeyer and Small cars, and they are
now available from Blackstone.
Three-bay hoppers
In 1915, the East Broad Top refined their hopper design to
become a three-bay hopper. In addition to adding the third
9
9. East Broad Top hopper 806 in the original lettering
scheme modeled in On3 by David Crement. In the back-
ground is the Woodvale tipple. David Crement photo.
hopper, they also increased the cars to a 35-ton capacity. From
1915 to 1927 they added 204 three-bay hoppers to the fleet,
thus becoming the largest car type on the railroad. When con-
struction on the three-bay cars was finished, the railroad began
converting the two-bay cars purchased and constructed in
1914 to the three-bay configuration, and that was completed
in 1936.
The modifications didn’t stop there, when 40 of the three-
bay cars were assigned to rock service in 1939, as were the 22
remaining 600-series cars, reflecting the drop-off of coal during
the depression years. Additionally, two cars were given steel
10
10. Hopper car 663 is one of the shorty rock cars used
on the East Broad Top.The car is really 636 and the paint-
ers messed up when stenciled as there is no listing of the
number in the Rainey and Kyper book “East Broad Top”.
Photo courtesy of BHI Publications.
MRH-Dec 2014
