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.
