# Aristo 2 bay hopper cars



## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

In his thread on the proposed new Aristo ore cars, Greg made a comment regarding the very popular 2 bay hopper cars. My guess is that it has been more popular than their 100 ton hopper car also. I would be curious on people's opinions on why this car is so popular. Is it because of the era - which happens to be what many are modelling, is it the detail of the car, is it the road names offered and the availability of multiple numbers for given roadnames, is it the removable coal loads? For me personally, I would probably prefer the 100 ton hoppers, but what tilts me to the 2 bay hopper cars is their easily removable coal loads which I make use of frequently.

Ed


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## Ward H (Jan 5, 2008)

Ed, for me it is the size of the cars. The 100 ton coal cars just looked too big on my layout. The 2-bay cars look great!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Me too, PLUS the Kadee mounting pad, a first for Aristo... I use Kadees on all cars, and prefer the ones with the slack action, and the Aristo pad is almost perfect, just not exactly the right height. 

Nice size, easy Kadee install, good looking coal load, well scaled, what's not to like? 

Regards, Greg


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

I have two, by the time is decided to get some there weren't many available. I like the late steam and early diesel era for my standard gauge trains. These ave very nice looking cars and fit in with my other cars.

Chuck


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

For me Ed it's a car that will fit in the time slots of right up to todays trains. You can still see them. So I bought a few even tho my time period goes to about 1990. I like you prefer the 100 ton coal hoppers and you see these today in unit train consist which is a concept I like doing even for a grain train which I have also made up. Later RJD


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Ed 

I grew up in the middle of the eastern US coal fields, West Virginia during the 50s and 60s. I worked in the coal mines of WV from 1972-1984. The only coal cars I remember ever seeing were 2 bay with the large B&O on the side. 

As for my G layout and roster, I have 43 MDC/Piko 2 bay hoppers, 1 LGB 2 bay hopper, 1 Aristo Craft 2 bay hopper, 1 Bachmann 3 bay hopper and 1 USAT 70 ton 3 bay hopper. 

By far I like the 2 bay cars better. Why? A string of 20 2 bay hoppers looks long while a string of long 3 or 4 bay hoppers seem to look short. 

I like the 2 bay Aristo Craft hoppers very much. The detail is great. But, the cheapest I've seen an Aristo Craft 2 bay hopper on ebay is $39.99 buy it now for a used car. The MDC hoppers I've bought have averaged $32.65 ea. For me, the size difference is minimal so I have no problem running all the cars together. When the Aristo Craft 2 bay coal hopper came out, I expected it to be a lot bigger than the MDC cars, but it isn't. Pictures found on the internet show various size coal cars being pulled in the same string, so if the Aristo Craft 2 bay car is an 1/8 of an inch wider and a 1/2 inch longer than the MDC cars, that is fine with me. 

If you are sticking to prototype, you have to consider the years span you are modeling. 100 ton cars are what you see today. 2 bay coal cars are what was predominent in the 50s and 60s. Some short lines still use the 2 bay cars.


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## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

It's fascinating to me the different reasons we have for liking one car over another. My model railroad is a small branch line, so I too can conceive of the 2 bay hoppers, from any manufacturer, being used today, just like my flagship engine, the GP40. I do have a unit train consisting of 18 100 ton hoppers that we pass through my railroad. Like RJ, I really like those cars also, but I wish the coal loads popped in and out as easily as the 2 bay hoppers do.

Ed


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## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

Like many of those before I also model late steam early diesel. So it fits nicely. Removable coal loads had nothing to do with it, in fact most of my coal loads are now semi permanently attached since they are made of real coal. 


*Perception???:* A string of 20 2-bay cars is about the same length as 15-16 100 ton cars. Yet the string of 2-bay cars _may seem_ like a much longer train. Our perception may be the number of cars not the physical length of the train. 


Tom


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## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

That's interesting, about the length perception, Tom. Thinking about what you said, I believe that is definitely a perception I have too. I just hadn't thought of it that way.

Ed


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

I think it is because our eyes perceive the breaks between the cars and associate length of train from that. I always thought that a goods locomotive and 20 coal wagons in OO looked longer than, say, an HO 2-8-0 and 10 or 11 hopper cars - even though they were about the same length. 

Yours, 
David Meashey


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Many years ago I bought 10 LGB Rio Grande 2 bay hoppers for a short unit coal train. Today I brought it out a long with my two Aristo 2-bay hoppers. The Aristos are slightly lower, but other wise they make a nice addition to the train.




























These are very nice cars and as Greg said, they have a mounting platform for Kadees, YEA!!! 



Chuck 


I have a 32 car unit train made up of LGB iron ore cars. Up close it looks like a long train, but when I run it at Dr. Rivet's layout and stand back, it really looks short. It is all in location and perspective.


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## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

You're right, Chuck, the Aristo 2 bay hoppers look just fine with the LGB ones. Nice railroad too, thanks for sharing the pictures of your railroad!

Ed


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## Esppe Pete (Jan 21, 2008)

I think in large part the success of any product depends upon it's asthetic appeal. The Arist hopper and it bulging center, some what faceted surfaces has a stout and robust look the denotes the proccess of Hauling heavy loads. Form following function graphically.


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## CJGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

I love my great northern one, great detail, and it's a solid good runing car


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Just got 2 more "free" ones from my Consolidation purchase... the more the merrier! 

Greg


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