# USA Trains Golden West Service 4 Bay Hopper Car



## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

USA Trains Golden West Service 4 Bay Hopper Car
January 1, 2010
Ted Doskaris

USA Trains makes a well crafted 4 bay hopper car (no. R141001) in the Golden West Service (GWS) livery. Significant use of metal is employed in the car making it fairly heavy at almost 5 lbs.
The car's length is about 25 inches - standard USAT truck mount knuckle couplers included.









The GWS car is a special production run car. I purchased one from RLD Hobbies located in Albion, Ill. I followed up with an order for 3 more as there are 4 road numbers offered.

The car's reporting marks are for S.S.W. (Cotton Belt). 
GWS appears to have been a Southern Pacific RR entity borne out of financial creativeness.

A little prototype information with pictures - albeit 3 bay car versions - can be found at Lee A. Gautreaux's web site .


Shown below is the USAT replica of the car. 








The box that the car came in did not indicate USAT's number, R141001 !








Views of the car fresh out of the box are shown below:








The car is a high quality, detailed product that includes many metal parts. 








The roof walks on the top of the car are metal.








The truck's bolsters, side frames and even the standard USAT truck mount knuckle coupler is metal. The "B" end of the car is shown below:








The "A" end of the car is shown below:










As I have found with other USAT detailed products, there seems to be a propensity for shipping inflected damage. The car I received had two items amiss:

Shown below is a dislodged part hanging from its chain.








A little CA glue took care of the dangling part that otherwise would not stay put. Looking around the car, I found another like kind part about come off so I glued it, too.









Shown below are the holes for a missing pin that is to serve as a pivot for the mechanism having to do with one of the hopper's operateable dumping doors.








The surrounding components are fairly fragile, so care should be used if attempting to operate the doors.








Note how little clearance (about 1/10 inch) there is between the rail head, too. Having such a tight clearance allows for not much of a crown in the track work for an outdoor layout if cresting a hill.

I could not find the missing pin, so I improvised and used a brad to take the place of the pin. I cut a #20 brad to about a 1/4 inch long and filed its end free of burrs and added a slight taper.








The brad went through the pivot arm hole OK, but I had to ream out the body hole a bit so it would press in (using & twisting its pointed end I had cut off as the ream). Shown below is the installed brad.









The hopper doors can be opened, but part of the mechanism then touches the rail head as shown below. 
Care must be taken to ensure the hopper doors are fully closed or else risk the snagging of fragile parts on the slightest amount of protruding track work (e.g. Aristo re- railer ramps that stick up above the rail head.)








Shown below is the underside view of the car with all four of the hopper's horizontal dumping doors opened.








Shown below is the underside view with all the doors closed.










Kadee couplers:

I installed Kadee 830 couplers on this car. 
Whilst operation on 8 foot diameter curves with noticeable drag is tolerable to a limited extent - and that's with doing a little trimming of the Kadee 830 box - this car is best operated on 10 foot or greater diameter track.
Shown below is the car placed on an 8 foot diameter track.









For detail info. about the Kadee installation, see the full Vignette, 
"USA Trains Golden West Service 4 Bay Hopper Car & Kadee 830s"
hosted for me by Greg. E. on his web site.


-Ted


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Hi Ted, Thanks for the reveiw of these cars. I really like them as well i have a bunch myself they look nice and run well but some of those bottom detail parts do get a little fragile i will agree, but all and all another great addition to largescale rolling stock.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Its a nice road color 









But I'm waiting for my four 









I really love this paint scheme.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

That is indeed a beautiful scheme Marty... 

Greg


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Very nice model. Thanks for the many detail photos.

I bet a hopper like that would look really good heavily weathered like most GWS cars.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Matt 
Yes. Even lightly weathered. 


























Very fun to work with.


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## GaryY (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the usual informative review Ted. I certainly appreciate your efforts in doing these....and also Greg for being good enough to host your reviews on his website. 
Gary


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

Marty, have you weathered your KCS Dash -9s, yet.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Well Done Ted. I received my car at Christmas also. One thing I did do was raise the height of the car to eliminate the breakage of the under bod detail. First I replace the USA trucks with Aristo roller bearing trucks. To do this you have to add shims to the truck bolster stud to eliminate excessive car rocking due to improper side bearing clearance. The car now sits just a tad higher and providing you avoid derailments you no longer are knocking the details parts off. I have done this to all 3 of my USAT cars. Can not really see much difference in the height of the car. Later RJD


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## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

RJ, 

I know you have perfect track work, so that's good info. about your experience with these USAT 4 bay hopper cars loosing their under body parts. 
So far on my under house layout I have not lost anything, but when I ever get to the outdoor layout I can say I've been forewarned by the track work expert. 

BTW, why did you choose the Aristo truck to replace the USAT metal trucks rather than spacing them - maybe to lighten the car? 



-Ted 

Edit







: I forgot - you are still using Aristo knuckle couplers - hence, Aristo roller bearing type trucks with their standard mounted couplers make this easy to do.


-Ted


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## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

Marty, 

You did a fantastic job of weathering those cars! The graffiti is very realistic. 

I think you use Kadee couplers - but with the "hose" removed? (If so not sure why.) 
So I wonder if you encountered any problems with the USAT 4 bay hopper cars' under body parts rubbing or bumping anything on the outdoor layout tracks? 

Thanks, 
-Ted


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I think Marty removes the uncoupling pin for several reasons, at least from what I remember from Marty's previous posts: 

1. He does not use the remote uncoupling feature. 
2. The coupler pins hang up on switches 
3. They look better without the pins 

I keep the pins, I use the uncoupling feature, and my mounting and trackwork has no problems with "catching" the uncoupling pin. 

To each his own. 

Regards, Greg


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

I rotate the cross bar to it's upper most position (gets you another 1/8" clearance) and haven't broken one yet, even running on Marty's track.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim??? Even at Marty's???? 

Like Greg said #3. 
I think it was ol'Paul Birch that asked me one time. Why leave them on if you don't use them?? They look better w/o. 
Doesn't take much to get me think'in.


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Don't want to get too off topic, but what do you use to cut off the Kadee coupler pins Marty?

I'd like to do the same to my Kadees, but I find it hard to cut the thick metal hoses. Maybe some type of tin snip?


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## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

As Jim stated: "I rotate the cross bar to it's upper most position (gets you another 1/8" clearance) and haven't broken one yet, even running on Marty's track." 
Good idea, Jim - though if you look at Marty's weathered cars' pictures (The C&NW is most noticeable) it looks like it is in the normal position. 
So I wonder if he has had problems on his layout running them that way?

-Ted


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Matt 
I use side cutters, Thought I had a photo but NOT.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Cutters are best, some people tried using a Dremel and a cutoff wheel. That often causes too much heat and melts the coupler. 

Regards, Greg


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Ive have found a simple pair of {DIKES} works the best............. From Sir Nicky of NY............


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes Marty, but it was 3 years ago. I ran 3 UP Hoppers in the consist, even had Kadee 820 couplers with those dreaded metal coupler pins. Only coupler problem encountered was between the 2 SD70's due to to a loose mount on one of them.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim 
I was just joking, but good to know. Eric's AT&SF pass train ran fine with all #1 Kadees. A long screw driver does fine in OPS sessions.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

As I mentioned even derailing the cars no matter what you do will damage the underside detail. Later RJD


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

I glued the hatches closed and took off all the parts after my 2nd derailment. any leaf or stick will catch.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Hummmmmmm Marty had a derailment. Now I know why you do not bother with under side detail. Later RJD


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

RJ 
Your the only visitor we have had ,that layed on your back under a bridge and was checking for "proper" detailing.


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Ted Doskaris on 01 Jan 2010 01:35 PM 
USA Trains Golden West Service 4 Bay Hopper Car
January 1, 2010
Ted Doskaris

USA Trains makes a well crafted 4 bay hopper car (no. R141001) in the Golden West Service (GWS) livery. Significant use of metal is employed in the car making it fairly heavy at almost 5 lbs.
The car's length is about 25 inches - standard USAT truck mount knuckle couplers included.









The GWS car is a special production run car. I purchased one from *RLD Hobbies* located in Albion, Ill. I followed up with an order for 3 more as there are 4 road numbers offered.


Shown below is the USAT replica of the car. 








The box that the car came in did not indicate USAT's number, R141001 !








Views of the car fresh out of the box are shown below:








The car is a high quality, detailed product that includes many metal parts. 








The roof walks on the top of the car are metal.

The truck's bolsters, side frames and even the standard USAT truck mount knuckle coupler is metal. 

-Ted 
I was confused when I first read this. I could not find any USA Trains listing for this model. Upon a second reading of your post, I see that this is indeed a special run AND it is for RLD Hobbies, according to their site--a point that needed to be emphasized. This is NOT a regular run ! It is not that I was interested in this particular scheme. I was not. But I wanted to know if my particular USA hopper was the same as this. As it turns out, it is, but the particular GN scheme I have appears to be out of production. I acquired six of them for my new Phase II line back in 2006:

  

 
(click) 
Thank you for writing this. It provides useful details about this hopper I did not know. 









The current USA Trains Great Northern 4-bay hopper


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Yep Marty the old eagle eye at work







Later RJD


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## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

I followed up with an order for 3 more USAT GWS 4 bay hopper cars as there are 4 road numbers offered (77395, 77394, 77393, 77392.) The 3 new ones fresh out of the box are shown below. 








Shown below in the plastic bags are the USAT supplied Kadee "adapter plate" (spacer) and reformed coupler lift bar (uncoupling rods) used to go around the Kadee coupler box.









Two of them had the same shipping caused dangling parts as the first car I got.



















-Ted


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Ted: Murphy's law seems to like you. Later RJD


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## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

RJ,

The USAT cars are truly beautiful with the detail and all, but they do lend themselves to being at risk during operation on a layout.

If those dangling parts (or loose ones that fall off during operation) get stuck in the track work, it would be like an Navy plane landing on an aircraft carrier with its arrester hook - except the parts will get yanked off these cars and probably something destroyed as a result.


BTW,
I forgot to show that the USAT 4 bay hopper car has hinging upper hatches that actually open.



















-Ted


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

Ted, I had the same loose pins on mine, super glued them.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Ted I really like the covers on top verses mine on the C&NW hppers. I hope the KCS cars are the same as I will be getting two of those to go with the 5 I now have. Great cars but delicate. Later RJD


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Any new info from Robby on ETA of KCS???


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Refresh, any word on KCS cars???? anyone???


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Hopefully by the end of the month. Waiting on the big Boat. I think that maybe the RDC3 will also be in this shipment according to my contact. Later RJD


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

Robby told me 3 weeks ago, he expected delivery by the end of January. If you check Charles site for delivery of the new caboose, the date is now 2/6/10 so there may be a connection.


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## Robby D (Oct 15, 2009)

Yes the KCS cars are on the same container as the new center cupola cabooses. So hopefully we'll get them soon.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Thats good new as I'm looking for both the KCS hopper and the caboose. I did notice that the Great Northern hopper also had the round hatches. I do like the long oval ones better. Later RJD


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

I've had the same road name come with differet hatches and nothing on the box said which is on it. Same # etc???


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Well the two C&NW ones I have are the same. So I would wonder about the various RR and how they ordered them. Later RJD


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## cj and m (Feb 6, 2010)

Nice cars , like the Amazon parrot too !


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Wonder if Robby got his pallet of cars yet????


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## Jim Agnew (Jan 2, 2008)

Not as of the 14th. He expects them this week.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Snow delay. Later RJD


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## AndyC (Jan 2, 2008)

Marty, I talked to Robbie at Carlyle this weekend... The KCS cars are in the states, and he hopes to recieve shipment sometime next week, around 22 feb, 2010.....


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Rob e-mailed 
Mine is-a comi'n..... Hes sending the two cases out Tuesday. 
I know What I plan on doing this weekend.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Will you be doing couplers Marty? That's my guess... nice looking color schemes I hear. 

Regards, Greg


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Posted By NTCGRR on 22 Feb 2010 07:35 PM 
Rob e-mailed 
Mine is-a comi'n..... Hes sending the two cases out Tuesday. 
I know What I plan on doing this weekend. 

2 cases !!!!!!!!!!!! Must be nice...







he he he.... i ordered 2 cars thought they were cool lookin but only 2 as i have way too many of these cars as it is........ they should be here soon







I cant buy no more trains, Im out of room.


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## yutzk (Jan 2, 2008)

Good send me some Nick..I'll "lease" some.....haha


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Posted By yutzk on 23 Feb 2010 06:23 PM 
Good send me some Nick..I'll "lease" some.....haha 

Kevin, Good to see ya back posting.







Did you get my email ? i need some used d-9s.......... P.S. you comin to york?


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