The Summer of 1952, my modeling period, was a time of change for the Reading open hopper car fleet. The oldest cars of the fleet, class HTf, dated back to 1910 were being retired and the newest HTv’s were being built in 1952.
There were six open hopper car types split into twelve car classes. The majority of the fleet was comprised of 50 ton twin hoppers except for the two classes of 70 ton quad hoppers class HTl and HTn.
In March of 2012, I gave a presentation on “Modeling Reading Company Open Hopper Cars 1948-1956” I’ve posted the handout from the clinic. Dowload the handout
Milestones In Open hopper car painting:
-
1923-1940 Underlined “Reading” Car Number Centered On Car
- 1940 Roman lettering without red herald New with Class HTO
- 1942-1954 Roman lettering with red herald
2-17-42 revision on an HTj paint diagram “Added Stencil “America’s Largest Anthracite Carrier” - 1955-1958 “Speed” lettering with red herald
Reading HTf
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
86000-86999 | American Car & Foundry | 1913 | 1000 | 334 | 1910-1953 | 32′ 10″ |
87000-87999 | Cambria Steel Co. | 1913 | 1000 | |||
88000-88999 | Standard Steel Car Co. | 1911 | 1000 | |||
89000-89999 | American Car & Foundry | 1910 | 1000 |
Reading HTh
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
74500-75499 | Cambria Steel Co. | 1917 | 1000 | 4214 | 1916-1960 | 32′ 10″ |
75500-75999 | Standard Steel Car Co. | 1917 | 500 | |||
76000-76499 | Pressed Steel Car Co. | 1917 | 500 | |||
76500-76999 | Pressed Steel Car Co. | 1916 | 500 | |||
77000-77499 | Standard Steel Car Co. | 1917 | 500 | |||
77500-77999 | Standard Steel Car Co. | 1916 | 500 | |||
78000-78999 | Pressed Steel Car Co. | 1916 | 1000 |
Reading HTj
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
72500-73499 | Standard Steel Car Co. | 1919 | 500 | 1831 | 1919-1964 | 30′ 6″ |
73500-74499 | Ralston Steel Car | 1919 | 500 |
Reading HTl
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
70500-70999 | Pressed Steel Car Co. | 1922 | 500 | 3504* | 1922-1964 | 39′ |
71000-71499 | Standard Steel Car Co. | 1922 | 500 | |||
71500-71999 | Midvale Steel & Ordinance | 1922 | 500 | |||
72000-72499 | American Car & Foundry | 1922 | 500 |
Reading HTn
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
68500-69499 | Bethlehem Steel Corp. | 1925 | 1000 | 3504* | 1924-1964 | 39′ |
69500-69899 | Pressed Steel Car Co. | 1924 | 400 | |||
69900-70099 | Standard Steel Car Co. | 1924 | 200 | |||
70100-70299 | Bethlehem Steel Corp. | 1924 | 200 | |||
70300-70499 | American Car & Foundry | 1924 | 200 |
*ORER record is for combined totals of both classes HTl and HTn.
Reading HTo
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
80000-80999 | Reading Shops | 1941 | 1000 | 995 | 1941-1976 | 31′-0″ |
Reading HTp
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
67000-67299 | Reading Shops | 1942 | 300 | 339 | 1941-1976 | 31′-0″ |
67300-67338 | Reading Shops | 1943 | 39 |
Reading HTr
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
65000-65999 | Reading Shops | 1944 | 1000 | 996 | 1944-1976 | 31′-0″ |
Reading HTs
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
66000-66999 | Reading Shops | 1943 | 1000 | 995 | 1943-1976 | 31′-0″ |
67339-67999 | Reading Shops | 1944 | 661 | 659 | 1944-1976 |
Reading HTss
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
66000-67999 | Reading Shops | 1951 | 2 | 1951-1976 | 31′-0″ |
Reading HTt
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
81000-81999 | Bethlehem Steel Corp. | 1948 | 1000 | 1000 | 1948-1967 | 33′-0″ |
Reading HTu
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
82000-82749 | Bethlehem Steel Corp. | 1949 | 750 | 749 | 1949-1967 | 33′-0″ |
Reading HTv
Car Numbers | Builder | Built | Qty Built | 1/52 ORER | Service Life | Inside Length |
83000-83999 | Bethlehem Steel Corp. | 1950 | 1000 | 3000 | 1950-1967 | 33′-0″ |
84000-84999 | Bethlehem Steel Corp. | 1951 | 1000 | |||
85000-85999 | Bethlehem Steel Corp. | 1952 | 1000 |
Note more HTv’s were built AFTER my modeling period of 1952.
Hi George,
Have been looking for more info on the Readings hoppers in the late 1930’s time period for a P48 project and this was a fantastic resource. Like Bruce, I am interested in HTI/HTn quads, do you have any drawings?
Sincerely,
Matt
Matt,
Yes I do have drawing now. My first car was built based on the rough line drawings from the Railroad. My brother has drawn the car in cad and we have talked about doing an article together. But in the mean time I will try to gat a PDF file of the Quads and and the HTh. When I have it I’ll either send it to you or post it on the site.
George
I was out acquiring some cheap cores to do some HO HTj’s and HTl’s with today. Thought I’d post a link to a thread i’ve been working on about this subject.
http://www.readingmodeler.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=56
George,
This discussion of READING hoppers is really great! As a PRR modeler who wants some READING hoppers on line for interchange it has been very helpful. I also liked the photos of your models on the Proto 48 site (http://www.proto48.org/p48_photos_losse_01.htm). Are there drawings available for the HTl/HTn quads? Your USRA bash sounds like it would work in HO too.
Regards
Bruce
Bruce,
I worked on the first HTl that is shown on the p48 site from basic line diagrams and photographs. Since that time my brother Bobb has made a cad drawing of the HTl/HTn class. I’ll see if I can get an HO PDF file of the drawings for you.
I had talked to Bill S. at RMC about doing an article on the conversion. But I have not returned to the project since building the first car. One was going to be enough when I was modeling the PRR, since shifting to the Reading I’ll need a few more.
Thanks,
George