70-Ton Offset-Side 3-Bay Hopper w/Load - Ready to Run -- Pittsburgh & Lake Erie #3989 (black, NYC System Logo)

The Bluford Shops 70-Ton Offset-Side 3-Bay Hopper with Load is based on cars first appearing in the late 1920s and by the late 1930s had become an association of American Railroads standard design. Prototypes were built in large groups and delivered by a number of car builders through the 1960s. Prototypes operated into the 1980s. Used for hauling coal and aggregates they operated behind steam and classic diesels. These ready-to-run cars feature die cast slope sheet-hopper bay-center sill assembly, injection molded plastic sides, ends, and hopper doors; fully molded brake tank, valve and air lines; slope sheet braces; separately molded vertical brake rod and lever assembly; body mounted brake hose detail and molded coal load. The hopper also has body-mounted magnetic knuckle couplers and friction bearing or roller bearing trucks as appropriate for each road name. Finely painted and lettered, the 70-Ton Offset-Side 3-Bay Hopper is available in several roadnumbers per roadname. This deta