Bluford Shops 14650 N 14-Panel 3-Bay Hopper Louisville & Nashville post-'74 #L&N 72877

The Bluford Shops N scale 14-Panel 3-Bay Hopper returns in nine new paint schemes. The design of this hopper was spearheaded by New York Central in the late ‘50s as they sought an alternative to the AAR 70-ton rib side hopper design. In the end, this 14-Panel design proved to be popular with more railroads than the AAR design. Our N scale models feature diecast slope sheet/hopper bay assemblies for plenty of weight – even when running empty, removeable loads, metal wheels, magnetically operating knuckle couplers, separately applied brake detail and carefully researched paint schemes.

Louisville & Nashville obtained this group of hoppers in the 1967 split of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois between L&N and Missouri Pacific. L&N received a half interest in the line from Chicago to Danville and full ownership of the Danville to Evansville route along with a share of C&EI’s locomotives and rolling stock. For this run, we present these cars as they appeared after 1974 with ACI tags and 2-box fomat consolidated stencils.