Bluford Shops 14670 N 14-Panel 3-Bay Hopper Santa Fe Ga-162 post-'74 #ATSF 80693

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.

Santa Fe took delivery of their Ga-162 class hoppers from Greenville in 1967. This was one of several groups of these 14-Panel hoppers with subtle differences in the layout of the lettering applied from group to group. For instance, the hopper door instructions on the Ga-162 cars were especially large. For this run, we are including the ACI tags and 2-box format consolidated stencils.