The Chessie System Historical Society is looking into a custom run of HO Scale models. We are currently gauging the interest to see if it will be feasible. Our current project is the Accurail 70-Ton 3 bay offset side hopper, Chessie System Classes H-28, H-32, and H-38. We will offer 3 versions of this car all in the H-38 Class. 75 cars will be done for each version. 2 of the cars will have custom numbers and the third car will be an un-numbered version. Accurail will also be producing a decal set to add a custom number to the un-numbered version or you will be able to renumber the other 2 cars if you wish to purchase more than 3. If the demand is high enough, we can have another run done in the future.
Noted Chessie modeler Jason Quinn has been most helpful regarding selection of prototypes to reproduce, and in guiding Eric Cote of Accurail in preparing the artwork. As of this writing, the artwork was submitted, and Jason has suggested a few corrections to Eric. For the artwork, we are purposely leaving the COTS stencil off the model as the size and location was changed over the years and this will allow the modeler to put it on the proper location for their modeling era. The car will be equipped with Accumate couplers and 33” plastic wheelsets mounted in friction bearing trucks. Most modelers have a specific coupler or wheelset they like to use and this will help us keep the cost down as we won’t have to stock various sets. The artwork below is NOT the final version and is shown as a guide for the cars. It is still subject to revision.
The Accurail model is a nice car for filling those long trains of black diamonds on your home or club layout without straining your wallet. In the future we could also release the 50-Ton 2 bay offset hopper in Chessie paint. The 3-bay offset cars were in the following number series.
H-28 Class 625000 to 626499, H-32 Class 734000 to 735999, and H-38 Class 527000 to 529999.
In January 1970 there were 1408 H-28 Class cars, 1642 H-32 Class cars, and 2944 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
In January 1978 there were 39 H-28 Class cars, 62 H-32 Class cars, and 2805 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
In January 1979 there were 27 H-28 Class cars, 36 H-32 Class cars, and 2773 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
In April 1982 there were 14 H-28 Class cars, 10 H-32 Class cars, and 2564 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
In April 1985 there were 0 H-28 Class cars, 0 H-32 Class cars, and 892 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
In April 1987 there were 0 H-28 Class cars, 0 H-32 Class cars, and 80 H-38 Class cars on the roster.
Not all cars received full Chessie System paint, but many did and a few did receive the “Bowling Ball” logo. B&O 529282 was one example and that was as late as 1986.
If it is determined there is enough demand to run the car we will be asking for a $5 deposit per car. Final pricing and shipping have not been determined at this time. Please check back to the Facebook site and website for new details as they are ironed out.
