One thing I've been accused of many times is not knowing when to stop. Such is the case with arguably my favorite freight car, the 70 ton capacity 2 bay covered hopper commonly found in cement service all over the USA. SP ran unit trains of these cars, or at least sizable blocks of them in and amongst other manifest train consists. Having one customer who'd regularly receive a dozen or more of these little cars just a few blocks from home helped pique my interest in these, and the place being closed on weekends allowed my curios self unobstructed access to check these cars out and take notes.
All the cars were lettered either Southern Pacific or Cotton Belt and this made my decision to model this service an easy one. That and the fact that the SP could never decide on a single lettering scheme until late in the life of this equipment, made for an even more interesting situation to model. As the fleet of these cars aged more and more, variations due to abuse, neglect, and their ever present contact with cement powder caused a situation where barely any two cars ever looked the same, perfect for my needs; like the train was tailor made for my eclectic tastes.
An example of one style of this lettering, the billboard style, is presented here. Definitely the giant bold letters caught my eye from first sight. It seemed that even when the cars lettered thusly were quite dirty, reading the name and data was still reasonably easy to accomplish compared to some of the other lettering schemes.
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| The weathering of these cars was quite enjoyable, most offering a unique challenge. |
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| Both sides have been treated similarly, but the differences are obvious, just as on the prototype. |
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| A slightly elevated view gives one a better shot of the roof treatment, no two ever being the same.
Probably one of the most interesting services on the Southern Pacific so it naturally came over with me when my modeling prototype switched to the all Alco, Arizona Southern. AZSO even mimicked SP's lettering on their own 70 ton cars for the most part, sure a few got unique treatments but most were fairly plain black lettering on a mundane gray car.
 The car variety here on the AZSO is even more varied than on the SP. We not only get cars from SP/SSW as always, but Santa Fe, NdeM, FCP, not to mention a few private owner cement companies which are also regular visitors as well. That's all for now, thanks for dropping by. Leave a comment or just say hi if the mood strikes.
Enjoy Your Trains,
John Huey
Arizona Southern RR
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