CBarkan@... wrote:

(snip)

Regarding all this discussion of how frequently N&W, (and other
eastern
road hopper cars) went off-line, I'm surprised Jeff English has not
chimed in
with some facts. He has data on how often such cars appeared on the
Rutland
in the 1940s and early 1960s. He provided me with interesting data on
B&O
hopper cars many years ago that were moving to points on the Rutland,
elsewhere in New England, and other points, including some being
handed off
for Canadian destinations.

Chris,

A while back, I believe Jeff English posted a list of hoppers going
through Rouses Point. IIRC, the only "surprise" was a SOO hopper (which
Tim O'Connor coined as a "stray.")

If there were any N&W hoppers in Jeff's List, I would have probably
remembered it because I have been led to believe by Dwight Smith that
N&W hoppers did not go to New England (and, if they did, I would have
considered them as "strays").

Dwight Smith, a B&M Traffic Agent between 1947 & 1972, has stated that
N&W, VGN & C&O hoppers never came to New England - the last time
published in the July 2002 MODEL RAILROADER in the article about his HO
layout.

Dwight's perspective, however, was mainly developed from observations he
made from the territory he covered for the B&M - Maine, NH & along the
Conn. River in Vermont. A few N&W hoppers may have sneaked in through
Mechanicville &, to a lesser extent, by the long way around, through
Rouses Point. Generally, however, Pocahontas coal for New England was
transshipped in the Hampton Roads to New England ports except for during
WW II when the transshipment point was shifted north to New York Harbor.

I have seen numerous photographs of B&O hoppers on the B&M during the
1945-60 period. A number of them were delivering locomotive coal to
engines terminals as far east as Lowell.

FWIW, in 1949, the B&O leased 100 B&M #8000-8999 series Quad Hoppers for
five years - they were renumbered into the B&O #2000-2099 series. 99
were returned to the B&M in 1954 - one had been wrecked.

Tim Gilbert