question about N scale M/T Santa Fe hopper

Sep 06, 2003 4 Replies

Hello Gang,



I have a few questions about a couple of M/T santafe Hoppers i have. I have two M/T 55011 33' twin hoppers with offset sides. Both are in their boxes with yellow paper inserts mounted with rapido couplers. Both cars are the same brown color with road # 180978. Here is the differences. One has a very small SF cross buck emblem on the left side of the car slightly above the road #. The only other markings on the car is the dememtional data under the road #. The second car has a much larger cross buck emblem in the same location as the other car and it has large white letter SANTA FE on the car sides just to the right of the road #. It also has additional car data under the large Santafe lettering on the sides. The SANTA FE and the additional data on the sides are definately NOT decals and under a magnifying glass look to be pad printed just like all the other lettering. I have two of these cars done like this both new in the box. The other car minus the big SANTA FE lettering and data on the side i also got new in the box. Question is Which of these cars is right? The Paddington&Wehr reference book doesn't list any variations of this car other than road numbers and that one car came with rapido couplers and the others with knuckle. Can anyone help. Do i have a misprint or production error? I can supply pics of the two cars if there is a good detective out there. Thanks for your help Paul DIckash


Reading that stuff will drive you insane!

----Question is Which of these cars is right? The Paddington&Wehr reference book doesn't list any variations of this car other than road numbers and that one car came with rapido couplers and the others with knuckle. Can anyone help. Do i have a misprint or production error? I can supply pics of the two cars if there is a good detective out there. Thanks for your help

------------------------------------------------------ Most or all of the Kadee Micro-Trains cars that were made back in the

1970s were not limited runs and were usually open stock that often ran for several years. It could be that Kadee Micro-Trains changed the graphics at some point (and continued to use the same item number and road number).

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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Bill, This is the response i got from M/T when i posted the same question to them. M/T 55011 rd# 180978 shows up in both the Hample and Paddington&Wehr guides as being produced in Aug 1979. Here are two pics of my different cars

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Below is the responce from M/T. "Hello Paul, Good morning and thank you for your email inquiry. It sounds as if you may have a rare car. That is if they have the same road numbers and car inserts. Our records show that rd #180978 has only been printed one time. You may check with the N-Scale collector group to get more details. They focus on these type of collectible cars. Thanks again for your inquiry. Ms. Mony Bristow Sales/New Accounts Micro-Trains Line Co."

Atsf359 wrote: Bill, This is the response i got from M/T when i posted the same question to them. M/T 55011 rd# 180978 shows up in both the Hample and Paddington&Wehr guides as being produced in Aug 1979. Here are two pics of my different cars

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------------------------------------------------------ It's possible that the "simplied" version wasn't selling well and M-T redid it. Or the "plates" were damaged and when they made new plates, they redid the graphics. This sure could be a rarity. Both cars offered together might bring a good price.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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History of N Scale:
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Links to over 600 helpful sites:
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