10 Ton Iron Hopper B&O

The rounded iron hopper car is generally believed (although there is some dispute) to have originated with that prolific early railroad inventor, Ross Winans around 1847.

They were particularly well-suited to the sharp curves and hilly track of the early B&O railroad. Their iron structure was more durable than the typical early wooden hoppers and the railroad used them extensively during the 19th Century. The first experimental cars were single "pots" with four wheels, but this was soon increased in size to two "pots" and six wheels; quickly followed by three "pots" and eight wheels. According to railroad historian John H. White, by 1855 the B&O had 774 of the 10 ton, eight wheel cars. By 1865, this number reached 1100. Eventually the B&O built several thousand of these cars; typically about 2500 were in service at any given time. This is the car modeled by Factory Direct Trains.

The hoppers were used by several other regional coal-hauling railroads but the B&O was the only major railroad to employ them in this large scale. During the late 1870s, the capacity was increased to 12 tons and the final version of the car, designed in 1882, held 20 tons. The iron hoppers all had fixed, non-turning trucks and were not suited to fast speeds so they were eventually all replaced with a more modern design at the end of the century.