I have several Athearn 100T quad hoppers and I was wondering when they would have been made, and if they still would have been in use during the early 90's?
I'm not sure, but I think 100 ton trucks were fairly modern, probably started using them in the 1970's. That means that I'm probably wrong!
what build date did Athearn put on the side of the cars? It is usually abbreviated blt with a month and year next to it somewhere in the side of the car. I think Athearn is careful about getting reasonable build dates on the sides of their freight cars.
That size/style hopper were built starting in the mid 50's. Some survive today as rebuilds. I took a picture in the 90's of a string of 4 or 5 similar ex NYC hoppers that had the drop doors changed for spreading ballast. If I can find it I'll post it.
