Here is a Special Full Throttle "Collector Pack #4" hopper release for February 2010! A wonderful 70-Ton Offset-Side Hopper Car Set honoring the Anthracite Industry! It is "Collector 4-pk." with four Rail Lines represented as distributors of this unusual commercial coal fabrication. Hay Bros. Garage created the realistic 'blue coal' loads and as always, the cars are weighted and equipped with Bowser Bucklers Trucks and Couplers. The four Rail Lines represented are: D&H, CRP, LNE, and RDG. Please note the pricing on this one-time Collector 4-pk. Set.
What in the heck is 'blue coal'? Let me tell you a condensed story about 'blue coal'! Anthracite is a dense, hard, shiny-black, smokeless, clean-burning, coal mined in Pennsylvania and perfectly suited for home-heating. As early as 1928, for a distinguishing feature and marketing ploy, the Glen Alden Coal Co. of Ashley, PA, sprayed the nuggets with a blue colorant as they tumbled down the loading chutes from their huge, historic Huber Breaker. During the 30's and 40's, 'blue coal' was the sponsor of the popular early radio show, "The Shadow," starring detective Lamont Cranston, whose voice was eventually dubbed by Orson Wells! Thus, 'blue coal' became an enormously popular commodity for keeping warm in the cold Winters of the burgeoning urban and rural areas of America's East Coastal States! And so it remained until the advent of natural gas and fuel oil for domestic heating, well after WW II into the 1950's. In honor of these inventive entrepreneurs, FT pays tribute to the Anthracite Industry using Z Scale models of open 70-ton, 3-bay offset-side "billboard hoppers" adorned with the original 'blue coal' logo, and represented by several of the major Rail Lines that distributed this unique, ubiquitous product throughout the Northeastern USA!
|
|
|