A Limited Edition HO-Scale Prairie Shadows Thrall PD5000 Covered Hopper painted for freelance model railroad leasing company HomeShops Leasing!
The HomeShops Leasing fleet is a new concept developed by the entire team at HomeShops. Many prototypical examples, of what modelers refer to as the plain jane, meat and potatoes, the common stuff, etc., exist of private lease fleet freight cars. This fresh design on the HomeShops lease fleet of freight cars allows an entry into that world for the freelance modeler. With an updated logo and very minimalist design these cars depict the boring without being too boring for a real world feel in your fleet of freelance equipment!
New Date: x-xxxx
About the Prototype:
In 1979, North American Car Co. (NACC) began construction of a PD5000 series covered hopper designed to haul flour, talc, corn starch, clays, kaolin and other powdered commodities. A majority of these 5150 cu. ft. cars were built between 1980 and 1987 in Murfreesboro, TN at the Butler Manufacturing plant. Then in late 1980s, NACC went bankrupt and sold their cars to GE Rail Services while Trinity purchased the rights of the design from NACC. Trinity began producing a 5125 cu. ft. hopper in 1988, with a variety
of differences in the design. This included changes to the exterior of the car including a different panel configuration and a wider end cage that “hung” off the side of the car.
Thrall also began to produce a carbon copy of the NACC car after the bankruptcy of NACC. Thrall began producing a 5165 cu. ft. hopper that had two distinct body styles. The phase 1 body style looked very similar to the NACC design but with a reduction of horizontal side panels on the side of the car. The phase 2 body style was more like a full body cylindrical, where the bulges on the side of the car went all the way to the bulkheads.
The Prairie Shadows Thrall PD5000 Covered Hopper features:
- Different roof walk support variations
- See-thru etched metal walkways
- Detailed brake rigging and piping
- 100 Ton Trucks
- 36” CNC Metal Wheels
- Kadee Scale Couplers