30NG Grain/Wheat/etc. Hoppers?

i haven't read the whole thread to check if anyone's mentioned it, but there's a four wheel covered hopper of european design, that i use for precisely that, among the obb/760mm stuff (760mm~2.5ft/30" and looks right on 30" track with other 30" gauge equipment). there does seem to be a serious darth of covered hoppers among the narrow gauges.

i think too many seem to forget that the use of a track gauge less then 4'8.5" ISN'T irrevocably locked into some mistical past where only steam and steam era tecnology is ever permitted.

my own intrest is in their very much presence in the, however possibly imaginary, FUTURE, i choose to model. one in which oil, coal and the automobile have ceased to be the basis of technology and civilization, and have instead been superceeded by 'cleaner', more environmentally harmonious alternatives, such as the use of stored energy with possibly onboard recharging.

ah, sorry about wandering from the immediate subject, just a bit of background on my own perspective and reason for concern/intrest in the subject.

the closest i've found suitable in 2ft gauge, which i tend to use more often then 30in/760mm are those tarp covered sandy river gons.

in 36 or other narrow gauges, i've so far found nothing resembling a covered hopper at all.

mine are often employed to convey acorn flour from mill to bakery. acorns ariving at the mill in large rectangular baskets mounted on forklift pallets.

(no i don't have any modling for this either, nor the kind of freight car they would arive on, like a box car only completely open sides like some highway trailers are, for similar reason, to facilitate easy fork lift loading and unloading)

(in my physical modling i've used truck body kits mounted with/on the appropriate bogies and couplers)
 
Well... It sounds as if Everybody has a Good Idea, But David, you go ahead and Make the Hopper. It sounds like the Best Method, and So What if the Industry is Huge! We always have to Sacrifice a little bit of Realism for Operational Use on all sorts of Things... ;)
 
Ok so here is the prototype i am basing it off of.

p00844.jpg


its the oldest one i can find, dating to 1948.
 
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