Introduction

Athearn 81603 HO Scale BethGon Coalporter CSX

5 Pack #3

The Coalporter was developed in an effort to create a higher-capacity, more efficient coal car. The traditional bottom hoppers were replaced by twin tubs, or troughs, that filled the space between the trucks. These increased the cubic capacity of the car and gave the added advantage of a lower center of gravity for better tracking. These original Coalporters were steel-bodied, but a drop in aluminum prices in the mid-1980s opened the door to the introduction of the aluminum-bodied BethGon Coalporter. The switch to aluminum shaved five tons off the car’s weight – meaning that each car could carry five tons of additional payload, or an additional 575 tons of coal in a typical Coalporter unit train. Coalporters generally operate in solid unit trains. One end of each car is equipped with a rotary coupler, to allow a train to be fed through a rotary unloader without uncoupling the cars.

FEATURES:

• Fully assembled and ready for your layout
• Razor sharp printing and painting
• Weighted for optimum performance
• Machined 36 metal wheels
• NEW body mounted McHenry operating scale knuckle couplers
• Interior plastic blister safely holds the model for convenient storage
• Minimum radius: 10