D&H's blue "Glass service" hoppers

I have always been fascinated by the D&H's blue hopper cars. So much so that in 2011 I went on an ambitious task to collect as much information about them as possible. The D&H Color Guide was a good start, but the D&H Yahoo online group and other online forums also provided snippets of info. I have also been watching Ebay over the years for slides of them, and various websites have images too. All images of prototype cars are from slides in my collection, and caption dates are based on the labeling. The information below is what I have been able to find, but like anything else involving something from 40+ years ago, take it for what it is worth. 

The image below of car #39022 (a "medium" car) was taken in October 1980.

The blue hoppers were part of a grassroots program between the City of Oneonta and the Corning Glass Works in Corning, NY. The hoppers would be spotted in Oneonta by the station on a recycling spur. Located nearby were 55-gallon drums which were filled with the color-sorted glass jars and bottles. At least one source indicated that the bottles were first broken before putting in the barrel, which might be to save space. When the barrels were full, they were then lifted and emptied into the hoppers. When the hoppers were fully loaded they would be hauled to Corning. There were originally three blue hopper cars, one each for clear, brown and green glass. 

Some of these cars lasted until the late 1980s in the blue scheme, though by then they had horribly faded (like most all of the other blue-dip engine paint schemes of the same era). It would appear that they were pressed into other revenue services besides the glass processing.

 However, it is proof that these cars still existed during the year 1984 that I model even though they likely never traveled on the Colonie Main.

There were at least three car body styles of hopper cars:

1.) Short 50-ton Fishbelly hoppers. These were built in 1944 by Bethlehem for the D&H (#6001-6100). Between 1939-1944, Bethlehem and SC&F built another 1,400 (#4701-6100). These were the first cars to be painted blue for this service. The road numbers I am aware of are #4847 and #6067, but if there were indeed three cars (one per glass color) then another car number is out there. A similar picture in the Color Guide shows that the last digit of the short car on the right is a "2", which means it isn't #6067. The cars in this program retained their existing numbers. There were two different lettering/paint variations. I have pictures of #6067 with a centered yellow vertical stripes and no end data, and pictures without the vertical yellow stripe but with end data. As far as I can tell, none of the other sizes of hoppers had this vertical yellow stripe.

The image of car #5812, a "short" car, was taken February 26, 1978. (See also here)

The image of car #32050 was taken in March 1989. Was this one of the original "Short" cars? Note the large yellow D&H shield added on one end and the City of Oneonta seal faded or painted out.

2.) Medium 55-ton double-bay hoppers. These were originally built in 1951-1952 and delivered by Bethlehem to the D&H (#6101-7100). There were at least three of these cars painted blue for glass service- road numbers: #7065, #39022, and #39058. Car #7065 was painted blue in 4/1979, but I don't know when the other cars were painted. The first car kept its original number, and as other more modern D&H hoppers received numbers in the #39000 series (perhaps their original numbers too?). Since they appeared together with the short cars it seems they supplemented rather than replaced them in service.

The image below taken on September 20, 1979 is of "medium" car #39058 in front of several "short" and "medium" cars including #4847 on the back left.  

3.) Long: 70-ton triple-bay hoppers. These were originally built in 1958 and delivered by Bethlehem to the D&H (#9000-9199). There is only know known car in glass service: road number #39041, which was painted in June of 1981 in a different, more spartan blue scheme with a white outlined shield and no City of Oneonta seal.

Post-Glass Service work:

Cars that were retired from glass service were pressed into other duties on the D&H. Here is a shot dated September 1982 showing at least two of the "short" cars being used for gravel service. Since the D&H was repainting all of its MOW equipment into the blue dip scheme in the late 1970s and early 1980s, using already-blue cars made a lot of sense.

Some of the cars lasted through the end of the 1980s, as evidenced by this image of faded car #39058 from December 1989. Additional blog post showing a photo of the cars after their glass service can be found here.

Similar Recycling Programs

There is a tantalizing photograph in the excellent book Alcos Northeast by Mike Confalone and Joe Posik on page 126 showing two freshly painted blue D&H hoppers (whose numbers you can't see but they look to be the 55-ton medium cars) being pulled by a Vermont Railway red RS-3 on the Florence Job. It is dated 1976. I trust the date and the location, but am not sure why they would be in Vermont if the program operated between Oneonta and Corning. Perhaps there was another company in Vermont accepting recycled glass? Maybe someone familiar with Vermont Railways could comment.

Also, there was a program in Greenwich, NY, handled to some degree by the late David F. Nestle, who was a railroad author, historian, and teacher. He shipped outbound glass loads via the Greenwich and Johnsonville Railroad or the Batten Kill Railroad. However, they used D&H boxcars instead of the blue hoppers. I don't own Nestle's book about the G&J but I am told that there are pictures of the operation in it. 

Finally, the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad based in Cooperstown, NY, also had a recycling program and shipping recycled goods. They used ex-Swift Premium reefers which were hand-painted to indicate the service. By chance I found this slide on EBay and snatched it up, as I am unaware of any published pictures showing these cars. The image below is from November 06, 1976 and was taken in Cooperstown.

Models of the D&H Blue Glass Hoppers

Painting your own cars wouldn't be difficult. It's just solid blue, which faded over time so you have a range of shades of blue. I actually purchased undecorated cars in two different appropriate body styles and painted one blue (using a spray can that was dead on perfect in color) but the corner steps were accidentally broken in a freak bathroom heat-bulb makeshift paint booth drying rack accident. I could have replaced the corners step but that ended my enthusiasm for the project. Then, Walthers and Atlas released some HO cars and I gave up painting my own.

Finding decals for special cars is sometimes difficult, but not here! In 2011 I worked with Ricky Rupp of Modern Rails custom decals by providing him pictures and information, and he produced the necessary artwork to make decals for me to do all three styles of cars. The Town of Oneonta's round city seal was especially well done. Decals for all three styles of cars are featured here on his website.

Part of the fun of these cars is loading them with real crushed glass! You can see some posts here and here showing how I did it.

There are many commercial models out there, no doubt because the blue cars are attractive and use car body styles that are common. Here is a list of the models that I am aware of. Most at least made some attempt beyond painting the car blue to trying to replicate one of the prototype cars. The first one to be released was by Life Like probably in the 1970s. All of the images of the models below were taken from the internet. I will update this list in the future as I find out more information, or as more are released.

N scale - Road #5987, 2-bay (Atlas #41251)

N scale - Road #6067, 2-bay (Atlas #41252)

N scale - Road #6067, 2-bay (Micro Trains #05600440)

N scale - Road #39041, 3-bay (Blueford Shops #14241 for single car)

N scale - Road #39043 & #39049, 3-bay (Blueford Shops #14242 for 2-pack)

HO scale - Road #5812, 2-bay (Life Like # 08504)

HO scale - Road #7065, 4-bay (Walthers Trainline #931-1420)

HO scale - Road #7065, 2-bay (Atlas #1832-1, only part of Limited Edition set)

* I have also seen references to a 3-pack of custom painted HO scale hoppers which used Athearn models and were painted by Third Rail Graphics. They featured blue with yellow lettering including the City of Oneonta's city seal and had at least two road numbers. 

O scale - Road #5998, 2-bay (Atlas #3007102)

O scale - Road #6146, #6135, #6157, #6132, #6138, 3-bay (Weaver #_____?)

O scale - Road #6075, #6073 (MTH #20-97303)

Putting together this post took hours of digging through old resources, checking websites, and flipping through books. I enjoyed it, and hope others will benefit from thei information.

If you have any additional information or images to share regarding anything listed here, please feel free to reach out to me and I will update this page.