Some Thirty Years Later...

For the first time in over thirty years, CWE hopper cars 73603 and 73582 are finally in regular revenue service on the railroad. These cars were built in the early 1980's and, as described in an earlier post, were the first two hopper cars ever lettered for the Chesapeake Wheeling & Erie.

New numbers and cut levers were added and the interiors and exteriors were re-weathered.

The photo below shows 73603 spotted at the recently completed Dry Creek Coal #2 tipple at Summit Springs.

Upgrading these cars probably didn't take much less time than building and painting a couple of new hopper cars, but it was a fun project nevertheless. And it's kind of neat to have a couple of cars with a little bit of history on the layout.