hoppers

[Average White Railfan]

i wanted to kind get a little idea about something. i know everyone sees 54' grey private covered hoppers. i see them a lot running out here. in previous nights i had the pleasure of getting up close and personal with one. problem is the kids i went with were hesitent because the massive amounts of buff marks we see riding on these. for a long time i steered clear of these because of those buff marks. over the last couple of years however, ive noticed that what gets buffed on these is hollows and tags. because when you see the graffiti sticking out of the buff 8 out of 10 times its a tag or a big hollow. ive seen pieces run on these from 1995 and 1996. does anyone else share this or a contrary view of these type/class of cars from their own benching/writing experience that would help me get a better understanding of what these cars look like outside my own riegon.

[BIG T]

i agree with you, i saw one the other week where the piece was left but the other side had buff marks the size of tags... wonder why they do it like that??? weird ass train people dont even like a nice handstyle!:D :D

[Willy Wonker]

Over here it seems to be the opposite of what you are saying... they usually buff the pieces and leave all the hollows.scripts.and the toy bullshit(I Love so and so)....

I don't know...I try not to paint hoppers...

peaceee

[CRUSH KILL DESTROY]

i see them buffed alot but i also see some crushed dating back a few years, its just luck of the draw, i think it may also depend on the loads, if its hazordous etc,

[T.T Boy]

i see them at a spot where they are brand fucking new and are used for hauling some very dangerous chemicals, so i wouldnt really know about older ones, but ive seen a few with old pieces on them, like real old stuff. hardly any tags and hiollows

[BIGMETALCIRCUS]

ive seen alot of older nahx hoppers running, stuff from 95/96-97. alot of what ive seen seems to be localized though. short chessie hoppers/short csx hoppers, dont get the buff too often, although they're pretty on top of the stamp. cnw hoppers run and get the good play, same with the cotton belts ive painted. as for the no names, they dont seem to come back or get spotted so its hard to tell, of course, this is all personal experience and it may be alot different elsewhere.

[IHATEU]

I WAS HESITANT ON HOPPERS FOR A WHILE BUT NOW I BOMB THEM ALOT AND I WILL PEICE THEM TOO ON OCASION IF IN INTO IT.....I FEEL ITS LIKE ALL TRAINS..ALWAYS A GAMBLE, WIN SOME LOSE SOME...DEPENDS ON THE SHOP THEY SHOW UP AT OR THE COMPANY THAT OWNS IT....OH AND SORRY FOR THE CAP LOCK

[Cracked Ass]

I have no evidence in my area to suggest that hoppers get the buff any worse than the AVERAGE for boxcars. Some companies buff boxes harder than others, and it looks to me like the same is true for hoppers. I've seen old hopper stuff running, I've seen buffed hoppers of different brands, and no one brand of hopper sticks out in my mind as being buffed hardcore. I saw one of my hoppers come back buffed recently, but others I know travel with it were unharmed.
I think people who said "hit em, it's all a gamble" have the right idea. The only reason I don't exert myself on hoppers is the inferior way they get play. They are full of boring bulk products, low priority, so they often sit for a long time at both ends of each trip - sometimes months. I'll just bomb em, piece em if there's no better cars to piece. My favorite approach on a clean hopper is a 3 or 4 color big piece with no fill but all the usual trimmings, it's an up and it saves paint for more worthwhile cars.
I think everybody should try to hit hoppers. It isn't just the buff - there's too many clean, virgin hoppers out there.

[Southern kid]

im the fucking hopper king. all i get is hoppers..so i know quite a bit about them. BMC..those nahx's are here too...so i dont know how the locality of those go. hoppers here have buff marks all over them too...what i have noticed..is the e2e's tend to catch the buff the most..or just scrawling that covers e2e of the car. the stray piece seems to always dodge the buff. like cracked said..it all depends on the company also. cotton belts..sou pacs..golden west service..all of those tend to have a lot of important information on them. the GWS always have two nice 'panels' on them. if i hit one of those i piece in that little panel with no information. i've never seen a piece come back on one of those so i dont know if i survived the buff. hoppers are just like anything esle..gambling. i think hoppers also tend to be the 'write on car.' any strange kid with a can tends to write on these for some reason..probably because its flat all the way across. wouldnt it seem logical if a strange kid had a can and one type car of each? i know if i had no experience with a can i wouldnt write on something with a ridge. i have noticed that acf's often have buff marks on them. acf may be one of those 'buffing companys. hope that helped.......

[hobbesv2]

Originally posted by Cracked Ass
I think everybody should try to hit hoppers. It isn't just the buff - there's too many clean, virgin hoppers out there.

agreed.

[Secs Oner]

can anyone tell me where i can trace UTCX hoppers?

[sober]

utcx hoppers go on all lines. nahx are leased alot of times. they mostly frequent canada. dont do floater peices that look like new york wildstyle walls with sunset backgrounds on hoppers, it makes me laugh at you...

[T.T Boy]

i get a ton of nahx hoppers here, only at a few spots tho, they haul some wierd shit, and they usually never enter the city, just sit at factory layups, and theyre usually bare, but everyonce in a while they get westcoast stuff on em. i dont know if they have the best routes id have to do some more research.

[DankLordz]

i second the crush hoppers movement, i see whole lines here that havent even been touched.. no buff is evident, just no kids hitting them. booo

[rolldafukout]

i use to paint them backin 97-98, i dont like them as much, they leak crap all over your piece within a year it seems, we do alot of throwups on them though! it's all about boxcars

[Average White Railfan]

Originally posted by rolldafukout
i use to paint them backin 97-98, i dont like them as much, they leak crap all over your piece within a year it seems, we do alot of throwups on them though! it's all about boxcars

i think it depends on whats in the ones you hit. raw cement or clay hoppers have a tendancy to erode pieces quicker. a car carrying plastic pellets wont leak anything on your piece. And the 'it's all about boxcars' philosophy is why there are still lines of hoppers running untouched. but you can have your opinion, mine is...its all about trains. tanks, hoppers (open & covered), gondolas, and boxcars

[frontophile]

hitting tankers....whats your views on that

[Cracked Ass]

Tankers have a lot of vital info written on them, and the hazmat ones in particular will get buffed, even if you don't touch the info. I avoid absolutely every piece of writing on a tanker, and I'll stick to tags, hollows, fillins or stamps.
Tanker play is a little weird too - often the same route over and over, whether short or long, and long turnarounds at the shipper and receiver. Add in the fact that the buff for tankers is generally faster, and you have a bomb-em-but-that's-all situation.
I might add the terrorist alert has been extended to March, which I believe is bullshit, but it could mean extra attention paid to hazmat tanker spots. Another reason to steer clear.

[frontophile]

thank you.

[baLLeRplAyA]

in my area the hoppers are the cars that seem to always have the older pieces on them....alot of them do have nasty buff marks too but it seems like the ones that have been buffed have also changed owernership, the numbers will have been buffed to and replaced by another company. an example would be that a week or so ago i saw a santa fe hopper with the csxt prefix.

[dukeofyork]

ill hit hoppers every once and a while...
centerflows are nice..
ill go after them if they are something that looks like itll roll far, like golden wests, soo, cnw...

i prefer boxcars though....boxcars and holy rollers...mmmmmm..i know what im doing tonight.

[baLLeRplAyA]

i have a question, the cargil flat cars......the ones that are aluminum i think, what do they carry? they are strange looking things i wonder if they are considered hoppers or not.

[Cracked Ass]

I'm not sure what kind of car you mean, but if it's Cargill it's grain or a grain-based product.

[imported_visualJAZZ]

I think the reason some hoppers get buffed is because some cars do have messes coming out of the tops(spills of whatever they are carrying) so they have to be washed off, and while they are at it why not buff off the graff. its just a theory. I want to hit some of those big red/brown Canadian hoppers, they say property of the government of Canada on the side or something and they haul grain. never seen them layed up though, only on Illinois Central lines. I have seen alot of Westcoast pieces on hoppers, living in the south and all, that says alot on play.

[CRUNKABUNKA]

i seen a couple hoppers in a lay up in the lay up near my hoody, it was coverd end 2 end in peices, these ones wernt buffed but the were pretty weak i thnik needed to be...but i guess it depends onw ere u live maybe>???? later fella's

[T.T Boy]

Originally posted by visualJAZZ
I think the reason some hoppers get buffed is because some cars do have messes coming out of the tops(spills of whatever they are carrying) so they have to be washed off, and while they are at it why not buff off the graff. its just a theory. I want to hit some of those big red/brown Canadian hoppers, they say property of the government of Canada on the side or something and they haul grain. never seen them layed up though, only on Illinois Central lines. I have seen alot of Westcoast pieces on hoppers, living in the south and all, that says alot on play.

youve seen canadian hoppers down there? wow. i guess they do go the distance. i cant even imagine how many of those ive hit.

[professor poopatronic]

it's funny how you guys in canada are so sick of wheaties and whenever i see them in my spots i start drooling. we hardly ever get them and i want my brethren to see my shit.

[Cracked Ass]

Don't sleep, a lot of Canadian hoppers load up with grain and go straight to Mexico. They may have long down times and turnaround times, but the play should make them worth hitting.

[SteelWheels]

Originally posted by baLLeRplAyA
i have a question, the cargil flat cars......the ones that are aluminum i think, what do they carry? they are strange looking things i wonder if they are considered hoppers or not.

hoppers are generally described as a car that is loaded in the top and emptied from the bottom... 'centerflow' style. ususally carrying bulk goods..coal, plastic pellets, sand etc. hoppers are open topped (also known as coal /basalt cars, and covered..the big gray (and other colors) flat ones. i see those flat galvanized cargil flat hoppers with the rivets runnin thru here often. sometimes in units. since cargil is a food co. Dr. Cracked is right..(yet again). probably carrying grain or some other food stuffs.

[me IS cool]

Originally posted by Average White Railfan
i wanted to kind get a little idea about something. i know everyone sees 54' grey private covered hoppers. i see them a lot running out here. in previous nights i had the pleasure of getting up close and personal with one. problem is the kids i went with were hesitent because the massive amounts of buff marks we see riding on these. for a long time i steered clear of these because of those buff marks. over the last couple of years however, ive noticed that what gets buffed on these is hollows and tags. because when you see the graffiti sticking out of the buff 8 out of 10 times its a tag or a big hollow. ive seen pieces run on these from 1995 and 1996. does anyone else share this or a contrary view of these type/class of cars from their own benching/writing experience that would help me get a better understanding of what these cars look like outside my own riegon.

I agee with you. but I've seen some hoppers with tags.. ugly ass ones too. but then again I've seen one where the buff left a small portion of what looked like a really dope piece. I've also seen and old ass hopper from NY... it had a SMITH and CYCLE hollow, along with other tags, old though all of it was faded. I think it depends of the company running it, and who much play it gets...:D

[Southern kid]

chose made a good point about hoppers...you have to know which ones to hit. i've had plenty of experience and i can tell just by looking at a car in my spot in which direction its going to go. if any of you are in southern cali i promise you've seen something by me. (i hate this route though...kinda short.) but as chose said...GWS..SOO...CNW..MP..those will run because they're major companies. i've never seen a SOO hopper and god willing if i ever do im going to wholecar that hoe. hoppers seem to be very specialized depending on what area you're in. i guess all freight cars are though. for example...dowx cars only stop at certain spots with DOW plants nearby...that doesnt mean the random writer wont catch you at the crossing in a state on the way to another plant. the best way to know is to just track the numbers..catch tags..hopefully see your cars again..buffed or not. if the car seems rare or you havent seen it before..why not gamble and hit it. i did this to a car just recently and its been running all over...so it paid off. i dropped better info last post in this thread haha.