A very recent purchase was this highly interesting American OO model built by Bill Johann. It was part of a group of identical models he built in 1994. Here is how he described them in the August, 1994 issue of The OO Road:

The Southern California Shortlines, a Club of N, HO, OO, and G operators celebrated its’ 30th anniversary in May of 1994. SIG members Carl Husen, John Worgan and Bill Johann belong to this group. The late Dave Sacks and Bill J. were charter members back when it was formed. A small cake and coffee celebration was held before one of the operating meetings. No big splash — just like an old married couple after 30 years. Each club member was given an ACF, gray, 2 bay hopper as a memento. They were built and decaled by some of the members and the car numbers were based on 30 years of club existence, followed by the members’ service number: “03” in my case — hence car number 3003.

Two more of the cars are seen in a blurry photo on page 2 of that issue. Covered hoppers were also a topic in the previous two issues, and the conversion is described further in the February 1994 issue. The basic idea was he was converting a large HO 4 bay hopper into something that was close to OO but a smaller hopper. In particular in that issue Johann states “The Editor has modified 4 in this manner [4 bay to 3 bay], and they look pretty good as they are very large in HO.” I’ve looked at these models before, here are two of them for example.

The text contemplates converting large ACF HO hoppers by Tyco, Athearn, and McKean. I’m not sure the starting point for SCSL 3051 other than it is not Tyco. Johann dated the model as being built in 6-94, which was a month after the celebration (and it also would have belonged to the 51st member of the club). It came to me with the display track that you see, built up from scraps of Midlin track. The prior owner reported that he purchased it from a former member of the club, and that Johann would give each new member an OO freight car and display track.

Returning to the car, it is a very nice build. The body is 38 scale feet long, making the model a bit longer than the comparable Schorr model, which is just under 36’ long. I can’t at all see the splice on one side, with on the other side it being just barely visible (but I can see it on the roof). Presently the model is on Scale-Craft trucks which is interesting, as in this period Johann had started making his converted HO roller bearing trucks. I’m very tempted to upgrade to a pair of those to improve operation and looks, as I do plan to operate this model! And perhaps build a few more similar models.

Speaking of similar models, Johann also converted HO cylindrical hoppers to OO, one may be seen in this article.

Finally, I don’t know how many of these 2-bay cars are out there somewhere but perhaps 10 or more? Certainly one to keep your eyes peeled for.