H21 Quad Hopper
Prototype Information
The Pennsylvania Railroad introduced the H21 hopper in 1909. It was a 50-ton, four-bay car with clamshell doors, built mainly for hauling coke. PRR and several builders produced thousands between 1909 and 1914.
By 1915, PRR began upgrading them. They replaced the original trucks with 70-ton versions and reclassified the cars as H21a. The upgrades continued through 1923. The railroad eventually had over 36,000 H21a hoppers in service.
In the 1930s and early 1940s, PRR modified many of these cars again. They swapped the clamshell doors for saw-tooth hopper doors. This boosted capacity by around 40 cubic feet and made maintenance easier.
New variants followed. The H21e, introduced in the late 1940s, added structural reinforcements and power hand brakes.
By the 1950s, the H21a was the most common hopper on the PRR. More than 39,000 ran across the system. Some stayed in service into the 1970s under Penn Central. The H21 series helped define bulk freight hauling for decades.
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Rapido HO H21A 4-Bay Hopper Pennsylvania “AB Brakes, Circle Keystone”
$49.90 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page -
Rapido HO H21E 4-Bay Hopper Pennsylvania “Circle Keystone, 1948+”
$49.90 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
