Ballast! A commodity that is rarely discussed yet plays a pivotal part in the upkeep of any railroad’s infrastructure. Many railroads simply used older open-top hoppers to carry and “dump” ballast along their right-of-ways. In the mid-1970s, National Steel Car (NSC) designed and developed a welded open-top hopper specifically for ballast service, complete with four bottom chutes to spread the rocks along the rails. CN and CP purchased these cars in volumes, both directly and under the 1978 Government of Canada Branch Line Rehabilitation Program. Fleet numbers were also an identifier of these cars as well as their Branch Line Rehabilitation stencil and many continue to wear those to this day. Similar cars could be found on many American roads, wearing a wide variety of paint schemes and graphics.

The NSC Ballast Hopper features:
Removable ballast load
Diecast frame
Separate metal grab irons installed at the factory
Coupler cutbars and airhoses
Metal wheels
Semi-scale, metal couplers
Accurate paint and lettering