Public Service Electric Co Hopper Car Fleet in the early 1920s - Fred Heilich III

Fred Heilich
Jun 19
2 min read

Back in 1982, several of us wanted to produce an HO scale model of the 2 versions of the Public Service Electric Company hoppers. We got as far as quotes for unpainted cars and the cost of the pad printing. Unfortunately, the costs exceeded the return on investment in a reasonable time, so the project ended.

I saved the data for getting permission to create the project from PSE&G. They had limited data on the cars. I received the letter below in response to me inquiry with the following data. This was in the days before one needed a license from the company for doing such a project.

**Letter of Jan10, 1983 from Edward T Francis with car Description**

Figure 1 is a photo from a printed document and the data becomes pixilated when enlarged. This photo is the original paint scheme of black body and white lettering from prior to July 1924. It is lettered for Public Service Electric Co New Jersey and has 2 company logos on the side. The length appears to be stenciled 28FT 4IN.

**Figure 1 - A print of Public Service Electric CO New Jersey Hopper #0387**

Figure 2 is a poor quality xerox drawing that is the post July 1924 configuration painted black body and white lettering for Public Service - New Jersey with one logo with Public Service Electric & Gas Co painted below it. This was after the electric and gas companies were consolidated.