Hello Russ,

 Are you thinking about the TOPGON Coal Hoppers released by BLMA, www.blmamodels.com ? 

John R

Stainless would get really expensive.  Those hoppers are almost certainly aluminum - all the ones I have seen are.  It is both light and corrosion resistant, which is a big plus when dealing with something as potentially corrosive as coal and the elements.

The TopGons I have seen are just painted steel (notice all the rusty areas, especially where they've been burned to thaw frozen coal loads).  I seem to recall seeing some aluminum hoppers, but I don't know off the top of my head who makes them.  Walthers, perhaps?

thanks everyone, yeah aluminum makes sense!

don't think they were the TOPGUN ones, they were really shiny like chrome - and came in 3 packs

I have the gondolas you talk of. Mine are from Walthers and are Bethgon Coalporter Gondola and have a chrome like finish.

I believe these are them http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-61355 

Joe

Try this one

Yep. Aluminum, not stainless steel. Most modern coal gondolas are built this way.

The NS TopGons are older hoppers rebuilt into gondolas; they're painted grey, not aluminum.

Note that technically these cars, and many modern cars in coal service are actually gondolas, not hoppers. They have the sloping ends, but solid bottoms. A hopper, by definition, has bottom dumping outlets and is self clearing. Any solid bottom car is a gondola. (yes, there are examples of bottom dump gondolas with drop doors, but the floor is generally flat, and drop bottom gondolas typically discharge to the sides.)