Instead of creating new threads for each question, I am just adding to this one to keep the discussion together.

I spent 3 hours taking a out of the box RTR car for a road name that really doesn't fit on my Western Maryland layout.  I don't have a plausible reason for why a SP 100 Ton coal hopper made it to the east coast.   I got the car for a couple of bucks at a train show.   I did this project while watching the Steelers/Cincinnati game last night.   The premise for this car is that it is a block of hoppers that Conrail picked up from Espee in the early 80's to accelerate the retirement of the 70 ton fleet.   Sounds reasonable, no?

So after about 4 years of compiling freight cars for my first serious layout, I finally gathered enough courage to weather my first one. I started with an Intermountain 40' Modified 1937 AAR boxcar and then replaced the side and end grab irons with Kadee ones. It took about a few hours a day for nine days to do (yes I know that's a long time) but I feel it was worth doing slow and steady for the first try. Here's a photo of the finished result: