Full Throttle FT-5605-1  Chessie - WM  71132, 71153  70-ton Rib-side 3-bay hopper with heap shield  Comes with Bowser roller bearing trucks and Hay Bors Garage coal loads. A clever adjunct to the standard hopper, heap shields (extended panels at the ends of cars), were devised early in the 20th century. They allowed for hauling larger loads, and avoiding waste from spills and starts-stops along the routes, especially in mountainous regions, or on fast-freight runs. Heap-ends were common on the 70-ton hoppers, then replacing the aging 50-ton fleets of the Eastern Railroads running tracks through the Appalachians. 

The Western Maryland Railway (WM), primarily a coal and freight railroad, operated in Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, tracking through some of the most scenic vistas in the USA. In 1964, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) jointly filed for permission to acquire control of the Western Maryland and it became part of the Chessie System which incorporated in 1973, owning the B&O, C&O and WM Railroads. When repainting the acquired armadas, homage was paid by including the original call-letters with their reporting numbers.    NIB