Operating Era: 1903-1952. Central of New Jersey, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Erie, Jamison Coal, Lehigh Valley, New York, Susquehanna & Western, Pennsylvania RR, Reading, Baltimore & Ohio, Wheeling & Lake Erie, Huntingdon & Broad Top. In 1903 Standard Steel Car Co. designed what was to become the second standard all-steel hopper car used by the railroads. (The first was the PSC fishbelly hopper of 1899; see our kit series 2400.) Over 13,000 were installed by 1911, principally for the anthracite roads where it became the most numerous car on the railroads. However, little publicity remains on these cars except for several blurry reproductions in the 1906 Car Builders' Dictionary. What fame the cars retain is as the small class Pennsylvania RR GLB, 700 cars. More numerous were identical cars used by coal companies serviced by Pennsy. Although at first glance the cars of each road appear identical, they varied enormously in small details, including: end sills, grab iron size and placement, door locks and hangers, brake stands, brackets and wheels, side gussets, towing rings, and corner steps. Most of the cars were delivered before the Safety Appliances Act and lacked side and end ladders. These were retrofitted in the late 'teens and 'twenties. Each of the kits duplicates the details of one or more specific classes of a particular road or coal company. PLEASE SEE OUR COVERED HOPPER SECTION FOR OTHER #7400 SERIES KITS. Cars rebuilt with safety appliances in the 1920s and running to line abandonment in 1954.