{"id":594788,"date":"2026-11-08T17:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T06:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=096518484592515ea73555ddd5f051d5"},"modified":"2026-11-08T17:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T06:33:13","slug":"the-ecofab-grain-hopper-roof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=594788","title":{"rendered":"The ECOFAB grain hopper roof"},"content":{"rendered":"

 Repurposing railway wagons – modelling the ECOFAB grain hopper roof<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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SSR BGKF #1220 R in Junee in October 2026, has been fitted with an ECOFAB roof, and adorned with graffiti<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 Far too many years ago, I acquired a dozen NHFF Auscision coal hoppers, to run on the (then being built) Yendys layout.  For reasons that are too complicated for this forum, my hopper models were  never commissioned, and have sat around in their boxes.  What to do with them?  As far as I know there is no requirement for unit coal trains to run through Wagga in the future, although Inland Rail might have other ideas.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Auscison packaging in 2006 was more compact than today.  And they offered undecorated hoppers for a considerable discount over the decorated hoppers.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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It is interesting to see what parts are metal, and what parts are plastic.  The discharge doors are all metal castings, and add good weight to the hopper<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

However, the railways may have already provided an answer.  SSR (Southern Shorthaul Railroad) have bought quite a number of surplus coal hoppers, and impressed them for grain traffic with the BGKF code..  How accurate is the NHFF compared to the BGKF?  A quick search on the internet found nswgoodsrollingstock.com, and hotboxcontent.com.au, and yes, they are the same design.  SSR had bought 132 coal hoppers for grain haulage. <\/p>\n

The ECOFAB grain hopper roof was first introduced in 2017. It is a fibreglass roof, with a pneumatically lifted hatch cover.  <\/p>\n

Some prototype pictures<\/u><\/p>\n

All the below pictures were taken in Junee in October 2026 from the footpath outside the yard boundary fence. No trespassing.<\/i><\/p>\n


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Not all grain hoppers have an ecofab roof fitted.  The SSR patch is clearly seen on this BGKF wagon without all the graffiti that adorned the others<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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A slightly different design of coal hopper, with crossways discharge doors.  Coded BHVF<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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A train of hoppers about to depart.  In the distance is the new Kemp street bridge (subject of a future blog post)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Note: the grain hopper lid is still partially open<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Two BGKF wagons – one with a veranda over the end sill tanks (to protect it from the coal loader dumping coal), the other without.  <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Not having the end veranda allows a better view of the grain roof lifting mechanism<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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I took this image on 30x zoom, handheld<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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BHKF hopper – lacks the SSR decal, and may be newly acquired to replace the 30 BGKF hoppers that have already been lost to accidents.  The triple “bomb-bay” discharge doors are prominent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Modelling.<\/u><\/p>\n

At the recent Goulburn exhibition, I acquired a broken Auscision coal hopper for a very reasonable $20.  The thought of converting my coal hoppers to grain hoppers had been buzzing around my head for years, and here was a chance to experiment without affecting any future resale value of my boxed coal hoppers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Missing both end verandas, steps, ladders, one set of discharge doors, and one internal sloped bulkhead; broken side pipework, & handbrake wheel.  Signs of glue for the two remaining discharge doors having been reattached after falling off. But, 2 good bogies, and couplers.   These hoppers sell new for $75 each (pack of 4 for $300), so $20 was probably a fair price.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Without any of my own pictures of the ecofab roof from above, I checked the internet for prototype images.   Most came from the Auscison website, as Auscision have also started to sell grain hopper wagons with the ecofab roof.  I won’t show the Auscsion pictures here, but here are 2 others.<\/p>\n

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The roof looks fairly easy to fabricate with sheet and strip styrene, although the lifting mechanism detail is a bit poor.  As Auscision pictures also do not show the lifting mechanism in any detail, I toyed with the option to buy a new stand-alone hopper model, adorned with grafitti, selling individually for $100 as a pattern – but that sort of nullifies my desire to save money by repurposing models I already own.  How much detail did auscison put into the lifting mechanims anyway if they didn’t highlight it in their pictures?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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A new set of discharge doors was made to replace the ones missing on the hopper I bought.  I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on this, as it is mostly hidden, so it is made quickly using scrap styrene <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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The roof was sized to fit the hopper, and I made educated guesses on the size of the lifting doors.  No rivet detail, as it is barely visible on the prototype picture.  The lifting mechanism is also qute crude but covers the basic shape <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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The lower discharge doors are a press fit, but lacks the finesse of the other two.  <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Typical viewing angle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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The studs for the missing veranda show up white.  The Ecofab roof looks OK, but the same cannot be said for the lifting mechanism.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Conclusion.<\/u><\/p>\n

I will allow the model to sit for a while.  The ecofab roof doesn’t have any positioning lugs, and comes off easily. And I am not convinced with my lifting mechanism, and will probably rework it when I get more information, like dimensions, or plans.  I then need to replace the steps, and handbrake, before painting<\/p>\n

It has been a long time between posts, but life gets in the way.  I should have another post soon on the Kemp Street bridge rebuild progress by Inland Rail.   Stay tuned <\/p>\n

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Stop press.<\/u><\/p>\n

A seller has just listed an BGVF auscision grain hopper on ebay, and my questions on how much detail Auscsion have done on the Ecofab roof have been answered.<\/p>\n

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The lifting mechanism is just like my prototype picture. Well done Auscision<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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I wonder if Auscision sell the EcoFab roof as a spare part?<\/p>\n

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Until next time, build a model (or two)<\/p>\n

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 Repurposing railway wagons – modelling the ECOFAB grain hopper roofSSR BGKF #1220 R in Junee in October 2026, has been fitted with an ECOFAB roof, and adorned with graffiti Far too many years ago, I acquired a dozen NHFF Auscision coal hoppe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2177,21541,21542,21543,21544,2235,21545,2230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-594788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-auscision","category-bgkf","category-bgvf","category-ecofab","category-grain-hoppers","category-junee","category-nhff","category-scratchbuilding"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t