Article #93: Southern Railway Big John Hopper #7993 North Carolina Transportation Museum Spencer, NC (May 17, 2025)

 

In this new article we will be looking at the Southern Railway Big John hopper car #7993 which is preserved at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC.

These cars were aluminum grain hoppers that were introduced in 1960. This car was built in 1965 by the Magor Car Company. These cars cut grain costs in regards to shipping by nearly 60% by way of the 97 ton capacity. Southern Railway was seeking to lower the rates of grain shipping to compete with trucks.

These cars also had four different compartments for shipping the different types of grain in one car. 

This car is always an interesting one to check out at the museum.