Empire Belt Hopper

Fellow blogger and modeler John R and I have exchanged custom decals for our respective model railroads. After considering possible cars to letter and running some ideas by John, I decided on doing a Mehano-IHC quad hopper, upgraded and with paint stripped. John gave me the number series for ribbed cars, and here's the result:

Partly because the car has missing steps, and partly because it's fun, I added a HOME FOR REPAIRS DO NOT LOAD stencil from a Microscale set:

This won't affect how I operate the car, it's just a feature I add to cars now and then.

Once I finished the car, it began to remind me of the various miscellaneous old quad hoppers that turn up frequently on the UP, lettered for CNW, MP, CTRN, and other owners. I'm realizing this would mix in pretty well with other quads on my layout.