- This may not look like a passenger train to you. - Even from this side it just looks like a ballast train. - But look over the top. What's this? These are my new riding cars. One thing I learned from the Mid-South live steamers is... Hopper cars DO make good riding cars. - Plush, padded seats and wall-to-wall carpet. - The green car has green carpet and the red car has blue carpet. - So far, there's enough seats for 4 young riders. - Everything you see in these two hopper cars was made with leftover or scrap materials. The carpet was scraps from when the house was built. Seats were covered with left-over fabric. Foam came from circuit board packaging boxes. Plywood, from another project. Total cost - $0.00. Total time - about 4 hours.