Clearing Up a Misperception

Santa Fe Caswell design GS gondola ATSF 171033 from class Ga- 5, Reading Yards, Rutherford, Pennsylvania,  June 19. 1947, Bob Charles Collection, Kalmbach Memorial Library 

There is a perception that GS gondolas (GS = "An Open Top Car, having fixed sides and ends and drop bottom, consisting of doors hinged at center sills to dump outside of rails," per the Official Railway Equipment Register) were West Coast cars and if you model the Northeast, Southeast, mid-Atlantic, etc., you don't have need for these on your layout*. I understand that notion. However, it is not correct. Granted, if you model western Massachusetts, for example, you should not have a gondola fleet comprised of 50% GS gons. That said, in a roster of solid bottom ("GB") gondolas, you could and would see GS gondolas from a variety of roads and should have a few in your fleet to mix into operating sessions. I have included some photos of GS gons in locales that support my contention (one shared by Richard Hendrickson and that I discussed with him on more than one occasion.)

C&EI 90108 was also of Caswell design, although it had received steel sheathing in place of the wood by the time it was photographed on February 10, 1952 in Columbus, Ohio, by Col. Chet McCoid. The doors were held in the "up" position using Wine door locks. Bob's Photo

Numerous fine models of GS gons have been offered over the years in both styrene and resin. The reason for and timing of this post is that I am working on a new pilot model for a styrene offering that one, is a GS-type gon like described in the previous paragraph, e.g. "western" GS gon, and two, is a fine example of contemporary HO scale technology, with fine tooling and separate details. Stay tuned for more about this model in the coming days...

Chicago & Illinois Western 1247 (ex-IC gon) was photographed in Aberdeen, North Carolina on October 30, 1951 by Col. Chet McCoid. Bob's Photo

The Burlington had a large fleet of composite GS gons that employed composite, Murphy or Dreadnaught ends. They also used Wine door locks. Note that there were not doors in all locations; from left, panels 2 and 4 had doors in the corresponding floor locations. Reading Yards, Rutherford, Pennsylvania, August 24, 1947, Bob Charles Collection, Kalmbach Memorial Library

*one caveat is that I am referring to and advocating for GS gons of the upper Midwest, Northwest, Mountain West, Southwest and West Coast; if you model western Massachusetts as the example I cited, you would quite likely see GS gons from the B&M, MEC or CN, as well, as they (and not too many other Eastern roads) did have modest fleets of GS gons 

Chicago & Eastern Illinois Gondola

Zanesville, Ohio, April 7, 1956

This photo has always appealed to me. The low angle of both the lighting and photographic perspective afford a great view of the numerous details, including the distorted plate steel of the sides, as well as the weirdly arranged AB brake components (it is rare to see brake components arranged with the piping facing out towards the side of the car, rendering it vulnerable to damage.) Additionally, the load of large diameter pipe makes for a compelling prototypical lading to replicate, including the banding, wire, and hardwood dimensional lumber containment pieces. Lastly, as a rebuilt car, it represents an interesting modeling subject. It started life as a Caswell-type gondola before rebuilding with tight, solid wood floors, elimination of the GS drop doors, and replacement Dreadnaught ends.

The photo below illustrates what the cars looked like prior to rebuilding. I do not have photos of the cars as built, but it is my assumption that the Wine door locks were not in place when the cars were new circa 1912. This car was reweighed at the Danville shops in June, 1927.

In late 1951, there were 251 of the rebuilt cars in the 95000-95299 series plus an additional 45 cars in the same series, but equipped for auto frame loading. The 90000-90199 series had 200 rebuilds like C&EI 95643 shown above except they still had drop doors and Wine door locks. There were also still 327 cars like the one below in series 92000-94499. The cars that were still of composite construction could be kitbashed using Intermountain bodies with Westerfield Wine door locks and angle stock for the part attached to the drop doors that the locks secure in place. That totals 823 of these interesting gons in service in late 1951.

Pine Village, Indiana, circa 1928, Allen and Son photo