August 1958

[twforeman]

It's a sunny 1958 August day in Blackwing, MT as GN GP7 655 pulls the local freight past Universal Scrap metals.



Just finished building the Frisco drop end gondola. It's a Proto 2000 kit.

 

[twforeman]

Here's another shot of the gondola.

 

[Alcomotive]

Here's another shot of the gondola.

I really like that Gondola for sure! I cannot believe I do not have one of those. I guess I will be hunting for one! Is that a difficult build?

 

[twforeman]

I really like that Gondola for sure! I cannot believe I do not have one of those. I guess I will be hunting for one! Is that a difficult build?

No, it was pretty easy. Not as detailed as some of the other kits I've built, but it does have individual grabs to install.

 

[Patrick]

I like it. I have enough old cars (still have hook\horn couplers) I can try to build one from. Any ideas on its use?

 

[twforeman]

I like it. I have enough old cars (still have hook\horn couplers) I can try to build one from. Any ideas on its use?

Drop end gondolas were used for normal gondola loads - pretty much anything. If they needed to haul something extra long they would drop the ends and have it stick out. Flat cars were used on both ends as "idler" cars for the load to extend over.

 

[Alcomotive]

I remember in Arkansas when I lived there, outside of Little Rock, UP would use them for track maintenance. I think I got some 3x5 pics where they would fill the gons with ballast and had a CAT back hoe in the gon too. They would just run the CAT along from gon to gon as it emptied out the gons and drop the ends in the process. I wish I had a video of it.

 

[twforeman]

I remember in Arkansas when I lived there, outside of Little Rock, UP would use them for track maintenance. I think I got some 3x5 pics where they would fill the gons with ballast and had a CAT back hoe in the gon too. They would just run the CAT along from gon to gon as it emptied out the gons and drop the ends in the process. I wish I had a video of it.

There are videos of that on YouToob, I've seen some.

 

[Patrick]

Thanks for the information. The more I look at what railroads did, the more I learn.