I was recently given a couple of HO gondolas for kit bashing. Both are identical in design with one marked Lionel and the other Fleischmann. Yet, side by side the Fleischmann scales out to be about 5' longer. I thought this odd from a manufacturing standpoint as so much is copied. I then wondered if there were any 45' gondolas to model? Is anybody aware of any roads fielding a 45' gon similar to this Lionel/Mantua design? Thanks!
Jim Norton
Huntsville, AL
Yes,
.
I have gondolas 42, 45, etc.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Gondolas are measured by inside length and length over strikers (so, outside length),
The 40' or 41' gondola is one reason rail came in 39' lengths for many years. that is 40 or 41' inside length. So it is customary to speak of gondolas' inside length because that is what matters most to shippers.
In the 1931 Car Builder's Cyclopedia, the Erie had a 70 ton gondola with a 44 ft inside length, 45'4 1/2" length over striking plates. It was a 10 panel gon (so had 9 vertical ribs). Sides were 5'10" - so a fairly high sided gon.
The B&O had a 70 ton low side gon inside length 45'11 1/2" (so, more nearly 46'). Length over striking faces 48'7". 13 side panels, so 12 vertical ribs
Dave Nelson.
The steel USRA gondola of 1918 was 45'. Walthers produced an HO model of the car.
Like Dave mentioned, the interior length is the important measurement as far as the customer is concerned..
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Jim, I wonder if your 45 foot Fleishmann gondola is truly 1/87 scale instead of 1/76 or 00 scale which is widely used in Europe. I had a couple of Fleischmann Alco FAs that definitely had more "bulk" than the rest of my HO equipment. HO as we apply it is 3.5 mm equals one foot while 00 uses a scale of 4.0 mm equals one foot.