athearn 50' gons

[Anonymous]

does anyone know if this model had a prototype or was this one of those built in the toy train ideals from late fifties? I'm looking for car builder. I've seen certain roads had fifty footers, but could find any pictures.

[orsonroy]

According to the NEB&W's website, the car's not a prototype for anything:

(snip)
The 50 foot Athearn gon is a really strange car. Nominally a 50 foot car, it is really only 48 feet long, and therefore it is about five feet too short for the typical "50 foot" gon (which was a little longer - normally 52-1/2 feet - to be able to haul a 50 foot cargo). There are too many ribs for a typical car, creating a 14 panel car, but the first and last rib are in too far, bunching up the rest. And most 50 foot gons had drop ends. (Shorter gons were used for bulk loadings like coal and tended to have fixed ends. If they wanted to get more capacity, instead of increasing the length, they raised the sides, which from an engineering standpoint makes more sense. The reason for a longer car was to haul structural shapes, and drop ends were useful for this.)
Mike Clements suggested the real reason behind the design of the Athearn gon: It was designed around their existing underframe from their 50 foot flat car. The ribs were set around the cross members of the underframe. This is the reason they don't finish over the bolster. The car's height must have been scaled down in proportion with the length to keep the overall look intact. All this inaccuracy, he said, just to keep from having to mold two additional parts, makes you want to scream. Anyway, he gave it another look tonight and am wondering if a splice job, creating a 20 panel 65 foot gon would have any similar prototype? (yeah, the end ribs would still be wrong) (Note to Clements - The ECW gon is 20 panels, and a better starting point even for those cars that don't quite match the ECW kit exactly, at least in my opinion.)

The Dreadnaught ends peg this car as having been built c. 1930’s to 1944. At some point, they instituted the "40 year underframe rule" which prohibited cars from interchange when their underframe was over 40 years old. This would thus prohibit this model from 1984 and on.

For a long time, this was one of the few long gons, and greatly overused. One easy way to disguise this is to simply cut off the fishbelly section on the sides.

I am beginning to discover 14 panel fixed end gons built later in the '50's, which are a little better match than steam-era prototypes. The rib spacing is still bizzare, the cars should still be 52-1/2 feet, and cars built after WWII would have Improved Dreadnaught Ends. (See the 14 panel 50 foot gon section for other prototypes.)

For other ways to use this kit, see our section on kitbashing possibilities.
(snip)

The site goes on to list nine realistic kitbashing possibilities, but I won't post 'em, since the NEB&W site is (sort of) for profit. But it's one of the best HO scale modeling and prototype freight car resources you'll find anywhere, either online or in print. For $5 a month, it's much better than a lot of other things we spend our hobby dollars on! To see more, go to:

http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/index.asp

[Anonymous]

thanks,I do have one that I cut off the fishbelly,the grabs,then beat the life out of it with light taps with hammer, pliers, and foil rolled in balls and heated with a soldering iron. then I added shortened ladders from boxcar kits,new stirrups, cut levers,and weathered it. it's not half bad,but now I'll buy p2k gons.

[mmathu]

The closest prototype match identified are B&O prototypes designed for coil steel service -- thus the extra rows of rivets on the sides. As pointed out, prototypes are the normal 52.5', and the outermost ribs are not located properly either. DRGW, GTW, NW, and WM had similar cars.

[orsonroy]

True, but the five foot length difference doesn't make them a very GOOD match...

[mmathu]

Where some modelers find a fault, others can find an opportunity.

[caboose63]

Even though Athearn's 50 foot gondolas are not the most accurate they sure do look nice on a layout like my HO scale Leelanau County Railway. i have 12 of the gondolas from lines such as South Shore, Western Pacific, N&W, UP, BNSF and NS. Hopefully Walthers will reproduce their 53 foot thrall gondolas they made in the mid 1990s

[dknelson]

The Revell gon, now a Con-Cor model, was also a longer gon at a time when Varney and Mantua were offering 40 ft gons. (Ulrich made a long gon but it was outside braced). A lot of kitbashers use the Mantua as well as the slightly different Tyco gon for various projects. I gather the rib spacing on those gons is more accuate than perhaps the Athearn is.
I am not sure the Revell/Con-Cor gon is an accurate model of anything either but rather amazingly the late 1950s tooling holds up rather well.
Dave Nelson

[orsonroy]

Believe it ro not, the Revel car is of a real prototype (unlike the Athearn mess). Here's what the NEB&W website has to say about the model (condensed version):

(snip)
There were two type of cars that fit under this category, those with the alternating thick and thin ribs, and those with typical all-narrow ribs as on most gons. I don't have a better term for this type than simply "Revell" type, although C&O or Pennsy G-31 might be an alternative.
There were several prototypes of 14 panel 50 foot gons, where the ribs didn't extend down into the fishbelly. However, you would have to overlook the shape of the ribs themselves. On these prototypes, the ribs are the typical narrow ones, all the same width, instead of the alternating width ribs on the Con-Cor kit. Prototypes include:

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe class GA-69.
Baltimore & Ohio class O-59, series was 259000-260449.
Baltimore & Ohio class O-59a, series was 260500-263299.
Central of New Jersey.
Lehigh Valley 32000-32599 series and no. 33350.
PRR class G28.
Reading 25900-26099 series, probably 26100-26899, and 27000.
Texas & Pacific.
WAG 3001-3006 series.
Western Maryland 54001-54460, 54911-54920, 55479-55637, and other series.
The prototypes with the alternating thick and thin ribs include:

Atlantic Coast Line.
Chesapeake & Ohio.
Delaware & Hudson 13700-13899 series.
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 68500-68999 series.
Pennsy class G31, series 363400-364799, G31c, series 371200-371949,
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac 3301-3350 series.
Southern 60000-61499, 62700-62726, and 328000-328599 series.
Southern Pacific.

Models
Con-Cor
styrene kits
223-9000 50 Foot mill gon, undec. - Con-Cor reissued the Revell gon, which is a model of the C&O 50 foot drop-end gons acquired around 1950, with 14 panels. Unlike the Athearn gon, the ribs do not extend down into the fishbelly section. Like the prototype, the ribs are rather broad, and alternate between broad and extra-broad. The kit has the fishbelly about two feet too deep, and for all the following prototypes, the same criticism applies. If you reshape the fishbelly, you lose the rivets along the bottom, which I feel is an acceptable trade-off to getting the right profile.
Also, the car rides too high. In the September 1990 Mainline Modeler, Dave Lockwood, Jr. showed how to lower the car. He said there were prototype photos of similar cars in the April 1989 and June 1989 Model Railroading.
Unlike most 50 foot gons, which had a fishbelly underframe, with or without fishbelly sides, the prototype of this gon had a straight underframe. This can be modeled from the Athearn 50 foot box car underframe, or just left off (horrors!) as the sides hide the lack of same.

In the December 1990 Railmodel Journal, Ed Bley showed how to convert a car to the PRR G31c gons (371200-371949), built in 1950-'51 by General American. These had alternating thick and thin ribs similar to the Revell/Con-Cor model. The prototype photo showed the post-'54 shadow keystone scheme. There was a prototype photo in the steam-era scheme in the 1953 and '57 Cycs. The car was 53 ft. 6 ins. long, 3 ft. 8 ins. high inside, with a capacity of 1,646,

Plans of the PRR G31, an all-welded car, appeared in the 1949 Cyc. These had alternating thick and thin ribs similar to the Revell/Con-Cor model. It had a steel floor and was 52 ft. 6 ins. long, and 3 ft. 6 ins. high inside. These were built by the Pennsy. The series was 363400-364799.

The PRR also built all-welded cars, which were class G35, all-welded. A photo and plans appeared in the 1953 and '57 Cycs. The car no. was 377450. These had alternating thick and thin ribs similar to the Revell/Con-Cor model. They had Improved Dreadnaught drop ends. They rode on ASF A-3 Ride Control trucks, if I am getting any better at spotting trucks.
An all welded car, built by ACF in 1952 for the Pennsy, showed in the 1957 Cyc. It was car no. 376913. The car had a wood bottom, so the height inside was only 3 ft. 3 ins., with a capacity of 1,646. The car had Improved Dreadnaught fixed ends.

In the 1957 Cyc., there was a Pennsy G28 gon with a removable steel Diagonal Panel roof. The car itself, 343338, was built in 1941. I think this had the alternating thick and thin ribs. The car rode on National Type B trucks. The car was 52 ft. 6 ins. long and 3 ft. 9 ins. high inside, with a capacity of 1,870. The ends were fixed. I think they were a Dreadnaught, considering the date the car was built. It the ends were rebuilt to accept the covers, then they might have been Improved Dreadnaught ends.

223-9014 C&O mill gon no. 218869 - This is the correct steam-era scheme. There was a photo and plans in the 1953 Cyc.

223-9025 54 Foot mill gon, data only black

223-9026 54 Foot mill gon, data only red

223-9024 Delaware & Hudson 50 Foot mill gon - In 1952, the D&H got all-welded gons from Pullman. No one has yet produced a photo to show the steam-era scheme. The Con-Cor kit comes in blue with yellow lettering, which wasn't used as a color scheme by the D&H until 1961 (and then only on locos). According to Steve Wagner, the gons in the late '50's and early '60's were black with billboard Railroad Roman lettering.
A car, still in black, appeared in Classic Freight Cars, Vol. VI. The Frank Szachacz photo, circa 1977, showed the car carrying containers. The series was 13700-13899.

223-9031 Central RR of NJ (green with gold lettering) - Although the CNJ had gons similar to these, I can't imagine the need for an express gon, which like an express box car, might get painted so it would visually fit in passenger service.
According to their class diagrams, the Central of New Jersey bought these cars in 1944 from Bethlehem, in the series 1001-2000. They were 52 ft. 6 ins. long and 3 ft. 6 ins. high inside, 7 ft. 5 ins. to the top of the sides, with a capacity of 1746. The cars rode on cast-steel spring plankless trucks, and had side-mounted Ajax wheel. The ends were Dreadnaught drop types and the floor was wood. The diagram wasn't detailed enough to be sure, but considering the built date, I think these had all the ribs the same width.
A small broadside photo appeared in the Bethlehem ad in the 1949 Cyc. It showed a car with the statue of liberty herald, but with Central of Pennsylvania reporting marks. It was car no. 1132.


Revell
styrene kits
50 Foot Steel Gon - This kit has been reissued by Con-Cor (see above).
(snip)