A Good Modern Gondola?

[zgardner18]

Guys,

I'm looking for some gondolas for my modern layout and wondered what you guys recommend that has a good gondola that is being used one the rails today.  If you can get pictures, that would be great.

[emdgp92]

One of Athearn's blue-box gondolas would be right up your alley. I don't know which prototype this car represents, but it's a good "generic" version that looks good in anyone's paint scheme.

[BRAKIE]

Well they are several types of gons in use today including the "rail gon" type.There are also high side gons.

http://crcyc.railfan.net/crrs/gon/goncr.html

 

http://www.railarc.org/imagefetch3.shtml?i=DJJX-10144-valleypark_mn-%5B26-jul-2001%5D-000.jpg

 

[Anonymous]

Athearns 65' gon should work, thier 50 ' is okay, but lacks a true prototype, P2k's are  a better choice. Atlas has a newer version  gon in the works..

[zgardner18]

Okay, how about this:  I'm modeling the NorthWest with BNSF and MRL.  MRL I don't think have any gondolas but I know BN and SF and BNSF have some but I thought I saw some company with a gon that has the new BNSF "Swoosh" emblem.

[ouengr]

I would stay away from the new Athearn 65' Gondola.  It is from an older prototype that and I believe that most of them have been scrapped.  Check the built date and if it is past 1970 without being rebuilt, it is a fairly safe bet that the car is scrap or nearing it last legs. 

[Anonymous]

I wasn't sure of 65' gon, but Atlas has a gon coming, a Thrall, not in BNSF, but some leasing companies and some roads, check their web site.

[zgardner18]

I wasn't sure of 65' gon, but Atlas has a gon coming, a Thrall, not in BNSF, but some leasing companies and some roads, check their web site.

Good.  Leasing Companies work too.  It doesn't have to BNSF but I was trying to keep with what is moved up there.  I guess that it really doesn't apply nowadays to have all of one's railroads equipment on their own lines like back in the old days.

[ericsp]

Walthers (52' and 65'), LBF (52' and 65'), and Athearn (52' mill gondolas) all make modern gondolas.

[Anonymous]

I chose the Athearn 52' mill gondola. The Falls Valley Railroad needed two of these for scrap service with the Athearn scrap metal loads.

I prefer the Proto 2000 52'6" gondolas and are eyeing two RTR's (No kits, too many handrails) coming out within a month.

I do have like 5 Walters steam era gondola with 3 more coming but these wont fit very well into the modern age.

[MrKLUKE]

.

[ericsp]

I chose the Athearn 52' mill gondola. The Falls Valley Railroad needed two of these for scrap service with the Athearn scrap metal loads.

I prefer the Proto 2000 52'6" gondolas and are eyeing two RTR's (No kits, too many handrails) coming out within a month.

I do have like 5 Walters steam era gondola with 3 more coming but these wont fit very well into the modern age.

The only Proto 2000 gondolas I found are not modern.

[coborn35]

I would stay away from the new Athearn 65' Gondola.  It is from an older prototype that and I believe that most of them have been scrapped.  Check the built date and if it is past 1970 without being rebuilt, it is a fairly safe bet that the car is scrap or nearing it last legs. 

Looks like it to me. Mine is Missabe, and has friction bearings.

[Dave-the-Train]

I wasn't sure of 65' gon, but Atlas has a gon coming, a Thrall, not in BNSF, but some leasing companies and some roads, check their web site.

Good.  Leasing Companies work too.  It doesn't have to BNSF but I was trying to keep with what is moved up there.  I guess that it really doesn't apply nowadays to have all of one's railroads equipment on their own lines like back in the old days.

Cars staying on home rails didn't work at any time from c1900 (if not before).  With interchange traffic the common cars (gons, box and flats) went where the load went so they got all over and all mixed up.

You don't say what you are hauling in your gons...

High sides with rotary couplers would tend to run in block trains carrying coal to power plants.  There are still reasonable Roundhouse kits around - especially in BN - like the car in th esecond link above (the one with the guy riding on it).  Atlas, Walthers and LBF  have done and still do numbers per reporting mark of the more recent coal high sided gondolas.  These make nice unit trains... if you can afford them.

Low Sided Gons come in several variants... 50', 52'6" (older) and 65'.  These are variously fixed or drop end and General Purpose or Mill gons.  Mill Gons have smooth (no intrusions) insides so that metal stock can be loaded side-to-side without getiing dented or bent. 

Some Gons get labeled for specific service.  I have a Walthers 65' CSXT  Mill Gon labelled "For Pipe Service Only"... so it's loaded with scrap girder sections .  Gons in regular clean service will tend to stay there and keep clean.  Gons in general service can get really rough.  Obviously the real dirty work like scrap metal is assigned to the real dirty gons as much as possible. 

Most available low sided model Gons are pretty much the same side height.  I've noticed that the new Athearn Gons mentioned are a low, low side.  In pics I've also seen a very few medium sided gons... never seen these modelled though.

Other variants are the enormous wood chip gons and gons with racks added for sugar beet traffic... but I don't think that the latter ran in the NW.

Something you might like to think about...

Gons do the rough/dirty work.  Except when they need to be repaired they are mostly out on the track paying for themselves in an often short, intense life.  Someone will prove me wrong but I would reckon that Gons are about the least likely cars to receive an all-over repaint.  They might get renumbered as a patch job... but there's thousands of the things and(unlike locos) they are not exactly high priority for reshuffling on the account/ownership books.  (For some reason seeing patched/renumbered covered hoppers seems to be much more common).  About the only Gons I recall seeing patched are GONX / Railgon Gons that have been taken back from pool traffic by their original owners... the Roundhouse 50' GONX gons come in some patched as well as GONX numbers.

The conclusion from the above is that you will not only see Gons from all sorts of roads but from many fallen flags of the last 30 years... well 20 years if they have a short life... but that includes all of the recent big mergers...

[Anonymous]

Modelers Choice makes some gon kits that are still around, These are craftsman style with builder suppling many extra parts including paint, trucks, couplers and decals

[Anonymous]

I chose the Athearn 52' mill gondola. The Falls Valley Railroad needed two of these for scrap service with the Athearn scrap metal loads.

I prefer the Proto 2000 52'6" gondolas and are eyeing two RTR's (No kits, too many handrails) coming out within a month.

I do have like 5 Walters steam era gondola with 3 more coming but these wont fit very well into the modern age.

The only Proto 2000 gondolas I found are not modern.

They are not modern, but they are still good gondolas and will find room on the railroad. I'm not too set in one era.

[WSOR 3801]

Atlas Trainman also has some modernish gons.  The current Athearn RTR without the fishbelly sides is a reworked MDC gon, with better details.  The Walthers 52' gon is not bad either.