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Bluford
Shops is proud to announce for the first time in any scale,
52’6” 15-panel DENTED Mill Gondolas. That’s right,
these N scale models are factory dented! These ready-to-run cars
will feature:
- diecast
floors for superior tracking
- plastic
sides, ends, draft gear, body bolsters and additional brake
gear.
- cars come
standard with our metal wheels and magnetically operating knuckle
couplers.
- Variations
include Dreadnaught or PS style fixed ends with Ajax end mounted
brake housing and two styles of brake wheels
- drop ends
from Dreadnaught or PS (or the identical Carbuilder’s ends)
with end mounted lever action hand brakes or side mounted brake
wheels as appropriate for each road name.
- Minimum
Radius: 11”.
|
| Conrail |
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|
| Conrail inherited
this style of mill gon in quantity from both Penn Central and Erie
Lackawanna. Many had been built with drop ends but were rebuilt
with fixed Dreadnaught ends and Ajax brake housings as seen here.
|
| Chicago
Burlington & Quincy |
|
|
| When Chicago
Burlington & Quincy required another 750 mill gons in 1957,
they chose to build them themselves at their Havelock, Nebraska
shops. These cars were equipped with fixed Dreadnaught ends and
nailable steel floors, the instructions for which are seen to the
right of the Burlington Route logo. |
| Erie
Lackawanna |
|
|
| Erie Lackawanna
inherited these mill gons from Erie Railroad who had pioneered the
design in cooperation with Greenville Steel Car in 1940. Under EL
ownership, this batch maintained their Dreadnaught drop ends and
lever action hand brakes. We present them in this run as they appeared
in the last few years of Erie Lackawanna operations and the first
several years of Conrail. |
| Great
Northern |
|
|
| Great Northern
took delivery of 200 of these gondolas from Pullman Standard in
1957 in the vermilion paint scheme. Although they used the Pullman’s
fixed ends, GN opted for the ribs used on the original Greenville-Erie
design. They also used the Ajax 3059 brake wheel instead of the
usual IP80 design. These details are reproduced on this run. |
| Nickle
Plate Road |
|
|
Greenville built several batches of these mill gons for Nickel Plate
Road over the years with details varying from batch to batch. This
group outshopped in 1949 had Carbuilders drop ends and side-mounted
Ajax 3059 brake wheels. The fleet was passed to Norfolk & Western
with their 1964 merger. |
| Pittsburgh
& Lake Erie |
|
|
| Pittsburgh
& Lake Erie took delivery of this batch of gons in 1946. P&LE
had been a subsidiary of New York Central for many years but following
the financial collapse of NYC successor Penn Central, P&LE,
which was still profitable, began to distance themselves from PC
including removing the “mating worms” PC logos. P&LE
would remain nominally independent until 1993 when they acquired
by CSX. This paint scheme represents this period of independence. |
| THE
ROCK |
|
|
| This group
of gons lettered for THE ROCK was originally built in 1957 by Pullman
Standard. The cars were rebuilt in 1978 retaining their dented sides
but with the original drop ends replaced with fixed PS style ends.
The old lever action brakes were also replaced with new Ajax brake
housings and wheels. |
| Frisco
(SL-SF) |
|
|
| Frisco received
this batch of gons from Pullman Standard in 1953 in this boxcar
red scheme. They had PS style drop ends and lever action brakes,
With Birmingham (the Pittsburgh of The South) on the Frisco system
map, steel and related commodities were important sources of traffic.
Many of these cars served well past the merger with Burlington Northern. |
| New
York Central |
|
|
| Although New
York Central would build thousands of these mill gons in their own
shops, this particular batch was built by Greenville in 1949. They
used the Dreadnaught style drop ends and lever action brakes. This
batch was also equipped with nailable steel floors (instructions
for use are seen to the right of the road number.) |
| Burlington
Northern |
|
|
| Burlington
Northern inherited this fleet of mill gons from predecessor Chicago
Burlington & Quincy. We present them here in the original Cascade
Green paint scheme with the large BN “wrenches” logos,
ACI tags and 2-box format consolidated stencils. The cars were equipped
with fixed Dreadnaught ends, Ajax brake housings and IP80 brakewheels.
|
| Detroit
Toledo & Ironton |
|
|
| Detroit Toledo
& Ironton took delivery of this group of gondolas in 1957 from
Pullman Standard. DT&I opted for the narrower style ribs such
as those used by Greenville and other builders rather than Pullman’s
new wider ribs. However, Pullman fixed ends were used. These cars
also used Ajax brakes with IP80 brakewheels. |
| Erie |
|
|
| Erie was the
first railroad to adopt this design of mill gondola, developing
it in cooperation with Greenville Steel Car in 1940. Ironically,
this 800 car batch came not from Greenville but from Bethlehem over
the winter of 1946-1947. Like Erie’s earlier batches, these
came with Dreadnaught drop ends and lever action hand brakes. |
| Louisville
& Nashville |
|
|
| Louisville
& Nashville inherited this fleet of gondolas in the split of
the Chicago & Eastern Illinois between L&N and Missouri
Pacific. Since the portion of the line going to MP would continue
to be known as Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Louisville &
Nashville quickly repainted most of their portion of the C&EI
freight car fleet. These cars had fixed Dreadnaught ends and Ajax
IP80 brakewheels. |
| Missouri-Kansas-Texas |
|
|
| Missouri-Kansas-Texas
took delivery of this group of mill gons from Greenville in 1967
as part of President John W. Barriger’s effort to update Katy’s
freight car fleet. The gons, including their roller bearing trucks,
were painted Barriger Red (formerly known as Deramus Red) and equipped
with fixed Dreadnaught ends and the familiar combination of Ajax
brake housing and IP80 brakewheels. |
| Norfolk
& Western |
|
|
| When Norfolk
& Western acquired the Nickel Plate Road through merger in 1964,
a considerable fleet of mill gondolas came with them. N&W had
already adopted the “Hamburger” N&W logo and began
applying them to the NKP gon fleet as they came due for repainting
and renumbering. During this period, only gondolas received this
wonky version of the NORFOLK AND WESTERN billboard lettering (note
the strange R’s, K and S.) This group of gons had fixed Carbuilders
ends with Ajax brake housings and IP80 brakewheels. |
| Pere
Marquette |
|
|
| Pere Marquette
took delivery of this batch of gondolas from Greenville in 1944.
PM served the Chicago-Detroit-Buffalo corridor and the heavy industry
therein and later became the Pere Marquette District of the Chesapeake
& Ohio. These gons were equipped with Dreadnaught style drop
ends and lever action handbrakes. |
| Western
Pacific |
|
|
| Western Pacific
greatly increased their steel business during the Second World War
when large steel mills opened on the east end of the railroad in
Utah. This particular batch of mill gons was built by Greenville
in 1949 equipped with Dreadnaught drop ends and Ajax 3059 side mounted
brakewheels. About 50 of these cars were still in revenue service
at the time of the merger with Union Pacific. |
| Wabash |
|
|
| Wabash built
this group of mill gondolas in their own Decatur Shops in 1954 using
Dreadnaught drop ends and lever action handbrakes. The last of these
cars still wearing this paint scheme was retired by Wabash successor
Norfolk Southern at the end of 1990. |
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