1950s era gondola floors...what material?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hey guys,

I’m planning on lightly weathering a 1950s era N scale Micro Trains Pennsy drop-end gondola and am wondering what the floor area sould look like…is it supposed to be metal or wood? I also have a PL&E gondola I’d like to do the same with.

Thanks,

----Rob

2

Gondolas could have wood, steel, or nailable steel floors - the steel floors usually had lots of rivets holding things together, while the wood and nailable steel floors looked somewhat similar. As far as I know, both would have been painted when new. You can have a load in your gondola, hiding the floor from view:

And even many “empty” gondolas didn’t have too much of their floors visible:

Wayne