I am really looking forward to when Accurail finally releases these 41’ gondolas:
Click picture to enlarge
Most gondolas are 46’ and larger. The only ones currently in the 40’ range are a Athearn BB and a few resin kits. Even though I don’t really have any more room on my layout for more cars, I’m going to have to make an exception with these.
I have been told by Accurail that they will be making these available in kits, as well as the RTRs. I’ll be disappointed if they change their tune and only offer them RTR. However, I’ll still buy 2 or 3 - even if they do.
Release time frame is scheduled for August/September. But…you know that goes…
Looking forward to them, also. And if Accurail says August or September, it will probably BE August or September. Haven’t bought a bad Accurail kit yet, and don’t expect it will ever happen. And glory be, they’re doing some Rio Grandes. Yeah!!
Are those 40’ Bowser gondolas a recent development? Or have they been out for a while now? If the latter, then I must have missed 'em somehow. My search inquiry tally was probably from 2 years ago.
Thanks for telling me about those gondolas, detting. I’ll keep my eye open for them. It will be nice to see some of the other road names, too.
The Bowser 42 foot gons have been around for a while, eight years at least. They’re an older Pennsy prototype (first built in 1902) so when you get one or two, be sure to dirty them up!
According to Dennis Storzek of Accurail (from an email of his on the STMFC group) Accurail is casting some of the cars as we speak.
And don’t forget about some of the other great 40-42 foot gons out there! Walthers/P1K and Intermountain have the USRA composite gons, Red Caboose has steel and composite GS drop-bottom gons, and Intermountain just released an ATSF Caswell drop-bottom gon. Roundhouse used to make a C&O prototype tall side gon with rounded ends, Tichy has a 45’ ACL gon, Mantua used to make an Erie prototype tall side gon, and even the “lowly” AHM/Tyco gon was appropriate for a few 1910-era steel gons. So there’s a decent selection out there if you look hard enough! (and there’s always resin: there are more gons in that medium than there are plastic boxcars! And gons are possibly the easiest resin kit to build)
I think these are coming out as kits initially. Where did you hear about RTR only?
I am really looking forward to these as well. If they are anything like the recent Accurail triple hopper kits, they will be well designed, accurate, and fun to build. Those triples are great kits!
I agree that there is a shortage of 40’ gondola models when you first look at it, but as has been said above there are a lot of kits out there. The Red Caboose GS gons are very nice, as are the Intermountain Caswell gons. Westerfield has some great 1-piece resin kits for MILW and CNW cars that are great for midwestern roads. And, the Tyco gondola is close to a few roads, including CMO & CNW cars built in 1948.
I was only supposing about the RTRs. In the past year or so, Accurail (as well as other manufacturers) have been “weeding out” their kits and moving in the RTR direction. I’ll be very disappointed if Accurail completely goes in that direction. They are probably the best-detailed “easy-to-put-together” kits on the market today. I think their wood and wood-end boxcars are exceptional.
Other than the resin kits, I have found few kits for 40’ gondolas. I’m glad that Bowser has some Pennsy ones. I haven’t seen the Red Caboose or Intermountain gons. Andy, are they also 40’? If they are, I’m sure they’ll look as nice as the rest of their kits.
The Intermountain and Red Caboose gons are 40-footers, I have a couple of each. There was also a 40’ GS gon in kit form from Detail Associates, IIRC. It’s a complex, fiddly kit, but looks great when finished.
Just so you know, the Accurail PRR gon is not accurate for the Pennsy, they still had plenty of the Bowser Style gons (Class GS and GSa) so never bought any of the style that Accurail is making.
I looked at the PRR picture up above and the car is listed in the GSh and a built date of 1944. What really happed was the Pennsy rebuilt the following classes into the GSh class in 1944
GSh - Rebuilt from Classes GS, GSa, GSb, GSc, GS, Yankee Clipper makes or made a model of the GSh.
I built one of these over 15 years ago. I remember it being a fun kit to build. There were lots of steps, but none of them were difficult and they were all well documented in the instructions. But then I painted it with “Weathered Black” paint (don’t remember which brand - maybe Badger?) that looked distinctly green. I’ve never gotten around to repainting it, and it is still sitting in a box somewhere. Maybe it’s time I dug it out and finished it?
I notice from the posted picture that there’s some pretty decent brake rigging showing and that the corner steps are pretty fine. Does anyone know if the grabs are free standing or are they still cast on? I can’t tell from the picture.
As it happens the Tyco gondola has a certain near-cult following among serious scale kitbashers and prototype modelers. It is unclear whether it is the same casting as the old Mantua plastic gondola but it provides the base for a number of prototypes. It might be the one Tyco product that the serious modelers buy without shame.
Varney had a 40 ft gondola as well that I think is sometimes seen as a supercheap RTR with a name that I keep forgetting – very basic packaging, often found in boxes on the hobby shop floor. Ditch the trucks and couplers and as with the Tyco, the body has some interesting possibilities for the rib and side panel counting crowd. The challenge is to weight it to NMRA standards.
Click picture to enlarge