Can someone please share with me some info regarding prototypes of Athearn’s new cars, specifically the 65 foot Mil Gon and the PS-2 3-bay covered hopper? I guess what I’d like to know is, what roads had these and when did these cars first appear? Thanks so much for anyone’s help!!![:)]
The 65’ mill gondola was brought into the world , by the need of larger capacity gondola. You can find these cars on every major railroad, from the steel mills of the north to the heart land of the mid-west hauling farm machinery. The PS-2 three bay hopper is just like the 65’ gondola…larger capacity needed. As for what year these cars started service, No clue.
Patrick
The September 2005 issue of Railmodel Journal has an article about the hoppers. It says the hoppers were built starting in 1953.
The gondolas look similar to Southern Pacific’s class G-70-6 which were built in 1950.
Thanks for the info, I was hoping to get specific roads that owned both of these types of cars, sure the SP helps and thanks for the link!! But I need to know a few more roads. I model the GN in 1956, and I was wanting to know what roads had these cars in this time frame specifically so that I could use them as interchange traffic with the Tacoma division of my GN layout. Thanks
The ‘Journal’ article had that information.I can’t recall all the roadnames, but
CB&Q was another. These cars are also (judging by the photos) quite
close to the GN 71950 to 71999 series of PS-2s. Unfortunately for you, GN didn’t
buy thoose cars until 1958. I, too am modeling the GN, in a somewhat wider
era, 1947-1967, so I am looking at these LOs with an eye for how to use them.
Hope this helps.