I was thinking of putting some kind of load in my gondola cars, and realized I don’t have a clue as to what these cars are used for. They don’t seem very practical (being neither a hopper, dump or flat car), and I don’t recall seeing on in use for a very long time. What kinds of material are normally transported in a gondola?
Hi Ray, I ask all my colleagues at work to collect the little plastic tubes out of till rolls, these painted and stacked up are good pipe loads - and very light. Timber is a good load and easy to make up out of scrap. Round timber cut into equal lengths and painted are a good oil drum load. Coal or gravel was carried and these are easy enough to represent. Throw some old cloth over the gon to represent a covered load with a few lumps in to represent the load. Scrap timber to represent packing cases etc etc
Cheers,
Kim
Hi Ray
Things I have seen in gonolas scrap metal, power poles, coal
sand, tarpulined, containers, RSJ’s, pipes, coil steel this one is usualy a special gondola with a metal cover, timber thats just for starters.
tarpulin is pretty easy to do fold a bit of card in half put that inside the car
Grab an old shirt sleeve cut to size super glue the center to the peak in the card fold around the car top so it looks right and super glue to car once dry soak the cloth with super glue and leave to dry.
regards John
Ray- gondolas are mostly used for things that need no protection from the elements.
John and kimbrit have good advice.
I have gotten into the practice of -for lack of a better term- mooshing aluminum foil into little square bales, painting them a rusty color (I dump a bunch into a large baggie and throw some reddish paint in and slop them around) and then pouring the whole mess into my gons. I figure the excess rust /paint weathers the floors of the gons, and it acts as “glue” to help stabilize the loads. These do a good job of simulating crushed cars or scrap metal.
Johns suggestion of the tarp is a good one too, as no one has the slightest idea of whats in the car, but it looks like something! You could even wad up paper balls and throw a tarp over them and have a good looking load.
Hope this helps some.
How about cutting up some scale lumber and staining them with an ebony or mahogany stain and throwing them in the gondola in a helter skelter manner as if they were old railroad ties that were being cleaned up off trackside?
Possibly a couple trhee small rolls of duct tape standing on end to represent rolls of cold rolled steel?
Mark
The most memorable load I’ve seen was nothing more than cotton balls spray painted with different colors of primer (red oxide, sliver, black). Stuff the cotton balls into the gondola in a random manner. Gives a load the quality of “I’ve seen that before, but just cannot quite remember what it is.”
Hi markperr
RR ties both new and old are usualy moved on flat cars in neat stacks that
are easy to unload with a fork lift.
They would require some removable bulkheads made to fit a flat car that get spaced out at tie stack spacing and the tie stacks placed between the Bulkheads.
To make things interesting a fork lift on the end of the car with the RR logo
and gang 306 or simillar on it.
regards John
Don’t forget that the end bulkheads on gons were removed for carrying large pipes. The Bachmann gon that’s advertised as 1:20.3 (mentioned elsewhere on the forum) has removable bulkheads and looks well when it’s done.
Kim
Anything a visiting kid wanted to ride around the layout[:D]
Hi Torby
That can lead to some very unusual loads[:D]
but as long as the have fun[^]
regards John
In support of Torby’s answer, a member of our club has a loop and train for the exclusive use of his daughter who transports her Beanie Baby Dolls in the cars!
This is my gon in N scale, it might inspire you.
Like this!
Torby
i have that car to, you must have been at the ECLSTS A FEW YEARS BACK , that was
a show car special. how is new job going ?? ARE YOU COMING TO THIS YEARS
ECLSTS . BEN
Never been to ECLSTS… They were selling some leftovers at the MWLSTS[:D]
New job is going great. Very pleased with this turn of events. This is my first weekend in Libertyville since I went to Carlyle last weekend.
Along the CSX eastern corriodor mainline, the most COMMON gondola load is scrap metal in REALLY banged up gondolas, some dating to the 1960s! And all VERY rusty.
The BEST load to simulate this scrap metal (which industry processes to a consistent size, color), is: ready for this?
Go to Lowe’s or Home Depot.
Bring along a burlap bag and first tell the mgr what you’re up to so you are not handcuffed and led away.
Saunter over to the pipe-fitting section. There, you will see a box filled to the brim with shards of pipe metal. Scoop it up, being cautions not to get cut, and haul it away.
One caveat. You don’t want this all over your track so if you experience a derailment or something, use the vac!
I cut the old plastic wheels off the axels and throw them into a gon for a junk load. Another idea is to put broken scale car & truck parts in for junk loads (you know, the ones you unknowingly step back on while admiring that new whatsamathing you just installed on your railroad).
Special hi grade ores are often carried in gondolas rather than hoppers, particularly thing of a finer consistancy like china clay, silica sand, sulphur, and powdery stuff.
Project cargos of excess height are not always flatcar cargos as the sides of gondolas can be used as part of the bracing to prevent damage in shipping!