It is time for the latest volley in my barrage of topics.
I saw three new Railgon gondolas today. They are all black. The still say Railgon unlike the FBOX and TBOX boxcars which no longer have Railbox on them. They also have a yellow box with a black TTX in it. They were built by NSC. They had GNTX reporting marks.
There are 300 of these cars, GNTX 295000-295299, being built by National Steel Car. Less yellow on the sides and ends than the old GONX cars, and these are 66-footers. Very unusual-looking, with an inward slope to the sides below the floors.
There will also be a GNTX series 297000-297299; I haven’t seen any of these yet, so don’t know who’s building them. They will be as long and as tall as the 295000s, but are six inches or so narrower in inside width.
TTX has also been assigned reporting marks GNDX; I haven’t found out anything about what, who, where (numbers), or how many yet.
They sound like they for steel coil loading; do they come with lids or are lid compatable?
No, you wouldn’t load coils into cars that long–too much weight.
Nice to hear those are back… I would guess these are for the increasing scrap mini mill operations. Are there any pics anywhere?
Dave
Los Angeles, CA
-Rail Radio Online-Home of the “TrainTenna” RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline
Why don’t they purchase those high side gondolas.
I took a picture (film). However, I don’t have a website. The cars I saw were carrying shreded scrap metal.
I am guessing the 297000-297299 will be built by Johnstown America or Trinity. I have eliminated Gunderson because they do not list gondolas as one of their products, however neither does NSC. It also looks TTX needs to update its website. It does not have the GNTX or GNDX reporting marks listed yet.
I am guessing the GNDX will probably be 52’ gondolas or specialized gondolas.
I would bet a lot of these will make their way onto the EJ&E. They are a huge gon user, and have recently gotten rid of some of their own gon fleet.
Dave
-Rail Radio Online-Home of the “TrainTenna” RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline
I saw four more today. They were shiny. Unfortunately, one had already been vandalized.
I was told by a usually reliable source that the 297000-series GNTX cars will be/are being built by Trinity Industries at Springfield, Missouri.
I would imagine IHB too. How many industries do thease industries switch after all that are metal related? I don’t know some of the names but I know it is quite a few.
I saw some cars in the GNTX 297000 series on Thursday. They are made by Trinity Rail Group and look like normal gondolas.
I’ll have to keep an eye out for these cars.
I have enjoyed watching the new autoracks recently I’ve seen a good number of them, they look like they’re right out of the future…very very shiny when the sun hits them just right.