Railmodel Journal Index

Railmodel Journal was, in my opinion, one of the best railroad modeling magazines published. 

The primary interest for me are the Freight Cars of the '50s series of articles, a feature in most issues. These focused on a specific model and the prototypes that match it and are great articles by a who's who of prototype modeling pioneers. While many of these articles have been expanded upon in other publications (such as Railway Prototype Cyclopedia), they are still full of useful information and are the best place to start to identify the accuracy of models released through 2008 when RMJ ceased publication. I note plastic models that have been released since. I only mention other resin kits if the article is about a kitbash, since the resin kit would be the easier (and often more accurate) option.

This is simply a re-organized and reformatted list primarily copied from the RMJ site which can be accessed at the Internet Archive. Like the RMJ site, you can search this page with the search function in your browser. I've only included HO scale info (because that's what I compiled), and only those articles that cover prototype info and specific models. 

I list individual entries by road name, provided that info was in RMJ's index. 

All of these articles are available at Train Life online for free. I've listed them in the following format:

Prototype. Model. Author. Issue.

40-FOOT BOX CARS

• 40-foot all-steel box cars. Accurail/Des Plaines/Sylvan. Swain. 10/00, 1, 3/01.
• 1937 AAR box cars. IMWX. Hendrickson. 7/94.
• 1937 AAR ACF box cars. IMWX/Red Caboose. Hawkins/Wider/Long, 7/91.
• 1937 AAR ACF box cars. IMWX/Red Caboose. Hendrickson. 11/92.
• 1937 AAR ACF double-door box cars. Red Caboose. Hendrickson. 1/98.
• 1937 AAR wood-side box cars with 5/4 Dreadnaught ends. Athearn/Sunshine. Lofton. 2/94.
• 1941 Modified AAR box cars. Athearn/Intermountain/Sunshine. Hawkins, 8, 10, 12 /96, 3/97.
• 1944 AAR box cars. C&BT. Hawkins/Wider/Long. 10, 11/89, 2, 7, 10, 11/90, 6/92.
• 1944 AAR box cars. C&BT. Hendrickson. 12/89.
• 1944 AAR box cars. Branchline/C&BT. Hawkins. 10, 11/99, 1/00.
• 1944 AAR box cars. Kitbash. Accurail/McKean. Hawkins. 4/94.
• 1944 AAR single- and double-door box cars. Branchline. Hawkins. 11/99, 1/00.
• 1944 AAR double-door box cars. C&BT. Hawkins 6/92.
• 1944 AAR double-door box cars. C&BT. Hawkins/Wider/Long. 1/90.
• 1944 welded double-door box car. Kitbash. Accurail. 4/94.
• The term "Interim" applied to the ends in these articles is a misnomer. Improved Dreadnaught End was the manufacturer's (SREM) trademarked name, no "interim."
• 1955-1961 AAR box car. Branchline/Red Caboose. Hawkins. 7/99.
• ATSF 1890-1900 era box and stock cars. 12/02
• ATSF 1944 AAR box cars. C&BT. Hendrickson. 9/89.
• ATSF Bx-11/12/13 box cars. Westerfield. Hendrickson. 5/95.
• B&O M-26 single-door box car clones Red Caboose/Westerfield. Hendrickson. 6/98, 11, 12/01.
• C&O 1937 AAR Rebuilt 40-foot box cars. Pitzer. 5/96.
• CN 1-1/2-door single-sheathed 40-foot box car. Accurail. Hendrickson. 4/93.
• CN 1916-1917 40-foot single-sheathed box cars from Accurail/Sunshine. Hendrickson. 2/93.
• CN 1929 40-foot single-sheathed box cars. Steam Shack. Swain. 6/94.
• CN 40' box cars. Kitbash. C&BT/Intermountain/McKean. Swain. 12/92, 3/93.
• CNJ 40-foot single-sheathed box cars. Accurail/Tichy. Roseman, 2/03.
• CNJ box cars. Red Caboose/Walthers. Roseman. 11/02.
• DT&I X29 box car clones. Red Caboose/Westerfield. Hendrickson. 6/98, 11, 12/01.
• GN 12-panel box cars. Intermountain. Buck. 10/98.
• GTW 1-1/2-door single-sheathed 40-foot box car. Accurail. Hendrickson. 4/93.
• ITC 1944 AAR box cars. Kitbash. C&BT. Hawkins. 2/91.
• LS&I PS-1 box cars. Accurail. Switzer. 9/03.
• Mather box car. Proto 2000. Hendrickson, 8/03
• M&StL 6-foot door car kitbash. Intermountain. Freeman. 1/02.
• MILW 40' roof-hatch box cars. MDC. Rydarowicz. 6/01.
• MILW rib-side box cars. Rib Side Models. Hendrickson. 12/04
• MP AAR box cars. Branchline. Freeman. 2/03.
• NKP X29 box car clones. Red Caboose/Westerfield. Hendrickson. 6/98, 11, 12/01.
• NYC USRA single-sheathed box car. Tichy. Switzer. 6/02.
• Forthcoming Rapido car.
• PRR X26C box cars. Athearn/Sunshine. Lofton/Meacham. 8/92.
• F&C and forthcoming Rapido cars.
• PRR X28 1-1/2-door box cars. Intermountain. Roseman. 8/04.
• PRR X29 box cars. Red Caboose/Sunshine/Walthers. Lofton, 9/93, Hendrickson. 8/97.
• PRR X29B box cars. Front Range. Davis. 3/91.
• PRR X29B box cars. C&BT/Sunshine. Lofton. 1/94.
• PRR X29G box cars. Kitbash. Details West. Bley. 2/91.
• PRR X43 box cars. C&BT. Davis. 9/91.PRR X31 round-roof box cars. Burg. 3/95.
• PRR X37 1937 AAR box car. Athearn. LaRue. 9/90.
• PRR X37B double-door box car kitbash. Athearn/Front Range. LaRue. 11/92.
• PRR X54 box cars. Kitbash. Details West. Bley. 1/91.
• Pullman Standard "PS-0" box cars. Intermountain/Red Caboose. Rydarowicz. 3/01.
• Pullman Standard PS-1 box cars. Accurail/Cannonball/Con-Cor/Intermountain/Kadee/McKean/Model Power/Walthers. 6/89, 3/93, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11/93, 1, 6, 11, 12/94, 5, 6, 7, 12/97.
• SOO PS-1 box car. McKean. Holbrook. 12/90.
• Linde 40' box/tank cars. McKean. Rydarowicz. 7/93.
• T&P box cars. Intermountain. Freeman. 9/01.
• UP B-50-24, -27 box cars. Trix. Hendrickson. 6/03.
• USRA 40-foot double-sheathed box cars. Ertl/Westerfield. Hendrickson 5/98.
• Rapido model
• USRA rebuilt single-sheathed box cars. Tichy. Lofton and Hendrickson. 4, 5, 6/92, 7/93
• W&LE X29 box car clones. Red Caboose/Westerfield. Hendrickson. 6/98, 11, 12/01.
• WAB 1944 AAR box cars. C&BT. Hawkins. 5/91.
• War Emergency single-sheathed box cars. Sunshine. Culotta, 4/03.

50-FOOT BOX CARS

• 1941 AAR 50' box cars. Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 4/98.
• 1941 AAR 50' double-door box cars. Athearn/Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 10/95, 3, 9/96.
• 1944 AAR 50' box cars. Branchline. 8/89, 3, 4, 6, 9/90, 10/92.
• 50' composite box cars. MDC/Westerfield. Burg/Hendrickson. 7, 10, 11/89,
• 50' single-sheathed box cars. MDC/Walthers/Westerfield. Hendrickson. 7/95, 7/96.
• GAEX 50' single-door "DF" box cars. Branchline/C&BT (Kitbash). 3, 4, 9/90, 4/91, 2/92.
• GN 50' single-sheathed box cars. Westerfield. Nehrich. 7/95.
• NP 50' double-door box cars. Kitbash. Details West. Pitzer. 3/00.
• PRR 50' single door box cars. Details West. Davis. 4/91.
• PRR X31B 50' round-roof box cars. Bowser. Davis. 8/91.
• PRR X32, 33 50' double-door box cars. Bowser. Burg. 2/96.
• Pullman Standard 50' "PS-0" box cars. Intermountain/Red Caboose. Rydarowicz. 3/01.
• Pullman Standard 50' PS-1 double-door box cars. Intermountain. Hawkins. 6, 7/95, 1/96.
• Pullman Standard 50' PS-1 single-door box cars. Intermountain. Hawkins. 12/95.

COVERED HOPPERS

• ACF two-bay covered hoppers. Bowser/ECW/Kato. Hawkins/Wider/Long. 4, 8, 10, 12/91.
• ACF two-bay covered hoppers. Bowser/ECW/Kato. Eager. 3, 5/94.
• ACF two-bay covered hoppers. Bowser/ECW/Kato. Hendrickson. 9/97.
• ACF two-bay covered hoppers. Bowser/ECW/Kato. Mende. 3/94.
• ACF two-bay covered hoppers. Kitbash. Con-Cor. Charles. 8/90.
• Intermountain model.
• Airslide covered hoppers. Con-Cor/ECW/Walthers. 12/90, 2/91, 10/92.
• PRR H21D covered hopper. Kitbash. Westerfield. Bossler. 2/04.
• PRR H34 PS-2 covered hopper. Atlas/MDC. Burg. 12/93, 1/94.
• Pullman Standard PS-2 covered hoppers. Atlas/MDC. Gher. 7/90.
• Pullman Standard PS-2 covered hoppers. Atlas/MDC. Hawkins. 4, 6, 9, 11/95.
• Pullman Standard PS-2 covered hoppers. Kadee. Hawkins. 12/03.

FLAT CARS

• AAR 50', 50-ton flat cars. Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 6, 8/99.
• A&WP pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• ACL pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• ATSF pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• B&O 50' piggyback (TOFC) flats and trailers. Kitbash. Athearn. 10/89.
• Bethlehem 75' piggyback (TOFC) flat cars. Walthers. Vaughan. 4/90.
• C&G pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• CSXT pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• GA pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• GM&O pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• GSI Commonwealth 53' flat cars. Walthers. Eager. 12/92.
• Midwest pulpwood flat cars. Holbrook. 10/89, 1, 5/90, 9/91.
• MP pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• NKP 42-foot piggyback flat cars. Kitbash. Athearn. Rydarowicz. 7/98.
• Northeastern pulpwood and wood chip cars. Lancaster. 8/97.
• Pulpwood flat car. Kitbash. Walthers. Schleicher. 4/94.
• PRR F30 piggyback flat cars. Walthers. Rydarowicz. 9/04.
• PRR F30A 40-foot flat cars. Bowser. Hendrickson. 4/99.
• Forthcoming Rapido model.
• RF&P pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.
• SAL 40'/50' pulpwood flat cars. Kitbash. Athearn. Denton. 10/93.
• Tichy 40' flat cars. Hendrickson. 6/93.
• USRA-design 42' flat cars. Red Caboose. Hendrickson. 1/97.
• WofA pulpwood flat cars. Coates. 9/93.

GONDOLAS

• 40' General Service (GS) gondolas. Detail Associates/Red Caboose. Hendrickson. 3/00.
• 50' War Emergency gondolas. Tichy. Hendrickson. 5, 6/02.
• C&O 100-ton gondolas. Kitbash. Athearn. Westerfield. 12/89.
• CN 141000-142749 48-foot gondolas. Westerfield. Swain. 9/96.
• CNW 43' gondolas. Model Power/Tyco. Preussler. 10/03.
• EJ&E 50' gondola. AHM. Nehrich. 10/94.
• Erie-Lackawanna 52-foot gondola. Proto 2000. Sanicky. 9/98.
• Greenville-design 52-foot mill gondolas. Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 11/96.
• PRR G-31 54' gondola. Con-Cor. Bley. 12/90.
• PRR Gs gondolas. Bowser. Hendrickson. 4/99.
• USRA 41'6" 50-ton composite gondolas. Intermountain/Proto 1000. Hendrickson. 2/00.
• USRA 46' mill gondolas. Westerfield/Walthers. Hendrickson. 7/02.

HOPPERS

• AAR 50-ton offset twin hoppers. Athearn/Atlas. Hawkins. 3/98.
• Intermountain and Kadee models.
• AAR 70-ton offset-side triple hoppers. Con-Cor/Stewart. Hendrickson. 4, 8/95, 5/96.
• AAR Emergency 50-Ton composite hoppers. Athearn/Proto 2000. Hawkins. 12/00, 4/01.
• ACF three-bay hoppers. MDC/Roundhouse. Hawkins. 12/91, 2/94.
• B&O fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. Nehrich. 2/92.
• B&O W-1 hoppers. Kitbash. Bowser. Roseman. 11/00.
• Berwind USRA 55-ton twin hoppers. Accurail/Life-Like/Tichy/Westerfield. 7/89.
• Also MTH, acquired by Scaletrains.
• C&O fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. 4/93.
• C&S USRA 55-ton twin hoppers. Accurail/Life-Like/Tichy/Westerfield. 7/89.
• Also MTH, acquired by Scaletrains.
• CN H-39 clone triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• CNJ/CRP fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. Nehrich. 2/92.
• CNJ/CRP fishbelly hoppers. Kitbash. Stewart. Mende. 6/94.
• CR H-39 clone triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• D&H fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. Nehrich. 2/92.
• DRGW H-39 clone triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• E-L H-39 clone triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• LV 34' offset-side hoppers. Kitbash. Athearn/Atlas. Roseman. 10/02.
• LV fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. Nehrich. 2/92.
• MILW H-39 clone triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• N&W fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. Nehrich. 2/92.
• P&LE H-39 clone triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• PC H-39 clone triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• PRR GLa hoppers. Bowser/Westerfield. Burg. 2/02.
• Forthcoming Rapido model.
• PRR H21 hoppers. Bowser. Burg. 5/93.
• PRR H22A hoppers. Bowser. Burg. 5/94.
• PRR H31 hoppers. Athearn. Bley. 7/91.
• PRR H35, 37 hoppers. Stewart. Burg.1/96.
• PRR H39 triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• RDG fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. Nehrich. 2/92.
• RDG fishbelly hoppers. Kitbash. Stewart. Mende. 6/94.
• RDG War Emergency hoppers. Kitbash. Roseman. 4/02.
• F&C.
• Roger-Hart 70-ton Convertible Ballast Cars. Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 1/04.
• Roger-Hart Selective ballast. Challenger/Hi-Tech. Hendrickson. 8/01, 3/02.
• Atlas.
• USRA twin hopper. Accurail. Hendrickson. 5/95.
• Also Tichy and MTH, acquired by Scaletrains.
• WM fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. Nehrich. 2/92.
• WM fishbelly hoppers. Stewart. Pitzer. 6/94.
• WM H-39 clone triple hoppers. Stewart. Eager. 4/93.
• WM Channel-side two-bay hoppers. Stewart. Hawkins. 5/97.

REEFERS

• ART reefers. Intermountain. Hawkins. 2/01.
• ART steel reefers. Intermountain/Walthers. Rydarowicz. 7/00.
• ART, MDT, PFE combination-door reefers. Intermountain/Walthers. Rydarowicz. 8/00.
• BREX reefers. Accurail. Wagner. 6/99.
• MDC and Red Caboose reefers. Hendrickson. 2, 10/96, 7/97.
• MDT reefers. Kitbash. Intermountain. Rydarwicz. 5/99.
• NP reefers. Intermountain. Hawkins. 9/00.
• PFE R-40-10 reefers. Intermountain. Hawkins. 2/01.
• PFE R-40-23 reefers. Intermountain. Hendrickson. 10/94.
• PFE R-40-23 reefers. Intermountain. Hendrickson. 3/95.
• PFE R-40-23 reefers. Intermountain. Kohlmann. 9/98.
• PFE R-40-25 reefers. Intermountain. Hawkins. 9/00.
• PFE wood reefers. Red Caboose/Tichy/Westerfield. Hendrickson. 4/97.
• SFRD Rr-5 through Rr-11 reefers. Sunshine. Hendrickson. 1/92.
• SFRD Rr-19 through Rr-32 reefers. C&BT. Hendrickson.11/94.
• SFRD Rr-19 through Rr-32 reefers. Upgrade. C&BT. Hendrickson. 11/94.
• SFRD Rr-19 through Rr-32 reefers. Intermountain. Hendrickson. 12/96.
• Swift reefers. MDC/Sunshine/Tichy. Lofton, 2/93.
• URTX reefers. Branchline Trains. Hawkins 5/00.
• URTX reefers. Kitbash. Mantua/Red Caboose. Rydarowicz. 9/01.
• URTX reefers. Tichy/Westerfield. Westerfield. 6/89, 7/92.

STOCK CARS

• ATSF sk-Q through Sk-U stock cars. Intermountain. Hendrickson. 8/04
• CGW stock car. Proto 2000. Probst. 5/01.
• Mather double-deck stock cars. Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 5/97.
• Mather single-deck stock cars. Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 2/97.
• NP stock cars. Central Valley Model Works. Hendrickson. 9/91.
• Swift stock cars. Lofton. 2/93.

TANK CARS

• 6,000-gallon insulated high-pressure tank cars. Trix. Hendrickson. 9/04.
• ACF ICC-103W 10,000-gallon welded tank cars. Red Caboose. Hendrickson. 4/96.
• AFC Type 21 8,000 gallon tank cars. Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 2/98.
• ACF Type 21 10,000 gallon tank cars. Proto 2000. Hendrickson. 1/00.
• ACF Type 27 8,000-gallon tank cars. Intermountain. Hendrickson. 10/97.
• ACF Type 27 10,000-gallon tank cars. Intermountain. Hendrickson/ 7/97.
• GATC 10,000 and 12,500-gallon tank cars. Kitbash. Athearn. Hendrickson. 8/96.
• ICC 105, 11,000 gallon tank cars. Atlas. Hendrickson. 7/03.
• For more accurate Kadee model see Ed Hawkins clinic and roster.
• Linde 40-foot box/tank cars. McKean. Ryczkowski. 7/93.
• LPG 40-foot tank cars. Athearn. 9/89.
• SOO Pickle tank car. Scratchbuiling. Leider. 2/02.
• Skelgas LP tank car. Kitbash. Athearn. Hodina. 7/89.
• Tichy HO scale small-dome tank car. Hendrickson. 10/90, 4/91.

DETAILS

• Prototype brake wheels c1930-1960. Hawkins. 9/96.
• HO scale freight trucks. Hendrickson.2, 4/90, 12/93, 2/95.
• Richard also published a much more current document online available here.

PAINTING

• Authentic railroad color chips. Box car red. Floquil/SMP/Scalecoat. Hawkins/Wider/Long. 8/89, 6/90
• B&O box car colors. Hawkins/Wider/Long. 8/89.
• PRR Freight car red. LaRue/Gutowski/McGuire/PRRT&HS. 11/90.
• Repack data markings. Switzer. 9/90.
• Reweigh, station, weight and service stencils, placards and truck details. Hendrickson.6/97.
• Weathering freight cars to match the steam era. Hendrickson. 12/95.
• Weathering Kadee box cars. Switzer. 8/01.
• Weathering tank cars. Schleicher. 5/97.

Speedwitch L&M Gondola

I pulled out a kit I started a while ago, the Speedwitch L&M USRA clone gondola. At the time I was having issues getting the ends glued on.

The problem (I should have taken a picture) was two-fold. First, the ends were slightly warped top to bottom. Second, the sides had warped inward. Because the original frame is cut out to accept the new ends, probably combined with the styrene boards I glued to the styrene bracing, the sides had bowed in quite a bit.

In both cases, with some fairly firm bending, I was able to correct the issue enough so they weren't all pulling in different directions when trying to glue the ends on. I also learned that CA actually has a shelf life at which point it's effectiveness decreases. I had purchased an entire box several years ago, and even though I was using newly opened bottles, I decided to go with a fresh one I purchased recently.

How much work is left depends on how much more of the detail I want to add. Ted's described what he did here. here, here, and here. I don't have the set of punches he uses (yet...), but I'll probably do most of the other details.

More Airbrushing

 I decided to paint the Southern gondola, since it's all black. Since I didn't have Model Air in black, I mixed up some of the Game Color black that I had, thinned with Vallejo Airbrush Thinner. Instead of mixing it in the cup, I have extra small dropper bottles and mixed it in one of those.

As I mentioned before, it's getting the right consistency is what I'm struggling with. This was too thin, and was watery. As a result, it took a lot of extra passes to get it covered, and I have a few spots to touch up. I did this with black so I could experiment with decaling and lettering this car and the NH flat to see how working with the different base colors is. Since I would apply the proper Hunter Green, Warm Orange, or box car red, I logically think that if the car was painted black, I should start there. So we'll see.

Here it is next to the flat car. you'll note that the black came out glossy, with the flat car...well, flat.

It's been a hectic couple of weeks, and that's not going to change for several more. I have been working on getting the lights installed as well, although nothing to really show for those yet. But I'm finding that I can go down and practice this when I have 15-30 minutes. It's easy to get started, and easy to clean up, and I have a bunch of hoppers to paint black. 

Fixing a Resin Kit

Some time ago, I realized that I hadn't assembled the Speedwitch Southern low side gondola properly. I had installed the bottom floor too low (there's a top and bottom, with a weight sandwiched between them). This was in part due to the weight I had used. I had some thin lead sheet, but it wasn't think enough.

Because I was trying to be clever, I had not only attached the handbrake rod to the brake cylinder with a chain, but it ran all the way to the brake staff and was attached to that too. That complicated removing the floor, but I decided it would be easy enough to reattach the chain to the staff when I was done.

So yes, here's a fully assembled resin kit (not painted though), that I have partially disassembled.

I needed to scrape/file all of the glue off.

While I was working on it, I was chatting with my buddy Ron, who informed me that his copy of the kit is in pieces because it was very brittle (Ted's/Speedwitch's first kit). I commented that I was surprised at how flexible the resin was, then promptly broke one of the sides...

I glued the top deck in first, to work from the bottom.

One of the reasons I picked this back up, is I wanted to try a product I hadn't ever seen mentioned in the hobby press. Lead Tape. This is made to weight/balance tennis rackets and/or golf clubs (which might explain why it never showed up in the hobby press). It's very thin lead, backed with an adhesive.

In this case I have two weights/thicknesses, both from Amazon. Of course, I realized after I started gluing it back together that I hadn't taken a picture in use. But I used the thicker tape down the middle, and the thinner along either side, figuring that it could bow up/down a smidge without a problem if needed.

One issue I always had with this kit was that the sides/floors didn't mate well. Of course, I should have followed Ted's lead in correcting this. 

Yep, I took it apart again...so I can show you the lead tape.

In the process, of course, there was some damage to the floor this is evident when I glued the styrene strip along the side as Ted suggested. In my case, I needed to widen it much less than Ted, so even though I used the same size, I ended up sanding it to about half the thickness away. That's OK, because it ensured a good fit.

But what to do about the hole?

I recently picked up some of Vallejo's plastic putty. In addition to the tube here, it comes in a 17ml bottle like their paints and that seems to be slightly thinner. It's a thick acrylic, so it's extremely fine-grained, well, there's no grain that I could detect. It's very pliable and easy to work with, more like a very thick gel than a paste and now is my go-to product for this type of work.

I just squeezed it into the gap, and used a razor blade to scrape it flush. You can see that I also had to lengthen the deck with styrene too. The spaces that are missing are to fit around sill steps, etc.

Did I need to correct the issue with the floor? Of course not. Very few people would even know that it was mounted too low, and they would have to notice that fact when they saw the car. It wasn't easy to see. This is largely an exercise in improving my modeling skills and seeing what I'm capable of. But I am quite happy that it also largely fixed the bowed sides. 

Since this is to be a black gondola, with a painted floor, I'm looking forward to it being good practice for airbrushing and weathering where I don't have to worry about trying to match colors. That will be coming shortly.

NH GA-4 60508 with Buoy Load

New Haven GA-4 class gondola 60508 with a buoy load.

I've seen another picture of this car load from another angle. Unfortunately, this one isn't in great shape, but it's an interesting load. The other photo that I've seen is much better quality, but from the other end and the placard to the left of the reporting marks is not legible in that photo. It says:

RETURN WHEN EMPTY

TO NEW HAVEN R.R.

BRIDGEPORT, CONN.

Note the tie-downs welded on the car sides. These aren't standard on New Haven gondolas and I am unaware how many received them. It would appear these cars were modified for special service, and thus the placard. There is a second gondola (60289) visible in this photo, and appears a third is to its left in the other photo I've seen. I cannot tell if they carry the same load, nor whether the tie downs are present on those cars as well.

Cars assigned to special service like this were noted in Transportation Department Forms and supplements. For example, here are a couple of pages from TD-12-G from December 15, 1956:

Unfortunately, I don't have one for this specific period around July '52 (when the car was reweighed) to see specifically what assignment it had. I believe that one or more of the gondolas had the tie-downs installed for servicing this particular load/company, which is why they were stenciled to be returned when empty.

New Haven Low Side Coal Cars (Gondolas)

In my era, the New Haven had three classes of gondolas designated in internal documents as Low Side Coal Cars (hoppers being High Side Coal Cars), L.S. Coal Cars, Coal Cars, Coal (Gondola), or simply gondolas. The primary designation appears to be Low Side Coal Car.

58000-58499 (Class GA-2)

41' 40-ton steel drop door gondolas built 1929 by New Haven.

Starting 1949-1953 the drop doors were welded shut/removed.

AB Brakes replaced KD brakes 1948.

Ajax power handbrakes installed 1948.

Most remaining sold/rebuilt/leased in 1955-56 and renumbered into the 59000-59249 series.

60000-60499 (Class GA-3)

43' 50-ton steel drop door gondolas built 1929-30 at New Haven.

1949(?)-1953 the drop doors were welded shut/removed.

AB Brakes replaced KD brakes 1947.

Ajax power handbrakes installed 1948.

Most remaining sold/rebuilt/leased in 1955 and renumbered to the 61000-61249 series.

60500-60649 (Class GA-4)

43' steel drop door gondolas built 1937-8 at Readville.

Built with AB Brakes and Ajax powered handbrakes

Drop doors were not removed until they were sold/rebuilt/leased back.

This group was almost identical to the GA-3 class (see the prior diagram), but when built had AB instead of KD brakes, and Ajax powered handbrakes, instead of Klasing, Miner, or Universal. The handbrake was 1-3/8" farther from the center line of the car. Unlike the other classes, the drop doors were not removed from these cars.

Drop Doors

All three of these classes were built with steel floors, four drop doors, and Standard Steel Car ratchet-type door mechanisms. They are clearly visible on the side of the builders' photo of 58000:

Starting c1947 (see the roster info below) the drop doors were removed. What is unclear to me is the process used. In photos it's obvious that the door locking mechanism is no longer present along the side sills. Someplace I recall it being reported that they welded the doors shut. I cannot find that reference at this time. If that's the case, then the doors would still be visible in the floor of the car.

When the cars were sold to International Railway Car Co in 1955, rebuilt at Readville, and then leased back to the New Haven, the floors appear to have been entirely replaced. So cars in the 59000- and 61000-series would have no evidence of the drop doors remaining.

Roster

The August, 1947 ORER lists all cars with drop doors. The diagram for the 60000-series indicates in a note dated 10-4-47 that the drop doors were removed from all of that 60000-604999 series cars.

I don't have any ORERs between the August, 1947 and May, 1950 issues, but through the March 1949 Summary of Equipment all of the gondolas are listed as having drop doors.

The June 1949 SoE shows 259 solid bottom and 236 with drop doors of 80,000 lb capacity (58000-series), and 264/379 solid/drop doors in the 50-ton 60000-series cars. Note that this does not separate the GA-4 class. However, the diagram indicates only the original 500 cars were modified, and the ORER/SoE data further verifies that the GA-4 class did not have their drop doors sealed/removed at this time.

That shows more than 50% of the cars having been modified in three months. So the timeliness of the changes may vary depending on the given report. What is clear is that by late '49, a substantial number of the cars had been modified. It would appear that the diagram was updated in 1947, but that either the sealing/removal of the doors didn't start until mid-1949, or that the modified cars weren't separated out in the roster until then. Some 1948 or 1949 ORERs would be helpful here (hint, hint...).

Other than working from photos, I don't have a list of when a specific road number had the drop doors sealed/removed.

Here are the quantities listed in the Summaries of Equipment and ORERs, with the 58000-series then the 60000-series listed separately, and each noting solid bottom/drop doors. The ORERs separate out the GA-4 class, the Summaries don't until the 11-51 issue.

09-49    272/223; 273/370 (1,138) - only missing five 58000-series and seven 60000-series 
12-49    291/204; 302/341 (1,138)

03-50    324/171; 376/267 (1,138)

05-50    361/134; 411/82; 150 (1,138) - ORER

06-50    409/86; 419/224 (1,138)

11-50    464/31; 459/34; 150 (1,138) - ORER

12-50    476/19; 481/162 (1,138)
03-51    479/16; 482/161 (1,138)
06-51    482/12; 488/155 (1,137)
11-51    489/5; 491/2; 150 (1,137) - GA-4 class listed separately now.
12-51    489/5; 491/2; 150  (1,137)
03-52    492/2; 490/1; 150 (1,135)

12-52    461/0; 397/0; 150 (1,008) - no drop door cars left except the GA-4 cars.

11-53    394; 286; 85 (765) - ORER

12-53    350; 258; 81 (689)

12-54    258; 184; 72 (514)

• 58427 destroyed 5/3/51 Dunkirk, NY (NYC)
• 60385 destroyed 1/15/52 Union City, PA (PRR)
• 58063 destroyed 6/4/52 Pitcairn, PA (PRR)
• 60277 and 60476 destroyed 10/28/53 in East Walden, NY (NYC)

From 1953-54, 82 cars pulled from all three classes were renumbered and reassigned to work service, replacing cars that had been converted to work service c1939 after these cars were built. All were condemned in 1961, and handful sold or condemned earlier. 

Starting in 1955, most cars would be sold to International Railway Car Co., who were required to rebuild the cars at their expense with railroad workers at Readville, and then leased them back to the NH.  The 58000- series cars were renumbered into the 59000-59249 series, and the 60000- series to the 61000-61249 series once rebuilt.

The SoE entries for the 58000/59000; 60000/610000; and 60500 series are:

12-55    204/54; 121/65; 70 (514)

12-56    24/217; 6/232; 4 (483)

12-57    25/217; 6/231; 4 (483)

12-58    25/217; 6/231; 4 (483)

12-59    11/217; 1/231; 1 (461)

12-60    11/217; 1/230; 1 (460)

12-61    11/216; 1/230; 1 (429)

12-62    11/216; 1/230; 1 (429)

12-63    11/216; 1/228; 1 (427)

12-64    11/216; 1/228 (426)

12-65    11/125; 1/129 (266)

12-66    11/26; 1/29 (67)

12/67    10/2; 0/3 (15)

12/68    61053 is the only remaining car. (1)

We can see the shift to the leased cars in 1955-6, although they maintained a very small roster of company owned cars. It's fairly steady through 1964, with only a small amount of attrition (slower than the roster as a whole), but then drops off quickly. The percent of gondolas to the entire NH roster:

New Haven Freight Cars (December)(% of gondolas to total)

1958    8,061 (5.9%)

1959    8,006 (5.7%)

1960    8.087 (5.6%)

1961    7,619 (5.6%)

1962    6,925 (6.2%)

1963    5,567 (7.7%)

1964    5,565 (7.7%)

1965    5,412 (4.9%)

1966    4,287 (1.5%)

1967    4000 (.38%)

1968    3,959 (.03%)

Modeling

The shorter 58000-series GA-2 class cars are easy to model since Funaro and Camerlengo produced a model, and I continue to bug Steve about completing the GA-3/4 classes. The models are excellent one-piece bodies and are available with and without drop doors.

As I noted above, though, when modeling the cars pre-1955, there's a question of whether the floor was replaced or the doors just welded shut. I think that initially they were welded shut, in which case the model with the drop doors is appropriate, minus the locking/operating mechanism, for any car except for those that were sold to International Railway Car Co, then rebuilt and leased back to the NH. In other words, for any cars numbered in the 58000-series.

Oops

More photos of open-top cars from the collection Dick provided. Prior posts are here, here, and here.

These are three that show mishaps.

C&O 31023 with a lumber load that has shifted. There's another car with a lumber load behind it too.

I don't have a lot of info on this class of cars. In the 1950 ORER the 31000-31549 group numbered 500 cars. A note indicates they have low fixed sides, solid bottom and drop ends. They are 48'6" in length and look a lot like shorter versions of the Greenville design gondola that is available from Walthers (ex-Proto 2000). There are rivets in a few places that leads me to believe there are collapsible stake pockets inside.

Unlike the model, there is no stiffening rib at the extreme ends of the sides, and the two shorter ribs don't have much of a taper, if any, at the bottom. On the model the ribs are also tapered at the top, and this doesn't appear to be the case for this car. What I find particularly interesting is that there only appears to be a single grab iron at the right end of the sides, where we would typically see 4 or so. The interior height is 3' instead of the 3'6" of the Greenville 52'6" design, but the height of the side of the car is about a foot lower (6'5" instead of 7'4" from the rail). 

Sure enough, checking the C&O Historical Society Archives they have several photos of 29900 (1, 2, and 3), part of the 29900-30099 series built by Greenville in 1939 and have the same dimensions and appearance.

But a closer look at their list of resources shows they also have pictures of 50-ton gondola 31466 that haven't been scanned yet. But it indicates they were built in 1939 by ACF. It appears they were built to the same design, with minor differences. For example, the coupler buffer and brake step.

Note: Modeling buddy Mike Clements tells me that Richard Hendrickson showed how to kitbash the earlier class of this gondola in the November-December, 1982 issue of Prototype Modeler. Normally you can access this issue at TrainLife, but it appears there is a technical issue right now.

Fortunately, I have it. Here's the diagram from that issue:

I might start with the Proto 2000 model at this point, but the process would be similar. Might I add that this is one of the primary reasons I post. I know that there are folks out there that know things I don't. and I hope that they'll share.

Thanks, Mike!

--

I can't make out the road for the next two pictures (maybe PRR?), that show the load was perhaps a little heavier than this car could handle:

Pontoons on the NH

This is a series of pictures of gondolas loaded with containers  pontoons on the New Haven.

Jack Consoli noticed the Navy Pontoon markings on them, and provided several links in the comments below. I'll leave my comments on container loads here.

There is a long article on container loads in this Freight Traffic Report, you'll need to go to pg 311 (the actual page number is 186) for the start.

Chapter 8 of this book is also very interesting, but it's a preview, so some portions are not available.

I'm not sure I recall seeing any in service photos of containers on the New Haven, so it was nice to get a small collection of them. They all seem to use the same types of containers, and one I haven't seen before. I don't know if these were purchased by the New Haven and these are outbound. Perhaps this is a record of a test. In any event, they are shown loaded into gondolas from several roads.

These first is a B&LE 36608, The 3rd number looks like a '6' to me, but could be an '8.'

Here's a B&O gondola of an unknown road number. The journals were repacked in July of 1943, and the repack markings are pretty clean. There's a nice collection of chalk marks too.

This is one involved in an accident, reporting marks are not visible.

Canadian Pacific, repack '43. Note the white ring painted around the hole for the brake release rod.

"Note broken bands & wires" is written under the photo.

Southern, repacked in '43. It's a 65' 0" long mill gondola. While Southern purchased some AAR Standard 65' gondolas, that was much later than this photo. 65' gondolas were also considerably narrower than shorter gondolas to maintain clearances. Compare the amount of space between the sides and the containers with the photo of the CP car above.

And PMcK&Y 90318, repacked in '42.

Note Alton (C&A) 38802 next to it. 

Obviously these pontoons wouldn't have come my way, but what's not clear to me how widely containers were used. For example, I don't know whether they would be likely to show up in New Britain. I think the biggest surprise for this group of photos was the number of different roads represented. Unfortunately, there are no HO scale models in plastic or even resin kits for any of these classes of gondolas as far as I know.

The Rapido 52'6" mill gondola looks close to the CP one. The only version I've seen has a 1953 build date, and has external tie down anchors on the exterior, which aren't on this particular prototype. I don't know if the ends differ, but otherwise they look like they are very similar cars.