Arnold, nice memorable thread!
That first red NYC gondola is my first as well. Lots of plastic soldiers rode the rails as well as in the green one. I used to put plastic dinosaurs, and certainly some matchbook cars in those postwar days. Hoppers from that time were well run with loads of varied stuff like balled up aluminum foil, tinsel from Christmas tree, rolled up used up guitar strings, and sometimes pencil sharpener waste taken from school classroom and some old folded up oxidized newspaper cut to fit!
yeah I have fond postwar gons and hoppers memories!
