Did American Flyer sell a 54 foot gondola?

ctomitaOGR Forum Member

I bought this gondola at the Golden Gate Lionel Railroad Club train show in Mountain View California on February 6. The paint job caught my eye but I thought it was a custom paint job of an American Models 52 foot gondola. When I looked closer it is stamped "American Flyer mfd by The A. C. Gilbert Co. New Haven Conn USA". Although some shows/conventions arrange custom cars it seems unlikely that Gilbert would have made new molds just for a small run. If there are more of these out there (particularly with under-represented railroad names) I'd like to have them. If not, it's a bargain at $20.

Craig

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2/14/227:36 PM

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richabrOGR Forum Member

That is not a gondola manufactured by Gilbert. If it is stamped American Flyer in the plastic it could be that someone has cobbled together 2 standard Gilbert gondolas into a custom longer model. Nice job!

Rich

2/14/227:52 PM

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AmFlyerOGR Forum Member

Gilbert made one basic Gondola, it is 8" long. The Gilbert gondola has three vertical ribs on the inside of the body. Looking closely at the picture, that gondola has four vertical ribs and the space between the center two ribs appears slightly narrower than the space to the outer ribs. Someone did a great job of stretching it 2" using a donor body to make a 54' gondola.

2/14/227:56 PM

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Dave KoehlerOGR Forum Member

nice looking gon.

2/14/227:58 PM

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Rusty TraqueOGR Forum Member

Plus Railgon didn't exist when Gilbert was in business

Rusty

2/14/228:37 PM

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poniajOGR Forum Member

Nicely done model and a great example of kitbashing. I did something similar years ago in a series of items I called "phantoms", they being things Gilbert could have made, but didn't. I even gave them a plausible number and paint scheme. In this case a Southern gon numbered 949. Just for a laugh, here it is: