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Our Forum friend, Don McErlean, who has a knack for alliteration, asked me to start a thread for him with the above title.

I will get us started by sharing the short video below of a train including Happy Hoppers & Good Gondolas (LOL) running on my layout:

Now it's your turn. Let's see your Hoppers and Gondolas.

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My favorite:

AOCX 800 open hopper ALUMINUM ORE CO-002AOCX 800 open hopper ALUMINUM ORE CO-004



And a Lykens Valley kit that I built:

Southern BIG JOHN hopper side-002


This B&O pig flat was classed as an O-58 gondola by the B&O as it has sides:

100_4934IMG_1573IMG_1572

This was built and hand-lettered (by Tommy Arnold?) in July 1939. Around the same time, he also built a couple of O-60 65' mill gons but I do not have a photo of mine. The only change/upgrade that I did to them was to install Athearn insulated trucks for two-rail operation.

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  • AOCX 800 open hopper ALUMINUM ORE CO-002
  • AOCX 800 open hopper ALUMINUM ORE CO-004
  • Southern BIG JOHN hopper side-002
  • 100_4934
  • IMG_1573
  • IMG_1572
Last edited by PRRMP54

Ok, here we go. First, my very first gondola:

20230117_181515

This one is a Lionel Postwar gondola that came in my first train set, the 1954 Lionel Greenball Express Train Set that included the 2065 Hudson, Lionel Lines tender, operating milk car and platform, remote control 027 track, green operating log dump car and bin, yellow stock car, the above red gondola and Tuscan red Lionel Lines illuminated caboose with round portals, among other things.

This was a very popular 027 freight train set with, IMO, great play value for a child. It was also very durable and reliable.

This red gondola is not my best gondola, but it's the one I treasure the most because of nostalgia and its sentimental value for me.

Gondolas are wonderful for children because you can oftentines put things in them and give them train rides. My children and grandchildren have also enjoyed them for that reason.

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  • 20230117_181515
Last edited by Arnold D. Cribari

Here's mine. My first and only covered hopper from a few years back. And whadaya know, Arnold? The very same kind of NYC red gondola you have. Except mine remains full of plain Christmas M & Ms I've been trying to get rid of.

IMG_6037

You must have a sweet tooth, Vern, like I do. My passion is M&M Peanuts. I'm known as the M&M Peanut Guy in my hiking group because I always bring them and hand them out on my hikes with that group. Arnold

You must have a sweet tooth, Vern, like I do. My passion is M&M Peanuts. I'm known as the M&M Peanut Guy in my hiking group because I always bring them and hand them out on my hikes with that group. Arnold

Awesome Arnold. I prefer the peanut ones, too. However, over the holidays we have a couple of visiting little ones who are allergic to anything peanut. So I use the plain ones. 😉

Now it's time to see one of the best gondolas I have. This one is modern, with a load, and very well made with heft so it tends to be very stable when rolling down the line:20230117_180907

It's either a Lionel or MTH car. It has markings for the NY Central and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the  P & L E stands for Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Division of the NY Central.

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  • 20230117_180907
Last edited by Arnold D. Cribari

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!

Leroof, I'm sure when I was a little kid I put lots of little toys and other things in my Lionel Postwar red gondola, but what I most vividly remember, oddly enough, is my father putting packs of L&M cigarettes in the gondola. He also put L&M cigarettes in the log dump car and dumped them into the black bin using the remote control track.

Last edited by Arnold D. Cribari

I had a difficult decision to make this morning: which one of several recent threads to post the video below.

I chose this one because Don McErlean asked me to start this thread and I like its title, Happy Hoppers & Good Gondolas, which Don came up with:

This video is one of my favorites, and the MTH PS3 Long Island B6 steam switcher hauling gondolas and  oil tankers is one of my favorite locomotives.

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Last edited by Arnold D. Cribari

Well hello everyone.  Thanks to Arnold for starting this thread I wanted to do it but just didn't know how.  Its fun however and I can see lots of folks agree as they are posting and adding to the fun and our knowledge.

@ed h - I will admit, your Lionel "Happy Hopper" was what was foremost in my mind as I thought of the idea for this thread.  "Kiddie City" was a forerunner of "Toys R Us" but it eventually suffered the same fate.

Arnold thank you for your video's, Lionel hopper from '54, plus the cop and hobo car, barrel car, and others Thanks very much for starting us off

@PRRMP54- Al ore car and Southern "Big John" hopper were great! Had never seen anything like the B&O "Pig Iron" flat

@Yellowstone Special - LV covered hopper and a carload of M&M's how can you go wrong.

Here are some of mine, I will get some new pictures later today and post tomorrow.

Marx 7 inch Wabash Gondola

The Marx Wabash gondola from his 7 inch line, about 1958.

Marx scale C&O gondola

The Marx scale gondola.  This was from Marx's attempt to put out scale trains to go with his 999 locomotive.  This line started before the war but only entered volume production in the 40's.  Interestingly it was "S" scale at 3/16" to the ft but O gauge to take advantage and run on all the prior tracks and switches.

Fandor high side gondola

A real oldie...a Fandor high sided gondola with some rigging for tall loads.  1914 - 1918.  Fandor (in Germany) became Dorfan (in the U.S.) when German imports were outlawed and not very popular in the post WW 1 era.  The same men immigrated to the US and restarted the business.   They arrived in 1923 and made trains until the Depression caught up with them and they ceased production in 1934.

Marx C&O 7inch Gon side

Here is the same hopper as the Wabash but in a much more scarce brown C&O livery.  About the same time, middle to late 50's.

Boxcar - Saxa Salt

Now here is an unusual one...the Horby (UK) "covered boxcar" .  Is this a boxcar or a covered hopper.  It typically carried granular products like grain, sand, or salt in this case.  The opening door on the roof was how it was loaded or unloaded (shovels and people I expect).  From the 1950's until about 1962 .

Hornby No 1 Hopper Van

Here is a more conventional bottom unload hopper from Hornby.  Postwar circa 1950's.

Well thanks to everyone and especially Arnold for helping me start this post.  Hope you had fun and please lets continue to put those "happy hoppers" and "goody gondolas" out where we can all see them.

OBTW, I agree with Arnold and others who said that the gondolas / hoppers were kids favorite because so many things can be "given a ride".  Lots of us remember Christmas candy running around under the tree and Soldiers riding to battle in a gondola (even if it was just a lot of times around in a circle).  I certainly gave my soldiers a ride...although in my case they were lead not plastic.

Best wishes to all

Don

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Images (6)
  • Marx 7 inch Wabash Gondola
  • Marx scale C&O gondola
  • Fandor high side gondola
  • Marx C&O 7inch Gon side
  • Boxcar - Saxa Salt
  • Hornby No 1 Hopper Van

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