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Glacier Park Models has started shipping the latest model today.  It is an injection molded plastic kit for a Southern Pacific drop bottom gondola.  The kit is a very accurate model of the railroad's G-50-23 composite gondola. 

Contact Glacier Park Models via their website if you are interested.  

 

Gene

side view

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  • side view
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Originally Posted by Gene D:

Glacier Park Models has started shipping the latest model today.  It is an injection molded plastic kit for a Southern Pacific drop bottom gondola.  The kit is a very accurate model of the railroad's G-50-23 composite gondola. 

Contact Glacier Park Models via their website if you are interested.  

 

Gene

 

I must be doing something wrong, as went to their website, which hasn't been up-dated since December 13, 2013, and could find no information about such a car kit.

Originally Posted by Hot Water:
Originally Posted by Gene D:

Glacier Park Models has started shipping the latest model today.  It is an injection molded plastic kit for a Southern Pacific drop bottom gondola.  The kit is a very accurate model of the railroad's G-50-23 composite gondola. 

Contact Glacier Park Models via their website if you are interested.  

 

Gene

 

I must be doing something wrong, as went to their website, which hasn't been up-dated since December 13, 2013, and could find no information about such a car kit.

Ditto for me Gene... was going to post this to your blog when I saw the pix there but I was on the road from Indy.

 

Beautiful car.  

Originally Posted by Hot Water:
Originally Posted by Gene D:
You are right. It was supposed to done from what I was told
Gene

So,,,,now what?  How does one obtain such kits, and what is the price? Do they also come with appropriate decals?

These were being presented at the last Chicago meet but they were not available at the time.

 

Been waiting patiently.................

Originally Posted by bob2:

They look very nice.

 

MTH did this car - while it cannot hold a candle to this one, if I were doing plastic models, I would lay in a supply of those and extend the underframe.

A supply of which, the MTH car? I have two of them and they sure look very nice, however I tried to get St Charles Model Works to produce/offer the SP extended sides for sugar beet service, but that request didn't materialize. 

Originally Posted by bob2:

The mTH car has a missing underframe, so it can go around corners.  Otherwise, it is a very nice model.  Fifty bucks with trucks, which can be eBayed.  I want metal gondolas.  Not $300 ones - so maybe I am done.

I have four of them. Initially I was going to build the extensions to make sugar beet cars out of them (still might as it would be a good project). Yep, the underframe is the casualty of the need for ultra sharp (less than 36" radius) curves.

Hot Water posted:
hibar posted:
Gene D posted:
The retail price is $99.95 plus $12.00 shipping.  Selected dealers are or will be stocking the kits.  One dealer that I know of is Coronado Scale Models in Phoenix, AZ.
Decals are available from Protocraft.  

Gene Deimling

Does this kit include trucks?

Probably not, at that price.

It doesn't.

Rule292 posted:

Gene, I hope that Jimmy Booth is in Chicago this year - hope to pick up one of these cars at the meet next week.   They're truly state of the art in accurate prototype kits.

You might shoot Jimmy an e-mail.

I for one am curious about what his next kit might be -- we need more kits of this quality and detail.

mwb posted:
Rule292 posted:

Gene, I hope that Jimmy Booth is in Chicago this year - hope to pick up one of these cars at the meet next week.   They're truly state of the art in accurate prototype kits.

You might shoot Jimmy an e-mail.

I for one am curious about what his next kit might be -- we need more kits of this quality and detail.

Martin I just might do that if he's not at the show. 

I suspect any future cars will be west coast cars even though a series of X29 cars in all of the side panel configs would be the nutz.   I'd like to see some single sheathed cars like 36' Fowler  or 40' Pratt and Howe truss outside braced cars.

I'd really like to see a series of UTLX A-3 tank cars in various sizes from 4000 to 10000 gallonage. These things ran everywhere during the steam and early diesel era.

ChipR,

The July 2000 issue of MR has some info on the prototype car.  Look for the review of the How Ordinary version of the Red Caboose GS drop-bottom gondola.

The March 2000 issue of RailModel Journal has good info/photos and there's no need to pry open your wallet because the issue is available online...TrainLife Magazines.  There's even a nice interior shot of a PSC drop-bottom gondola...reinforcing ribs...sloping sheets...sweet.

...and Pentrex offers the video: Imperial Valley Sugar Beet Trains

Hmmm...now where's the email address for Glacier Park Models....

 

 

Last edited by Old Goat

Gene,

I remember seeing these cars during time spent in California in the early '80s.  I'm kicking around the idea of building one, in either HO or O.  The HO version by Detail Associates offers the option of open or closed drop bottom doors as well as two piece sides allowing the modeler to substitute stripwood for the plastic sides behind the steel truss frame.  The kit also has both Dreadnaught and steel plate ends.  The brake system appears very detailed.  The GP website does not offer many details regarding their version.  Does the GP kit offer these features?  The brake system on your car looks more detailed than the stock GP gondola.  Can you post a photo of the underframe from your version?

Thanks!

Compared with Southern Pacific's sugar beet operations in California, wood chip transportation in GS drop bottom gons with side extensions in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana involved far more cars on hundreds of more miles of track. California sugar beet trains tended to be unit trains of nothing but beet loads or empties going to or from a single processing plant. By contrast, Pacific Northwest local freights would routinely pick up one to three loaded chip cars a day at a dozen mills along a main or branch line, while dropping off an equal number of empty cars for the following day's use.

Southern Pacific, Milwaukee Road and Spokane, Portland & Seattle all had similar "boxcar red" 40-foot GS gons, while Northern Pacific's were painted black. Great Northern chip cars were brown, but tended to have sheet metal sides inside the steel truss frame. Union Pacific went to custom-built 50-foot chip cars earlier than the other railroads that adapted what was already paid-for, rather than spending on new low-revenue equipment. This was the philosophy behind the fact the virtually no NP, GN nor SP&S 40-foot chip car was repainted Burlington Northern green following the 1970 merger. UP's drop-bottom GS gondolas were known more for hauling coal in Utah than wood chips in the Northwest.

If you want a few drop bottom gondolas with side extensions, modeling a Pacific Northwest way freight with two or three empties and two or three loaded cars would be much more economical than creating a Southern Pacific sugar beet train where even 20 cars would seem puny. And don't forget to model the out-of-service wigwam burner near the sawmill chip loader. The inventions of particle board and compressed fireplace logs helped create the wood chip products that created the need for wood chip cars.

 

Gil in Oregon

 

 

 

Gene D posted:

Here are a few photos of the GSM gondola unde20160407_11513720160407_115029rframe. 

Gene 

State of the art. 

At the March Meet I asked Jimmy for hints on upcoming projects.  A caboose was mentioned but I'd love to see more steam/transition era freight car kits like the gon. 

Any suggestions on what's sorely lacking and would make a "popular" sell?  I suggested to Jimmy an FGE truss rod reefer, though it's probably not common enough to invest tooling in for  plastic kit.

Gene,

Thanks for posting the photos.  Nice weathering on the drop chain rod. 

Jimmy emailed the kit instructions and they show that the sides are two pieces.  That will allow weathered stripwood sides behind the steel truss frames.  The kit floor is one piece so the drop bottom doors are fixed.  Building steel plate ends from Evergreen styrene and scratchbuilt extensions for sugar beet service should not present a problem.

Thanks again for the photos and info.

Last edited by Old Goat

Mainline Modeler Magazine - February 1984:  some info, lots of photos (b&w), scale drawing of extended height gon, eight pages.

SP Trainline - Fall 2001 - Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society - extensive industry and railroad car info, lots of photos (color and b&w), drawing of Blackburn beet rack on 40 & 50 ton flatcar, twenty-five pages.

Last edited by Old Goat
mwb posted:
bob3 posted:

Any suggestions on what's sorely lacking and would make a "popular" sell? 

 

I'll second the UTLX X3 suggestion.

Southern Car & Foundry is developing kits for tank cars..........

Yep Penn Tank Car kit was announced at the P:48 meeting in Chicago. 

Lots of different tankers but little standardization outside of UTLX or ACF cars.   The X3 are really the most popular car but the most boring and the least likely to be seen in anything other than UTLX black with yellow reporting marks. 

When looking at SP drop bottom gondola plans and photos, keep in mind that there two different cars that are very similar in appearance.  The kit is for a G-50-23 not the G-50-20 class.  The big difference is in the style of ends and side ladders.  I am posting both cars so you can see the difference.   By the way, the Mainline plan is of a G-50-20. 

TANK CARS:

I think Jon Cagle is doing Standard Tank Car company designs.  The firm was purchased by General American in the 1920s.   STC cars lasted for many years with a number of them ending up in museums.   I will attached a shot of this car type.   The UTLX X-3 design would be a good one to model. 

Genedb 2G-50-20 57628sp-beet-gon-lower-brakewheel-tony_jonesAOX 1001

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Images (4)
  • db 2: Weathering on Glacier Park model
  • G-50-20 57628: Inverted small end ribs (wales)
  • sp-beet-gon-lower-brakewheel-tony_jones: G-50-23 show in this shot
  • AOX 1001: STC 10,000 gallon car owned by Associated Oil

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