Andy Harman wrote:

Is there a good reference source for the various SP GS classes? I
know Challenger did some in brass - I have two, I don't remember
exactly what they are but neither are the same as the two Red
Caboose models. The old Ulrich die cast model also seems to be
reasonably accurate for 55 years ago. I also have a couple of the
Detail Associates kits.

Yes, Andy, there's a whole book <g>. The Ulrich model can do
classes G-50-9 through -12 with minor changes. Detail Associates and
Red Caboose and Challenger all did the "1940s" Enterprise design. Red
Caboose chose to do the Improved Dreadnaught end, which limits the kit
to G-50-22 (steel) and G-50-23 (composite) classes. The brass ones are
the same. Detail Associates includes a flat panel end, so that you can
do G-50-15, along with the same -22 and -23 classes.

I'm also curious as to what other roads had GS type drop bottoms
besides SP - I think UP and D&RGW had similar if not identical
cars. I've also seen them depicted in Santa Fe and NP, but I have
no idea if there's any truth to that.

Santa Fe GS cars were mostly Caswells, done beautifully in an
InterMountain model. UP had almost identical cars to SP. Both NP and
GN had some similar cars too, as did CN. The D&RGW cars were 46 feet
long, as were WP's GS cars, so the models you mentioned would be stand-
ins. However, W&R did the D&RGW car in brass, and very nicely too.
Other roads such as IC also had GS cars, but I don't know much about
them.
Maybe Richard Hendrickson will chime in on this as I think he
has good photo coverage of such cars.

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