-----Original Message-----
From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of
al_brown03
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 6:36 PM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: [STMFC] Re: Tichy low side gondola

I'd hoped someone more knowledgeable than I would answer; but since no one
has, let me try. (Cognoscenti: ready, aim, fire!)

Tichy make two low-side gons: the 52'6" War Emergency car and what's
essentially a 40' flat-car with added wooden sides. The War Emergency car is
well-documented (search the archives of this list); I take it Mr Hiser means
the 40' car?

That's an Atlantic Coast Line car, originally built in 1917 as a flat car,
and numbered in series 76000-76999. There's an article in MM 5/84 pp 61-63;
see also MRG 5/00 p 27. Funny thing, though: the drawings in the MM article
show the 76000 series (stencilled as class P-11-c), but the article has four
photos. One is of a flatcar in the 75000 series (not 76000), and the others
show gondolas or sorta-gondolas with side boards of varying heights, in the
68000 series.

Confused yet? Just wait: it gets worse.

The ORERs show pulpwood cars in series 75000-75514 (1/43, 156 cars; 1/53.
152 cars); flats in series 75518-75666 (1/43, 40 cars; 1/53, no cars); log
cars in series 75669-75699 (1/43 and 1/53, 25 cars) and 75700-75884 (1/43,
185 cars; 1/53, 184 cars), and flats in series 76000-76999 (1/43, 870 cars;
1/53, 21 cars). The 1/43 ORER shows nothing in the 68000 series; the 1/53
ORER shows series 66431-68799 as "miscellaneous work equipment".

Another funny thing: ACL normally used sub-classes ("-c") to denote
rebuilds. In this case, I'd have thought the flat was the original car. But
that's a total WAG.

I've never seen a photo of a gondola in any of these series in revenue
service. I therefore suspect (although others have better collections and
libraries than mine) that the gondola modifications were made after removal
from revenue service. The NEB&W website says the AC&Y, C&O, and D&RGW also
had ten-pocket flats with straight side sills and fishbelly UFs. Whether any
southwestern roads had flats of this type (presuming that D&RGW doesn't
count), and whether *anyone* had a revenue gondola of this type, I don't
know. My own copy of this kit will be built as a flat, probably an ACL car.

CONFESSION: I model the Seaboard Air Line. Therefore, any ACL fan true to
the purple will tell you I don't know !@$%#$#%&%^&*$^(%. I agree! I invite
corrections.

Al Brown, Melbourne, Fla.


--- In STMFC@..., "Eric Hiser" <ehiser@...> wrote:

Hi group:
I am trying to determine the prototype and era of the Tichy low side

gondola to determine if it presents modeling possibilities for a
southwestern road. So far, I haven't been able to place it and couldn't
find anything specific in the archives. Anyone familiar with this car?

Eric Hiser
Phoenix, AZ

------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links