Hi Mark & List,

The Greenville gondolas are listed in the book "Pere Marquette Revenue Freight Cars" (Hundman Publishing 2001) on pages 113-114. It lists and describes the circa 1944 70-Ton Greenville gondolas that came to the Pere Marquette in series 18850-18949 and became the last order of 70-Ton gondolas bought by the railroad.

According to the text, the cars were equipped with Westinghouse air brakes, Miner Draft Gear, Dreadnaught drop ends, Blaw-Knox brake steps and a Universal Pump Handle hand brake. It states that these cars were never modified and were two feet longer inside than those built in the previous order from Bethlehem Steel in 1941.

The photograph of the "B" end of the car on page 114 clearly shows the brake handle and the air hose mounting. The air hose and angle cock is attached to the main reservoir pipe which comes through a hole in the car end sill. A short piece of steel angle is riveted horizontally to the end sill just above the sill opening to secure the main reservoir pipe. The cutting lever for this car is of the under slung type, rather than the more common over mounted type.

In addition, there is a lettering diagram for this group of gondolas on Page 167. There is also a reference to a general arrangement drawing of this car to be found on page 170 of the 1949-51 Car Builders' Cyclopedia.

For those interested, the earlier order of 70-Ton gondolas from Bethlehem are listed in the chapter just before the Greenville cars and there is also a lettering diagram for this group in the book. This book is a good addition to anyone's freight car reference library.

Thomas M. Olsen
7 Boundary Road, West Branch
Newark, Delaware, 19711-7479
(302) 738-4292
tmolsen@...