Does anyone know of a company that makes decal sets for a composite
USRA gondola? I would like to have an Oriental Limited model painted
but can't locate any decals for the car. Ideally I would like a
roadname that still rostered non-rebuilt usra gondolas in 1942. Thanks.

Jason Sanford

Jason Sanford wrote:

Does anyone know of a company that makes decal sets for a composite USRA gondola? I would like to have an Oriental Limited model painted but can't locate any decals for the car. Ideally I would like a roadname that still rostered non-rebuilt usra gondolas in 1942. Thanks.

Jason, SP inherited theirs from the EP&SW in 1924 and never rebuilt them. They were certainly still around by WW II. I'm not aware of specific decals for this car, but I use Champ's SHS-144 for many open-top cars. Incidentally, the Intermountain plastic USRA gon was offered at one time in correct SP lettering, as verified from photos, so if anyone can provide you a photo of that model, it has the info.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

On Oct 10, 2008, at 9:45 AM, parkcitybranch wrote:

Does anyone know of a company that makes decal sets for a composite
USRA gondola? I would like to have an Oriental Limited model painted
but can't locate any decals for the car. Ideally I would like a
roadname that still rostered non-rebuilt usra gondolas in 1942.
Thanks.

Jason Sanford

Jason, most USRA gons had been rebuilt or modified by 1942, but RRs
that still had them in original condition included (in addition to
the SP, as pointed out by Tony Thompson) the L&N, M&StL (which bought
a bunch second-hand from the L&N), KCS, NS, L&M, and Frisco (some
cars; others were rebuilt).

Richard Hendrickson

--- In STMFC@..., Richard Hendrickson <rhendrickson@...>
wrote:

Jason, most USRA gons had been rebuilt or modified by 1942, but

RRs

that still had them in original condition included (in addition to
the SP, as pointed out by Tony Thompson) the L&N, M&StL (which

bought

a bunch second-hand from the L&N), KCS, NS, L&M, and Frisco (some
cars; others were rebuilt).

Richard Hendrickson

I've got a Precision USRA gon that came painted for NYC. It's my
impression that these NYC cars weren't around in unmodified form in
the era I'm interested in (1945 on). I would like to repaint it for
M&StL or Frisco because the above quote. I, so far, haven't found
photos for lettering. Can anyone direct me? I would think that both
would have been painted one of the many variants of "freight car
red". Does anyone disagree?

Edward Sutorik

On Oct 13, 2008, at 12:18 PM, spsalso wrote:

I've got a Precision USRA gon that came painted for NYC. It's my
impression that these NYC cars weren't around in unmodified form in
the era I'm interested in (1945 on).

Correct. The last of the NYC's original USRA composite gondolas were
rebuilt as all steel cars in the early 1930s.

I would like to repaint it for
M&StL or Frisco because the above quote. I, so far, haven't found
photos for lettering. Can anyone direct me? I would think that both
would have been painted one of the many variants of "freight car
red". Does anyone disagree?

Ed, I have in-service photos of both Frisco and M&StL cars which I
can scan for you and send off-list.

Richard Hendrickson

I sent Edward a photo off list of a M&StL USRA Gon. They were painted black. Greg Komar offers a dry transfer for an M&StL GS gon
that might be usable. HO-230; 30001-30499 GS white black Sized to fit Detail Associates gondola

Doug Harding
www.iowacentralrr.org

I supplied the gondola artwork to Greg Komar (as well as that for
some other M&StL cars). The artwork was taken directly from the
General American stencil diagram for the M&StL's 30001 series all-
steel, drop-bottom gondolas that came along in the late 1940s.

Greg resized the gondola artwork to fit the Detail Associates all-
steel, drop-bottom gondola which, at that time, was probably the
closest one could come to the M&StL's 30001 series gondolas.

The key feature of the M&StL's lettering (on most revenue freight
cars) after 1937 was the slanted "The Peoria Gateway" slogan. I
don't know if any of the M&StL's original USRA composite gondolas
received the "The Peoria Gateway" slogan. The used USRA composite
gondolas did receive exactly that.

Gene Green
Out in the west Texas town of El Paso

--- In STMFC@..., "Douglas Harding" <dharding@...> wrote:

I sent Edward a photo off list of a M&StL USRA Gon. They were

painted black. Greg Komar offers a dry transfer for an M&StL GS gon

that might be usable. HO-230; 30001-30499 GS

white black Sized to fit Detail Associates gondola

Doug Harding
www.iowacentralrr.org