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Old Ulrich / Walthers GS Gondola

Garth Groff <sarahsan@...>
 

Friends,

Down at the local train store there is a Great Northern Ulrich/Walthers GS gondola in their used equipment case. The car's ends extend up to form heap shields atop the usual flat end with two horizontal braces. Is this model close to any GN cars, or did any other roads have cars of this design with heap shield ends? I'm tempted to buy it and do some upgrades, but not if the ends are wrong.

Despite the cast-on grabs, I'm partial to the Ulrich cars. I have one lettered up for SP, and have recently acquired two more at bargain prices that will get the same treatment.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff

Tony Thompson
 

Down at the local train store there is a Great Northern Ulrich/Walthers GS gondola in their used equipment case. The car's ends extend up to form heap shields atop the usual flat end with two horizontal braces. Is this model close to any GN cars, or did any other roads have cars of this design with heap shield ends? I'm tempted to buy it and do some upgrades, but not if the ends are wrong.

      There was a GN 500-car group of cars, GN 75500-75999, with those heap shields, built in 1937 with the same 7-post sides as the Ulrich car, and also the same two-rib flat ends. But the GN cars used a door operating mechanism with chains that wrapped around a shaft, not the Enterprise links modeled on the Ulrich car (you could of course cut off the Ulrich operating-rod parts, and substitute brass wire of scale 1-inch diameter or so). Also, in the early 1950s, GN began to remove and replace those heap shields, so it may depend on your era.
     The GN cars were also a little bigger in cubic capacity, due to higher sides, than the Ulrich car, but that is a lesser concern if you only want a model that is "close."

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


It surprises me that no one has come up with 3-D printed GS gondolas of
railroads other than the D&RGW. Those two Rio Grande models are actually
quite nice; I've seen them in person.

Tim

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

 Down at the local train store there is a Great Northern Ulrich/Walthers GS gondola in their used equipment case. The car's ends extend up to form heap shields atop the usual flat end with two horizontal braces. Is this model close to any GN cars, or did any other roads have cars of this design with heap shield ends? I'm tempted to buy it and do some upgrades, but not if the ends are wrong.

There was a GN 500-car group of cars, GN 75500-75999, with those heap shields, built in 1937 with the same 7-post sides as the Ulrich car, and also the same two-rib flat ends. But the GN cars used a door operating mechanism with chains that wrapped around a shaft, not the Enterprise links modeled on the Ulrich car (you could of course cut off the Ulrich operating-rod parts, and substitute brass wire of scale 1-inch diameter or so). Also, in the early 1950s, GN began to remove and replace those heap shields, so it may depend on your era.
The GN cars were also a little bigger in cubic capacity, due to higher sides, than the Ulrich car, but that is a lesser concern if you only want a model that is "close."
Tony Thompson

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts
Garth Groff <sarahsan@...>
 

Tim,

I would love to have a model of the WP's 70-ton 46' GS cars. These were more like the 40' Red Caboose cars than the Ulrich models, and came in three groups, all slightly different. WP 9101-9400 were built by GA in 1953, and had Enterprise mechanisms with 5-rib ends, the top rib being thin. Pullman built 9401-9700 in 1954 with proprietary ends (similar to a PS-1) and a slightly different Enterprise mechanism. Finally, ACF built 9701-9775 in 1958 with 4-rib ends. This order also included add-ons 4000-4020 for the Sacramento Northern and 201-205 for the Tidewater Southern. RC offered their 40' GS model in all three lettering schemes, but I skipped them because at 40' the cars are foobies.

The D&RGW also had a similar group of 46' cars built by GA in 1953-1954 as 72000-73699. They were virtually identical to the first WP series, except for simple chains on the door mechanism instead of links.

A number of years ago, I saw a photo of a test shot for a resin version of the D&RGW cars. Nothing ever came of the model, unless it was produced as a small lot for private sale. I would have bought one and used it for WP despite the small difference in the winding mechanism.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff  🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

On 10/5/18 8:14 PM, Tim O'Connor wrote:

It surprises me that no one has come up with 3-D printed GS gondolas of
railroads other than the D&RGW. Those two Rio Grande models are actually
quite nice; I've seen them in person.

Tim

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

 Down at the local train store there is a Great Northern Ulrich/Walthers GS gondola in their used equipment case. The car's ends extend up to form heap shields atop the usual flat end with two horizontal braces. Is this model close to any GN cars, or did any other roads have cars of this design with heap shield ends? I'm tempted to buy it and do some upgrades, but not if the ends are wrong.

There was a GN 500-car group of cars, GN 75500-75999, with those heap shields, built in 1937 with the same 7-post sides as the Ulrich car, and also the same two-rib flat ends. But the GN cars used a door operating mechanism with chains that wrapped around a shaft, not the Enterprise links modeled on the Ulrich car (you could of course cut off the Ulrich operating-rod parts, and substitute brass wire of scale 1-inch diameter or so). Also, in the early 1950s, GN began to remove and replace those heap shields, so it may depend on your era.
The GN cars were also a little bigger in cubic capacity, due to higher sides, than the Ulrich car, but that is a lesser concern if you only want a model that is "close."
Tony Thompson

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

Garth Groff <sarahsan@...>
 

Uh, Tim,

Do you have a link to the 3-D printed model?

Yours Aye,


Garth

On 10/5/18 8:14 PM, Tim O'Connor wrote:

It surprises me that no one has come up with 3-D printed GS gondolas of
railroads other than the D&RGW. Those two Rio Grande models are actually
quite nice; I've seen them in person.

Tim

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

 Down at the local train store there is a Great Northern Ulrich/Walthers GS gondola in their used equipment case. The car's ends extend up to form heap shields atop the usual flat end with two horizontal braces. Is this model close to any GN cars, or did any other roads have cars of this design with heap shield ends? I'm tempted to buy it and do some upgrades, but not if the ends are wrong.

There was a GN 500-car group of cars, GN 75500-75999, with those heap shields, built in 1937 with the same 7-post sides as the Ulrich car, and also the same two-rib flat ends. But the GN cars used a door operating mechanism with chains that wrapped around a shaft, not the Enterprise links modeled on the Ulrich car (you could of course cut off the Ulrich operating-rod parts, and substitute brass wire of scale 1-inch diameter or so). Also, in the early 1950s, GN began to remove and replace those heap shields, so it may depend on your era.
The GN cars were also a little bigger in cubic capacity, due to higher sides, than the Ulrich car, but that is a lesser concern if you only want a model that is "close."
Tony Thompson

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

up4479
 

Richard Townsend
 

They're on eBay. Search for HO scale 3D print D&RGW gondola. He has several variations for sale.

Richard Townsend
Lincoln City, OR


-----Original Message-----
From: Garth Groff <sarahsan@...>
To: main <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
Sent: Sat, Oct 6, 2018 2:21 am
Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Old Ulrich / Walthers GS Gondola

Uh, Tim,

Do you have a link to the 3-D printed model?

Yours Aye,


Garth

On 10/5/18 8:14 PM, Tim O'Connor wrote:

It surprises me that no one has come up with 3-D printed GS gondolas of
railroads other than the D&RGW. Those two Rio Grande models are actually
quite nice; I've seen them in person.

Tim

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

 Down at the local train store there is a Great Northern Ulrich/Walthers GS gondola in their used equipment case. The car's ends extend up to form heap shields atop the usual flat end with two horizontal braces. Is this model close to any GN cars, or did any other roads have cars of this design with heap shield ends? I'm tempted to buy it and do some upgrades, but not if the ends are wrong.

There was a GN 500-car group of cars, GN 75500-75999, with those heap shields, built in 1937 with the same 7-post sides as the Ulrich car, and also the same two-rib flat ends. But the GN cars used a door operating mechanism with chains that wrapped around a shaft, not the Enterprise links modeled on the Ulrich car (you could of course cut off the Ulrich operating-rod parts, and substitute brass wire of scale 1-inch diameter or so). Also, in the early 1950s, GN began to remove and replace those heap shields, so it may depend on your era.
The GN cars were also a little bigger in cubic capacity, due to higher sides, than the Ulrich car, but that is a lesser concern if you only want a model that is "close."
Tony Thompson

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts

rwitt_2000
 

On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 05:43 PM, Tony Thompson wrote:
GN 75500-75999
Yes, there is a roster on the Steam Era site with dimensions of 9'5" to top of sides and 10'5" to the extreme height.

http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/prototype/GN/GN%20Roster%20Oct%202011%20Version%201.pdf

Does anyone have a photo?

Bob Witt
Tony Thompson
 

\Bob Witt wrote:

GN 75500-75999
Yes, there is a roster on the Steam Era site with dimensions of 9'5" to top of sides and 10'5" to the extreme height.

http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/prototype/GN/GN%20Roster%20Oct%202011%20Version%201.pdf

Does anyone have a photo?

       There's a photo in the GN freight equipment chapter in the 2nd edition of _Great Northern Lines East_ (Signature Press), a chapter by Richard Hendrickson and Staffan Ehnbom.

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

To Steve Solombrino:

Your work on SI 5018 flatcar is very nice. The poles are trated at only one end, something I've never seen as a load on in use. Is there an on-line photo of this?


David Soderblom
Baltimore MD USA
drs@stsci.edu
Andy Laurent
 

They do build up nicely. Here was mine (molded detail version - since sold).

Andy
Iowa
rwitt_2000
 

Garth,

Trainworx made the outside stake version 70-ton 46' GS in N scale. I am surprised that no one has done it in HO.

http://www.train-worx.com/page225.html#buttons1-1mx

Bob Witt
Tim O'Connor
 


Hmm... (compare model to attached prototype photo)

http://www.train-worx.com/assets/images/image004-701x160.jpg

Tim O'



Garth,
Trainworx made the outside stake version 70-ton 46' GS in N scale. I am surprised that no one has done it in HO.
http://www.train-worx.com/page225.html#buttons1-1mx
Bob Witt

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts
Tony Thompson
 

Trainworx made the outside stake version 70-ton 46' GS in N scale. I am surprised that no one has done it in HO.

http://www.train-worx.com/page225.html#buttons1-1mx

     Didn't they just letter their 40-ft. car as though it was the 46-ft. car?


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

No, the Trainworx Gon is certainly longer than either MT's or Atlas's 42' gon's. I won't guarantee that's 46', but definitely not 40' - 42'

Brian Termunde
Midvale, UT
Tony Thompson
 

Brian Termunde wrote:

No, the Trainworx Gon is certainly longer than either MT's or Atlas's 42' gon's. I won't guarantee that's 46', but definitely not 40' - 42'

      In that case, the model is wrongly painted for most of the roads they show on their website, all of which had nominally 40-foot 7-post GS gondolas.

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

Tony,
No argument from me, and while I would be happy to have the correct models, considering the only 40 - 46 foot gons we N Scalers had were those ancient Atlas and Botchedmann gons, I have few complaints. Again, while I would prefer to have accurate models, these are better then none at all.

But I do have a question about the the GN gons, while even if not correct for that particular body, which, if any of those paint schemes would be appropriate for my 1953 era railroad.

TIA!

Brian Termunde
Midvale, UT
Staffan Ehnbom
 

Brian,
Of the three GN schemes on the Trainworx site only the one with the small sans serif lettering road name is correct for 1953. Should probably have a black background to the goat in the herald, car color mineral red. The slant serif road name wasn't introduced until 1956.

Staffan Ehnbom


On Tue, Oct 9, 2018 at 6:16 AM Brian Termunde via Groups.Io <GCRDS=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:
Tony,
No argument from me, and while I would be happy to have the correct models, considering the only 40 - 46 foot gons we N Scalers had were those ancient Atlas and Botchedmann gons, I have few complaints. Again, while I would prefer to have accurate models, these are better then none at all.

But I do have a question about the the GN gons, while even if not correct for that particular body, which, if any of those paint schemes would be appropriate for my 1953 era railroad.

TIA!

Brian Termunde
Midvale, UT

Brian Termunde
 

Staffan,
Thank you very much! 

I had hesitated to purchase any being uncertain of the appropriate eras of the schemes. Eventually, I need to pick up more GN books and such since modeling a PNW branchline, GN likely would not be a stranger even though it's not the home road (the Milwaukee and Northern Pacific are).

Thanks again!

Brian R. Termunde
Midvale, UT
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