Erie Gondola with Slope Sheets
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Garth Groff and Sally Sanford
Friends, Today I was scanning some interurban photos of the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley (Laurel Line). In the background of one I spotted this very unusual Erie hopper/gondola which I offer for your enlightenment, commentary and . . . well, why not say it . . . entertainment. The car appears to be about 40', but with sides around 9' above the rail, much lower than the adjacent hoppers (probably around 10' 3" or 10' 4" from the rails). At first glance this appears to be a gondola, but the end in front of the Lackawanna diesel shows clearly that it has sloped end sheets. As bad luck would have it, the fence railing runs right through the car number in this photo! The photo was shot in February 1952, but I see nothing like this in my 1958 ORER. Bonus: although pretty fuzzy, the second hopper from the left appears to be a Pittsburgh & Shawmut car. Amazing what you can find in the background sometimes. Yours Aye, Garth Groff 🦆
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Benjamin Hom
Garth Groff wrote: "Today I was scanning some interurban photos of the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley (Laurel Line). In the background of one I spotted this very unusual Erie hopper/gondola which I offer for your enlightenment, commentary and . . . well, why not say it . . . entertainment. The car appears to be about 40', but with sides around 9' above the rail, much lower than the adjacent hoppers (probably around 10' 3" or 10' 4" from the rails). At first glance this appears to be a gondola, but the end in front of the Lackawanna diesel shows clearly that it has sloped end sheets. As bad luck would have it, the fence railing runs right through the car number in this photo! The photo was shot in February 1952, but I see nothing like this in my 1958 ORER." We've discussed these cars before - these gons are the basis of the Lindberg (later Mantua Heavies) gon. They were originally built with drop doors, then later rebuilt to hopper-bottom gons. Do a search in the group archives. Ben Hom
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akerboomk
I’d guess the one to the left of the Erie offset-side is MEC (“pine tree” emblem) It doesn’t looks like the P&S emblem I am used to seeing.
Ken -- Ken Akerboom
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Eric Hansmann
The December 1940 Model Railroader featured plans and a builder image of the original version of the Erie 70-ton coal gons. I think the sloped sheets and hopper discharge doors were a late 1930s modification. Attached is a photo of a slightly different view and a 1923 builder image.
Eric Hansmann Murfreesboro, TN
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of Benjamin Hom
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2020 8:39 AM To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Erie Gondola with Slope Sheets
Garth Groff wrote: "Today I was scanning some interurban photos of the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley (Laurel Line). In the background of one I spotted this very unusual Erie hopper/gondola which I offer for your enlightenment, commentary and . . . well, why not say it . . . entertainment.
The car appears to be about 40', but with sides around 9' above the rail, much lower than the adjacent hoppers (probably around 10' 3" or 10' 4" from the rails). At first glance this appears to be a gondola, but the end in front of the Lackawanna diesel shows clearly that it has sloped end sheets. As bad luck would have it, the fence railing runs right through the car number in this photo! The photo was shot in February 1952, but I see nothing like this in my 1958 ORER."
We've discussed these cars before - these gons are the basis of the Lindberg (later Mantua Heavies) gon. They were originally built with drop doors, then later rebuilt to hopper-bottom gons. Do a search in the group archives.
Ben Hom
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Here is the diagram sheet for anyone interested.
Steve Hile
Here is the diagram sheet for anyone who is interested.
Steve Hile
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io [mailto:main@RealSTMFC.groups.io] On Behalf Of Eric Hansmann
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2020 10:25 AM To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Erie Gondola with Slope Sheets
The December 1940 Model Railroader featured plans and a builder image of the original version of the Erie 70-ton coal gons. I think the sloped sheets and hopper discharge doors were a late 1930s modification. Attached is a photo of a slightly different view and a 1923 builder image.
Eric Hansmann Murfreesboro, TN
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of Benjamin Hom
Garth Groff wrote: "Today I was scanning some interurban photos of the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley (Laurel Line). In the background of one I spotted this very unusual Erie hopper/gondola which I offer for your enlightenment, commentary and . . . well, why not say it . . . entertainment.
The car appears to be about 40', but with sides around 9' above the rail, much lower than the adjacent hoppers (probably around 10' 3" or 10' 4" from the rails). At first glance this appears to be a gondola, but the end in front of the Lackawanna diesel shows clearly that it has sloped end sheets. As bad luck would have it, the fence railing runs right through the car number in this photo! The photo was shot in February 1952, but I see nothing like this in my 1958 ORER."
We've discussed these cars before - these gons are the basis of the Lindberg (later Mantua Heavies) gon. They were originally built with drop doors, then later rebuilt to hopper-bottom gons. Do a search in the group archives.
Ben Hom
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John Barry
Garth, Despite the pesky pipe, I read the number as Erie 37511, as documented in Steve's diagram and line 46, page 174 of the Jan 53 ORER. It's listed as an HT; Hopper, 4 hopper Cross Dump, All Steel, Self-Clearing. 44' IL, 9'5 IW, 9'4 height above rail. John Barry ATSF North Bay Lines Golden Gates & Fast Freights Lovettsville, VA 707-490-9696
On Tuesday, December 22, 2020, 11:41:41 AM EST, Steve and Barb Hile <shile@...> wrote:
Here is the diagram sheet for anyone interested.
Steve Hile
Here is the diagram sheet for anyone who is interested.
Steve Hile
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io [mailto:main@RealSTMFC.groups.io] On Behalf Of Eric Hansmann
The December 1940 Model Railroader featured plans and a builder image of the original version of the Erie 70-ton coal gons. I think the sloped sheets and hopper discharge doors were a late 1930s modification. Attached is a photo of a slightly different view and a 1923 builder image.
Eric Hansmann Murfreesboro, TN
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> On Behalf Of Benjamin Hom
Garth Groff wrote: "Today I was scanning some interurban photos of the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley (Laurel Line). In the background of one I spotted this very unusual Erie hopper/gondola which I offer for your enlightenment, commentary and . . . well, why not say it . . . entertainment.
The car appears to be about 40', but with sides around 9' above the rail, much lower than the adjacent hoppers (probably around 10' 3" or 10' 4" from the rails). At first glance this appears to be a gondola, but the end in front of the Lackawanna diesel shows clearly that it has sloped end sheets. As bad luck would have it, the fence railing runs right through the car number in this photo! The photo was shot in February 1952, but I see nothing like this in my 1958 ORER."
We've discussed these cars before - these gons are the basis of the Lindberg (later Mantua Heavies) gon. They were originally built with drop doors, then later rebuilt to hopper-bottom gons. Do a search in the group archives.
Ben Hom
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Vincent Lee
I just finished up a pair of these, using mainly the Mantua plastic gondola. Modeling the Erie 28th Street Terminal in New York City (https://www.facebook.com/Erie28thSt) and at the West Island Model RR Club (Facebook:@westislandmodelrailroaders)
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Vince, they look pretty nice. Well done Fenton
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Garth Groff and Sally Sanford
Ken, You are correct. That does appear to be an MEC herald. Something of a surprise, but they needed Pennsylvania coal in Maine in those days I guess. I confused this photo with one of L&WV freight motor 401 from the same lot, which clearly does show a Pittsburgh & Shawmut car. Note that there is also a CV car here. More coal for New England I guess. It's pretty hard to heat a house burning Moxie. 😟 Yours Aye, Garth Groff 🦆
On Tue, Dec 22, 2020 at 10:17 AM akerboomk <ken-akerboom@...> wrote:
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Rich Gibson
I was quite surprised to see the MEC car in this photo. My understanding is that a lot of the coal got to Maine via ship and was distributed in MEC’s fleet of 200 hoppers. There must be a story that we probably won’t know.
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Ah yes... the 'ERIE High-side Gon'...
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
the drop-bottom as-built was done (as Ben mentioned) in plastic for HO... and in -brass- by Joma for TT-scale! Attached are two lettering variations... Richard ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard Brennan - TT-west www.tt-west.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
At 06:39 AM 12/22/2020, Benjamin Hom wrote:
Garth Groff wrote:
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al_brown03
Mr Lee, nice cars!
Al Brown, Melbourne, Fla.
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