The Southern Pacific classified these as GS, or "General Service" gondolas (in various classes) and they used them as such...way beyond the usual rock or gravel service that we normally think of for gondolas.
There are numerous photos published showing cut lumber being shipped out of Oregon on the Espee in the late 1940's using both SP steel & composite gons, as well as more traditional flats and boxes. These cars were all bound for the eastern markets for the post war building boom. So there's another reason to see them in the midwest and east if you model the 1940's-1950's. There are photos showing them carrying pulp wood in the south and sulpher in the Houston area. Again in the west, they were used in wood "chip" service (both with and without the side extensions) until larger dedicated-service wood chip cars replaced them. There are also photos in Oregon of SP composite gons being used as log cars on the Espee during the 1940's and early 1950's. By the late 1950's and early 1960's, many of the remaining SP composite gons (those not in beet service) were relegated for use in hauling scrap steel within California. That beat up the wood sides pretty well and hastened the retirement of the composite cars. Steel gons prevailed in this service by the late 1960's. Much of their on-line service in the 1950's was in "rock train" service, both for track use and on line customers. There were several rock trains between Pleasanton and Oakland each week via Niles Canyon. Bob Hogan --- In [email protected], Pieter Roos <pieter_r...@...> wrote: > > Crates or tarp covered "machinery" loads are a good choice. Sometimes sand > could be shipped long distances for glass making or foundry work. An extreme > case being a ship load of sand transported some years ago from the U.S. - to > Egypt! Talk about coals to Newcastle! Glass and foundry sand were often > shipped in box cars, but a tarp covered gon load is possible. > > The SP cars were used to ship pipe according to one article I read, although > most of that was for gas pipes in the south central or south west U.S. > > Kline and Culotta's "The Postwar Freight Car Fleet" has a picture of a > composite ATSF "Caswell" GS gon in Reading's Rutherford yard ca. 1947. No > indication of what it had carried there. > > Pieter E. Roos > > > --- On Wed, 11/10/10, Charles Weston <rotary...@...> wrote: > > > From: Charles Weston <rotary...@...> > > Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Re: SP GS Gondola > > To: [email protected] > > Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 9:05 PM > > I have a picture from the SP yards in > > San Antonio from the 1960s which shows crates, perhaps > > machinery, being shipped in gondolas, although not the GS. > > > > Charles Weston > > > > --- On Wed, 11/10/10, ctxmf74 <c...@...> > > wrote: > > > > From: ctxmf74 <c...@...> > > Subject: {S-Scale List} Re: SP GS Gondola > > To: [email protected] > > Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 4:36 PM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], > > "Ed" <Loizeaux@> wrote: > > > > the Mighty NYC will have two sugar beet cars rolling on its > > tracks next year because it is a very unusual car which will > > attract attention. > > > > > > > > Hi Ed, they were not likely to ship a low value load like > > sugar beets, sand, gravel, or scrap iron across country but > > the SP also used these cars for general cargo so a load of > > manufactured product would be a reason to find one of these > > on NYC rails. Just need to think what did we make in Cali( > > or somewhere else in the SP empire) in the 50's that was > > needed in the other states and that woulda been > > shipped in gons? Maybe something like a pre-fab steel > > bulding? or some kind of unique industrial > > machinery??....dave > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > [email protected] > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
