Eastern Car Works G26 gondola Prototypes

Back in Volume 1 Issue's 2-4 (August, September, October 2010) of the Model Railroad Tips Newsletter, we explored the Eastern Car Works G26 gondola, with bulgy sides, in Conrail paint. Starting soon, we'll work on a set of Eastern Car Works 65' AAR 70 Ton mill gondola's, in Denver & Rio Grande Western paint.

We'll begin this series with a look at the railroads that rostered the 65' AAR 70 Ton mill gondola. This list is compiled from the instruction sheet for the kit.

ATSF 170850-170974
CBQ 197700-197798
CN 155000-155199
CNW 132001-132099
CS 21000-21009
DRGW 30000-30169
GN 79000-79049
LN 26000-26224
MILW 93500-93619
NYC 726000-726299
RDG 31200-31699
SOU 52000-52169

From these we can search well known websites for photos of these cars. My search lead me to two different websites. Fallen Flag Railroad Photos ( http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ ) provided the first photos I found. I then searched Railroad Picture Archives ( http://rrpicturearchives.net/ ), and found several more photos, which lead me to my second prototype to model.

I chose DRGW 30163 ( http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/drgw/drgw30163csa.jpg ), which has photos on both websites, the most recent having been taken in 2009. I also chose to model DRGW 30181 ( http://rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=499836 ), which has photos taken in 2010, and has had reflective stripes added.

Here are some of the other photos I found:
CBQ 197759: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cbq/cbq197759ajs.jpg
DRGW 30169: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1938695
DRGW 30170: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1399932
GN 79003: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=58258
GN 79033: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1712075
LN 26215: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ln/ln26215amg.jpg
LN 26218: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ln/ln26218amg.jpg
LN 26218: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=784314
MILW 93588: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1896983
MILW 93609: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1927181
RDG 31405: http://rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=306545
RDG 31477: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=78721
RDG 31562: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1725638
RDG 31653: http://rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=461519

Also, it seems that during the BN merger, the CBQ gondolas were transferred to CS, here are some photos:
CS 21020: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=233082 
CS 21040: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=58061
CS 21055: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1135019
CS 21055: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1148029
CS 21066: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=58062

For us modern railroad modelers, we can pick the CS hand-me-downs from CBQ, the DRGW, or LN gondolas. For classic modelers, RDG 31405 is preserved at a museum.

© 2010, 2019, Josh Baakko, https://www.modelrailroadtips.com