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Getting Real Column - 5
only 11,000 total freight cars in 1953. For the D&RGW, I chose
a boxcar and a general-service gondola. The boxcar is an early
single-sheathed design, built by Pullman in 1916, an order of
1500 cars in the number series 66000–67499. These cars were
still prominent in the D&RGW fleet after World War II, with
986 cars still in service in 1953, even though they were almost
40 years old. This model was built by Dennis Williams from
Westerfield kit 6453, with lettering and finishing by me (4).
The gondola is one of D&RGW’s distinctive general-service
(GS) or drop-bottom gondolas with 46-foot inside length,
setting it apart from the numerous 40-foot GS gondolas
owned by many other railroads. A group of 700 cars were
5: The distinctive 46-foot D&RGW gondola fleet, all
drop-bottom or GS cars, is represented by this brass
model from W&R Enterprises. The correct clasp-brake
trucks with outside brake hangers were provided with
the car. The cars were predominantly used in coal ser-
vice, and Southern Pacific received Utah and Colorado
coal in cars like these for domestic stove use in
depots, section dwellings, cabooses, and so on.
5
built by Western Steel Car & Foundry in 1922, numbered
70000–70699. Fully 675 of them were still in service in 1953.
Published information about these cars is sparse, but one
source is Jim Eager’s book,
Color Guide to D&RGW Freight
and Passenger Equipment
(Morning Sun Books, 1996, page
76). Jim also wrote an article including these cars for the
Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society magazine,
The
Prospector
(Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002) if you can find a copy (5).
My model is a brass car fromW&R Enterprises. I tend not to pur-
chase brass freight cars, but when a desirable prototype has only
been done in brass, as in this case, I make an exception. This car
is a good example of a prototype too rare to be likely in styrene,
and difficult to cast in resin, so brass is an excellent medium.
And this model illustrates W&R’s well-deserved reputation for
6: Northern Pacific’s massive fleet of double-sheathed
cars like this survived in considerable numbers after
World War II, and a representative of this car group
is essential as a signature car. This one is a Sunshine
resin kit.
6
MRH-Apr 2013
