Page 72 - 38. MRH13-04-Apr2013

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
index contents
MRH-Apr 2013