What's in an "empty" gondola?

[cv_acr]

BM at Bayview? 

Maayyybeee.....

[cv_acr]

Those of us longer in the tooth will recall late 70's when there were extremely monumental snows in Buffalo how PC commandeered strings of empty gons to fill with snow removed from the yards, shipping them to more temperate locales on line to melt.  How the water was removed was never discussed.  Considering how PC worked, that would be the destination yard master's problem to resolve.

In you really want them to NOT be watertight, and gons should have drains - or every good rainstorm would fill them up like a swimming pool since these cars are totally exposed to the elements.

I can't find it now, but there's a video clip out there of a gondola with a plugged drain half full of water sloshing around.

[nkalanaga]

I've heard that the GN in Washington used to haul concentrate from a mine north of Spokane.  The mine would very carefully plug every hole in the gon, so the concentrate (powdered rock) wouldn't leak out.  The GN would have to cut holes so the rain could drain out.  Then the mine would replug them...

[eja]

I started this thread because I purchased a Trainworx corrugated 52 foot gondola.  The Trainworx model is newer than I wanted (conspicuosity strips) so I removed the strips by soaking a small piece of tissue with Micro Sol and soaking them individually until they would rub off with a little encouragement from either a Q tip or a wooden tooth pick carved to a flat end.  Soaking time was usually around 10 to 15 minutes.   I soaked the stripes that extended under the ladders much longer so as to minimize damaging the ladders while removing the stripe.  A coat of Testor's Dull Coat from a rattle can and here is the result.



So what's in my empty gondola?

A floor that was made to look used by a combination of paints, powders, chalks and chalk dust.  I have a cookie tin filled with used coloured chalks. Over the years, the bottom of the tin has been covered with a nice mixture of chalk dust that can be brushed onto a surface and fixed in place with dull coat.  I am rather pleased with the results.

And finally some pallets ( Micro Engineering part # 80-144) sprayed with TamiyaTS-46 (Light Sand) for that wood look with also aged with chalks, chalk dust and covered with dull coat.