USRA COMPOSITE DROP BOTTOM GONDOLAS

You can never have enough gondolas. These are good from the 1920s to the 60s and perhaps 70s. They were a truly all purpose car. Use them to haul coal, (yes Virginia they have coal hoppers, but that is pretty much all they were used for, with a few exceptions) stone and gravel, cinders and slag, (coal one direction, cinders the other, railroads tried to get more bang for the buck) finished products, (again raw material one way, and revenue going the other) etc etc.
Intermountain makes some good ones in N, but they got tripped up with the hopper deal so dunno if they will move forward in Z.
M T could pull it off, as they make a lot of cars for this time period, they complement the new hoppers and mining stuff, (lots of customers got coal in gondolas and not hoppers, think of those ramps, and even coal houses where it was shoveled by hand. All of these items can be found in Z) Also look at the other loads MT has that could go on them.
Another option would be RP. I am looking for drawings now. Still have to paint and decal them.
One more option would be real wood sides. Perhaps etched bracing and ends and things. Lots of fumbly parts and they would be expensive.
I can already hear the naysayers. Cost to much to develop. Nobody would buy it. Everyone does modern. We already have gondolas. (Yes but they are all MILL gondolas)
So somebody put these on the drawing board, and thank-you I will take 6 of them in CB&Q colors from the late 40s to mid 50s.

Just saying www.sunshinekits.com/sunimages/sun33a.pdf

Maybe.... If there is more demand

Gerd wrote: Maybe.... If there is more demand

"Demand"... you know I'm in for 'some'. New etchings in the works?

There is another Q fan on the other site that is itching for them too. So that is 4 of us then.

O.K. boys done, couldn't sleep well last night so I did the design and it's off to the etcher already. The car is the standard USRA drop bottom gondola so it can be used with many road names. It's a full metal etched kit, but much more simple to put together than the Coilcar, therefore cheaper too. I will offer the fret on it's own too, it's basically 11 main parts + grab irons that can be put together with CA glue without any soldering skills. I will be in the position to show the first car in a month I guess. Price: $30 for the fret, $70 for the car with trucks, painted and decals. So for know: sit and wait

Ill spread the word

Thank you, Gerd! I guess I need to put together a road-name list.

Kelley... Do you have links to any prototype photos?

I might have to scan somthing for the q ones.. Ill poke around..

A nice one in MOW orange
groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/attachments/folder/1862534212/item/2121893415/view

Hi Kelley.

I would say it's rather faded Chinese Red than Orange

Dunno Gerd. I got this from the Q groups and the Q did have these thing on MOW trains in the end. They painted their MOW stuff orange. I will try to double check.

OK I checked it out with the Q guys. Someone said it was mineral red, which was what the MOW cars were before the late 50s, but that didn't make sense. I asked about the numbers. MOW cars wee 21 XXXXX ect series and this one was 7XXXect which makes it a revenue car and therefore it IS a faded chinese red. Gerd you are absolutely correct. (I am a wee bit colorblind and it doesn't help me at all in this hobby)

This would be a welcome addition to Z scale. These gondolas were the mainstay of railroading for 45 years. Long over due. Thanks Gerd. Jim