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This is the only gondola in the Museum's inventory. It is an ex-Reader Railroad # unknown, exx-Kansas City Southern, # unknown, USRA gondola built to government specifications in 1919, during World War I. This gon is an all steel, 50-ton capacity car with 9 side panels and fixed ends. It is a self-clearing type - there are 8 drop doors in the bottom which allows the load to be dumped into a pit or onto the tracks. Originally it had wooden floor and no drop doors. The Museum purchased the gon from Reader Railroad, Reader, Arkansas. It is painted black and has white markings. Note that one truck sideframe has WAB Ry (Wabash) cast into it. One wheelset has ribbed wheels. These were outlawed long ago indicating the gondola was used only on the home railroad. Although the original KCS number is unknown, seven of these gondolas were owned by the KCS, according to the 1953 Official Railway Equipment Register, and the number could have been 28320, 28345, 28351, 28430, 28433, 28472, or 28489. The outside of the gondola was cosmetically restored in 2005, and the inside in 2006, by volunteer Don Harper. |
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