A friend of mine is looking for pics of old composite gons used in MoW service in the late '50s-'60s. He saw them carrying ties ; the sides of the gons were open so that the ties could be tossed out along the RoW. Does anybody have any memories of these or pics? Thanks, Steve Allen Near Rolls, MO
As far as I know their is no photo's of those gon's. But I have thrown many ties from those Gons. They was referred to as "Chain Cars" as the chain curtains pulled back to unload the cars. I wana say they was 40 ft flats with the ends like a bulk head flat. They generally had two inner bulkheads out of steel, and the chains along both sides. They seem to be unique to Frisco as I have never seen them on other railroads. They was painted "DuPont Sunshine Yellow" with black lettering.
Steve - Thus far, the best I can find are the first two photos in the following thread, courtesy of Karl Brand's father in 1975. Granted, the photos are from the "inside" but they give some idea: http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/tie-gang-at-mile-post-c89-6-may-1975.6563/ Best Regards,
Thanks so very much, Gentlemen! Would that black lettering have included just the reporting marks or something more extensive, such as a herald? If anything else turns up, I'd love to hear about it.
Keith, perhaps at one time they were pulpwood cars but this is a tie car. I should have posted the caption along with the photo. Larry
Well, about the only thing I can add is that they looked like composite gons with the open sides and were in service decades prior to the 1980 conversion date for these, so I don't think these pulpwood cars are what he is looking for, but I do appreciate the pics and the caption: this is very interesting stuff.
In the 1950s and 60s I used to see the composite side tie gons all along the River Division at many small town sidings, usually with a few other work cars. They were the 40 foot variety that the Frisco had many of, with the wood siding removed and only the steel side girders remaining. They were painted silver. There were no chain curtains. I can't believe that I don't have a photo of one somewhere; now I simply have to search and find it. Ken McElreath
So it sounds as if we have a couple of critters out there: (a) The 104000-104091 "Chain Cars" converted from wood racks/bulkhead flats by the CMS in 1980, as shared by Larry, and (b) Demoted composite gons with the wood siding removed, which seems to fit the era that Steve has mentioned and which also seems to be our "holy grail" in terms of photographic evidence. Barring a photo, I think that Ken's description gives a pretty good idea of their appearance. Even if Ken doesn't have a photo, there surely has to be one out there somewhere, probably within the confines of these forums. Best Regards,
The silver cars you describe, most likely were from the steel gang. They had several of those, so they just set the small machines and motor cars in them and didn't have to tie them down on flats with chains and boomers. They made for quick loading and unloading. They was short side gon's with the wood removed. Ha! Good information on the tie chain car's