Winter 2010 - Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society

Model Review – Eastern Seaboard
Models N-Scale PRR G26 Mill Gondola
By Bob Losse Jr., photos by Jack Consoli unless noted
(Above) Eastern Seaboard Models PRR class G26 65 ft. 6 in. mill gondola. (Below) Eastern Seaboard Models’ two G26 offerings.
Recently, Al Buchan passed on two of Eastern Seaboard
Models Corp’s new N Scale G26 class gondolas. When he did,
he asked me if I could help. He needed a product review and I
said yes. This is the first time I’ve ever done this and it leaves me
with one thing to say to all you rivet counting sharks out there, I
give good indigestion.
A brief history about the G26 and its successors. In October
1930 Altoona built the first 200 cars. From January 1931 through
May 1931 the PRR built 1500 G26 gondolas. Construction was
divided up amongst Altoona, Enola and Pitcairn and they were
numbered PRR 439010-440709. The Lehigh Valley had 50 cars
built in 1931 by the PRR numbered LV 34000-34049. In 1941
the PRR made some subtle improvements to the design and built
the G26A. 700 cars were built by Altoona and Pitcairn in the last
quarter of 1941. The Norfolk & Western liked this design and
had the Virginia Bridge Co. build N&W 70500-70524 G-3 in
1941. In 1949 the N&W received N&W 70525-70549 G-3A
again from Virginia Bridge Co. All of these cars as built were
rated at 70 tons capacity.
So much for the cars as originally built. The LV cars operated
in almost total obscurity and were gone from the roster by
1965. As far as I know, no photos of these cars exist. At some
point, the N&W started to upgrade their cars to 77 tons capacity.
I don’t know if any other changes were made to these cars. By
1989 these cars had disappeared from the roster.
The PRR was a little different. In the mid 1960's two distinct
versions, the G26C and G26S, would emerge from the shops. The
G26C was basically an upgrading of the two earlier classes and
used in revenue service. The G26S was a radically different car
and was used in company service. This configuration was used to
carry prefabricated switches.
This past Labor Day, I found two in Roanoke, VA working
for NS. Cars for these programs were pulled at random and not
every car was rebuilt. Many found their way to the Holidaysburg
Reclaim Plant, while others were sold to various steel mills, pipe
plants and even Pullman Standard.
By April 1, 1976, D-Day for Conrail, 16 G26 and 12 G26A
were on the roster still painted PRR. Yes, these cars had serious
longevity.
Not only did they have longevity, they also got around. I
have records showing these cars operated on the B&M, B&O,
CN, CNW, EL, IC, L&N, MKT, SP, SR and UP. Unfortunately,
the records weren’t indicating the types of loads. Only that the
cars had been destroyed in wrecks. Some railroads liked proving
this to me so much, that they did it twice.
PRR company photo of G26 #439048, 10-27-30, neg. #E8963, displaying the as-delivered Circle Keystone lettering arrangement.
PRRT&HS collection.
The Keystone Modeler 6 No. 72, Winter 2010