stock_2007 Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Hi I've just picked up an ATHEARN blue box gondola in N&W livery with a little work I think it should be ok, the thing is its loaded with something called 'Food lockers' I've never seen a photo of this type of load. I wondered when this kind of 'locker' would have been used? The gondola has a new date of 1959 but that could mean anything with it being blue box. As always any help is very welcome Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Are those the silver square 'containers' that fit in the gondola? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stock_2007 Posted November 28, 2013 Author Share Posted November 28, 2013 Are those the silver square 'containers' that fit in the gondola? Yes that's right Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
highpeak Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 The gondola part of your purchase is somewhat compromised in large part because Irv Athearn didn't want to have to make a bigger box, so it was sized to fit in the same box as other 50' cars. It also made use of the underframe from the 50' flat car. A lot of the blue box cars were tooled up in the 50s when there was less attention paid to accuracy and a lot less information readily available. The containers are a bit more promising. They are a reasonable representation of insulated containers made by the L.C.L. Corporation for perishable commodities. L.C.L. Corp was formed as an independent company in the 20s by the New York Central to develop ways of handling l.c.l. traffic at lower cost and reduced damage by using various kinds of containers. In the beginning the NYC handled the containers using converted mill gondolas. The rival Pennsylvania RR carried their containers on converted flat cars, eliminating the need for overhead cranes to load and unload the cars. The NYC responded by building drop side gons that could handle 6 containers and didn't need an overhead crane to unload. The cars survived into the early 50s with one batch modified to permanently closed sides running into the late 50s. Information from Railway Prototype Cyclopedia vol 10 which has an overview of this early attempt at inter-modal service. http://www.rpcycpub.com/v10.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 LCL = Less [than] Car Load Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stock_2007 Posted November 29, 2013 Author Share Posted November 29, 2013 Hi I've just picked up an ATHEARN blue box gondola in N&W livery with a little work I think it should be ok, the thing is its loaded with something called 'Food lockers' I've never seen a photo of this type of load. I wondered when this kind of 'locker' would have been used? The gondola has a new date of 1959 but that could mean anything with it being blue box. As always any help is very welcome Sorry jhock what is it you disagree with? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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