High Side Gons on the C&TS

I believe during the 1989 Friends work session, I was on a team to clean up and paint a number of high side gondolas that were buried in the Chama yard. Many of the cars were not usable even then as they no longer had brasses and other brake parts which were needed to keep other cars in service.

Over the years there might have been a couple (including pipe gons) restored by the Friends, but in general, this is a car type which isn't thought to be important to the railroad. As with other "open cars", they suffer from bad sills because there is nothing to protect the flooring and sills from moisture and rot. I hope we can keep the rebuilt cars under the CSF in Antonito, but they wouldn't have as high priority as some of the more significant cars on the railroad.

It would be nice to "save" more of these so they could be available for special trains, but besides being used as a possible rider gon, why bother? One of my thoughts was to try to get about 30 volunteers and spend a summer rebuilding the entire fleet, assembly-line fashion. Any takers?

Below is what we found in 1357 when we pulled to floor out. John had us jack one end up and when we did we could see there was major problems with the sills at the bolsters. I would expect many of the other cars have the same issue. It really doesn't make a good rider gon either as the ends provide structure rigidity and once cut for the doorways, the sides seem to bow inward. Plus the brake staff and gear on the B end need to be moved as they are in the middle of the car end. They are built almost as flat cars, as the sides and ends attach via the side stake pockets.

So this is the reality of 90-year old wooden cars. It only takes sweat and money.


Bill Kepner




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2014 10:00AM by drgw0579.