Re: High Side Gons on the C&TS

no, you are disagreeing.

The 5995 is a unique 40' stock car. No other examples of this type exist on the railroad. It's restoration is coming along slowly, but now that the correct trucks are availble for it (from the great truck swap), expect to see great progress this summer.

Drop bottom gons serve a purpose that no other cars can; they can deposit material outside the rails. They aren't being used for the rock ballast, but instead cinder and dirt used for drainage projects. I can tell you that I have mixed emotions that we put a lot of effort into their restoration and then have the railroad put wet cinder in them, but that is the way things are. I've learned to deal with it.

Actually if you look at historic photos, most trains hauling tank cars usually had longer strings of them, especially in later years. Originally when we looked at buying the cars from the White Pass, we just wanted a couple; some gracious people donated the money so we could bring back 6 of the framed cars. Even with the two frameless cars being restored, I would like to see more to have a representive train. But I don't have the spare cash to help, so I am happy with what we have.

Jay told me about the flat spot on 0579. I am not sure what we can do about that. Good wheelsets are in short supply, if it is truely a danger it needs to be fixed or taken out of service.

Paint is a hard thing. When we originally restored 0579, we did everything possible to ensure that it stayed on the wood. Guess what, it flaked off immediately. Doesn't seem to matter whether it is oil-based or latex; sprayed or brushed on. Just this month we initiated a "paint test" to try different paints/applications to see if we can make sense out of this.

Okay, knowing this, what is your point?

Bill Kepner