Awhile back I posted about a Richard Hendrickson project that I inherited in a partially completed state, a Model Die Casting (MDC) cast white-metal high-side gondola, being modified as a C&O gondola with the curved-top ends (that post is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-richard-hendrickson-freight-car.html ). Coincidentally, a friend offered me another MDC metal gondola, factory lettered for Illinois Central, and I held him off because I didn’t know if it was prototypical.
Meanwhile, researching 9-rib high-side gondolas, well-known in the fleets of the N&W, C&O, Pere Marquette, and Clinchfield, I began to think that I had such a car in my stash of “someday project” cars, mostly older models I wasn’t sure what to do with. One of them was a gift I received from a friend when I lived in Pittsburgh, years ago.
I pulled it out, and indeed it is the MDC metal gondola. But my friend had lettered it for the P&LE subsidiary Pittsburgh, McKeesport & Youghiogheny (for which I don’t think the model is correct), and moreover he had lettered it with decals for the later sans-serif New York Central system scheme, a lettering style that came well after my 1953 modeling year. I note from my freight car record sheet for this car that I received it way back in 1979.
Now what could I do with this? Well, as a “freight-car guy,” I naturally wanted to correct its lettering to some road that would actually have owned a car like this, even if I didn’t want to carve off the molded grab irons on the white-metal body. (To explain what a “freight-car guy” is, you may want to view this post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2019/10/whats-freight-car-guy.html ).
Now my first step, perhaps obviously, was to turn down the IC model that had been offered, as I don’t particularly know that the IC lettering is correct either. Second, continuing my research about 9-rib gondolas, I learned from a note supplied by the late Bill Welch that Wabash had 1350 cars like this. Built during 1944–46, they had Dreadnaught ends with flat tops, and were numbered 13500–14849.
Thanks to the Steam Era Freight Car email list, Steve Johnson sent me an excellent prototype photo, taken on September 20, 1951 (photographer and location unknown), of WAB 13658.
This shows details I don’t mean to duplicate, such as the drop grabs, but shows the car body style as clearly as one could want. I intend the model to be what I call a “main line”model, meaning only to be operated in passing mainline trains, not in switching service and thus open to examination.
A second photo sent by Gary Roe shows the other end of the car side, and in particular clearly shows the route card board on the end panel, which I can add to the MDC model with a scale 9-inch long piece of styrene scale 1 x 6.
So my first job was to paint out the old PMcK&Y lettering with black, then continue with decals. I have in the decal stash I inherited from Richard Hendrickson a Champ set, HN-2, with Wabash lettering. This matches fairly well with the photos above. Once applied, a coat of clear flat protected the decals.
With the lettering complete, I weathered the car. I added some rusty coloration to the interior, along with my usual exterior weathering with my acrylic wash technique. Route cards and a few chalked switchmen’s messages were added. Lastly, I have long wanted to try the weathering effect of white paint “chalking,” showing paint pigment carried below the lettering. I used Prismacolor pencils, white along with a warm gray pencil, to do this.
With these final steps, the car is ready to participate in an upcoming operating session. I am glad to have it closer to prototype appearance than was the case in its previous state, shown in the uppermost photo in this post. It will look just fine in a mainline train.
Tony Thompson