Dear N Scale Customers;

Bluford Shops has announced the New 52ft 6inch 15-Panel Dented Mill Gondolas

Conrail inherited this style of mill gon in quantity from both Penn Central and Erie Lackawanna. Many had been built with drop ends but were rebuilt with fixed Dreadnaught ends and Ajax brake housings as seen here.

When Chicago Burlington & Quincy required another 750 mill gons in 1957, they chose to build them themselves at their Havelock, Nebraska shops. These cars were equipped with fixed Dreadnaught ends and nailable steel floors, the instructions for which are seen to the right of the Burlington Route logo.

Great Northern took delivery of 200 of these gondolas from Pullman Standard in 1957 in the vermilion paint scheme. Although they used the Pullman’s fixed ends, GN opted for the ribs used on the original Greenville-Erie design. They also used the Ajax 3059 brake wheel instead of the usual IP80 design. These details are reproduced on this run.

Greenville built several batches of these mill gons for Nickel Plate Road over the years with details varying from batch to batch. This group outshopped in 1949 had Carbuilders drop ends and side-mounted Ajax 3059 brake wheels. The fleet was passed to Norfolk & Western with their 1964 merger.

Although New York Central would build thousands of these mill gons in their own shops, this particular batch was built by Greenville in 1949. They used the Dreadnaught style drop ends and lever action brakes. This batch was also equipped with nailable steel floors (instructions for use are seen to the right of the road number.)

That’s right, these models are factory dented! The Lightly Dented versions have multiple deflections in the side sheets above the floor line. The Medium Dented versions have the side sheets visibly puffed outward between the rivet lines as countless small dings to the inside faces accumulated and stretched the sheets into rough domes. The Heavily Dented versions also have the puffed out panels but to a greater extent – plus many of the ribs have also been deflected outward. The concave dent detail on the inside faces matches the convex outside faces.

With the exception of specially equipped gons with timber saddles for carrying coils or other specially secured loads, mill gons began collecting dents with their first revenue load. This was expected and short of punching a hole in a side sheet (an extremely rare event) there would be no reason to replace a bulging panel. Even gons which have received a comprehensive servicing would receive a new coat of paint over their dented panels. The corrugations used on the car ends effectively resisted damage. As you can imagine, a steel billet that could punch though an end could potentially fall to the track below causing a catastrophic wreck, so heavy gauge corrugated steel ends were a must.

As a rule, the last time a mill gon had an unmarred paint job on the interior is when it left the factory. Even when they were repainted, spraying the interior was usually considered a waste of time and paint. In keeping with this practice these N scale models have a mottled rust effect applied to the interior faces regardless of the outside color.

These models feature diecast floors for superior tracking and plastic sides, ends, draft gear, body bolsters and additional brake gear. The cars come standard with Bluford Shops metal wheels and magnetically operating knuckle couplers. Variations include Dreadnaught or PS style fixed ends with Ajax end mounted brake housing and two styles of brake wheels; or drop ends from Dreadnaught or PS (or the identical Carbuilder’s ends) with end mounted lever action hand brakes or side mounted brake wheels as appropriate for each road name. Minimum Radius: 11”.

Order Due Date: May 31, 2024

Anticipated Delivery Date: January 2025

Looking for more Bluford Shops Gondolas? Click here!