The Pennsylvania Railroad and merger successor Penn Central built a total of 3,750 G43 / G43A / G43B / G43C gondolas at the Sam Rea Shops in Hollidaysburg PA from 1966 to 1970, the largest gondola fleet built by Sam Rea or any carbuilding shop in the 1960s. In other words, these cars are highly relevant! The G43 gondolas were a modern fleet of 100-ton mill gondolas with 52’6” interior length, with different design configurations for various customer applications. The G43 fleet was built to replace older gondolas with a rugged design suitable for mill (steel products), scrap, and aggregate services. Additionally, many were modified during the Conrail era with coil “racks” to transport uncovered steel coils. Many still serve NS and CSXT today in various services including coil service, as well as other revenue and MOW services. Some cars were sold to the secondary market and still operate today with leasing firm reporting marks. Also, check out our website for examples of these cars faraway from PRR/PC rails.

While the G43 series gondolas were not configured by PRR / PC for coil steel loading when the cars were constructed, a sizable portion of the fleet was retrofitted during the Conrail era to haul rolled steel coils, easily identified by their 6XXXXX numbers. These cars still operate today in NS/CSX service. Conrail 5XXXXX numbers were general service cars.

PRR “Original G43 11-1966″ in the original Pennsylvania Railroad scheme with the plain keystone on the G43 configuration body. The PRR reporting marks, road number, and PRR keystone are on three placards, just like the prototype. This was done so that this stenciling was applied to a flat surface, and not the corrugations. This car looks stunning in the proper PRR freight car red, which nicely compliments the Tangent PRR G31B gondolas for a “family appearance.” These PRR cars are accurate for November 1966 production dates.

Features:

• Dimensional accuracy – designed from actual Sam Rea blueprints and verified with field measurements
• Highly correct “true to life” colors
• “Hyper-Accurate” lettering including exact fonts and lettering placement – compare our replicas to the prototype photos!
• Genuine Kadee® scale couplers
• “Near-scale” draft gear box with beautifully-rendered side “key” detail
• 3 specific production variations that highlight production from 1966-1970, including different bodies, interiors, with or without coil racks, different underframes, different ends. Sell off the toy trains – we do freight cars right
• “See through” brake steps
• Separate air hoses
• Lacy details – wire grab irons, coupler lift bars, and stand-off ladders and stirrup steps
• CNC-machined 36” wheels in high quality Tangent Scale Models trucks (with semi-scale replacement wheels available separately)
• Accurate 100-ton N-11 trucks with free-rolling metal wheels
• Recommended age 14 years and older