Trainworx - 2603-03 - Gondola, 40 Foot, Steel, Drop Bottom - Missouri Pacific - 28309

Model Information: This model from Trainworx was first introduced in September of 2008. It has some great features such as separately applied ladders, grab irons and brake platform detail. The underframe is exceptionally detailed as is the interior. So much effort was spent on the interior it seems a shame to add a load! These models use Micro-Trains Bettendorf trucks with integrated couplers. It would be nice to see body-mount couplers, but this model seemed to have come out just before body-mount couplers became the norm. Also, the couplers come with standard MTL supplied injection molded wheels, whereas newer high-end models come with metal wheels. These last two comments are not meant as criticisms, but rather serve to illustrate trends in N Scale rolling stock manufacturing.

Prototype History: In US railroad terminology, a gondola is an open-topped rail vehicle used for transporting loose bulk materials. All-steel gondolas date back to the early part of the 20th century. Because of their low side walls gondolas are also suitable for the carriage of such high-density cargoes as steel plates or coils, or of bulky items such as prefabricated sections of rail track.

Drop-bottom gondolas were equipped with dump doors that operated via a mechanism located in the center of the car body. The drop bottom door provided a time-saving unloading method compared to the usual, labor-intensive procedure. Instead of equipping workmen with shovels to muck out the car’s content, the lever system was used to open the doors thus immediately dumping the load on the ground. Various commodities could be carried in the drop bottom gons, but coal loadings were most common. Many coaling towers had elevated trestle style delivery ramps where the drop bottom gondolas would be spotted and workmen could simply open the dump doors to spill the contents into the coal bins. At facilities with the elevator bucket style of coal dock, a ramp was used that led up to an open grate where the coal would spill through and into the lower coal bins. The gons were “tailor made” for company service such as dumping ballast directly onto track roadbed during maintenance, as well as hauling cinders out of various engine service facilities. Handy they were!

Road Name History: The Missouri Pacific Railroad (reporting mark MP), commonly abbreviated MoPac, with nickname of The Mop, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (SLIMS), Texas and Pacific Railway (TP), Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI), St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway (SLBM), Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (KO&G), Midland Valley Railroad (MV), San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad (SAU&G), Gulf Coast Lines (GC), International-Great Northern Railroad (IGN), New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway (NOTM), Missouri-Illinois Railroad (MI), as well as the small Central Branch Railway (an early predecessor of MP in Kansas and south central Nebraska), and joint ventures such as the Alton and Southern Railroad (AS).

In 1967, the railroad operated 9,041 miles of road and 13,318 miles of track, not including DK&S, NO&LC, T&P and its subsidiaries, C&EI and Missouri-Illinois.

On January 8, 1980, the Union Pacific Railroad agreed to buy the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Lawsuits filed by competing railroads delayed approval of the merger until September 13, 1982. After the Supreme Court denied a trial to the Southern Pacific, the merger took effect on December 22, 1982. However, due to outstanding bonds of the Missouri Pacific, the merger with Union Pacific become official only on January 1, 1997.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Trainworx was founded in 1999 by Pat Sanders and is located in Delta Colorado. Their first freight car was the Quad hopper and it was released in 2000. They have been making N scale products ever since. Their website can be found at www.train-worx.com. As of 2016, they have produced 8 different rolling stock body styles as well as a range of different highway vehicles in N Scale. Their limited edition runs have proven a huge success with collectors and modelers enjoy the accuracy of all their products.

Trainworx sells their products both through tradional retail channels as well as directly by phone order. When asked "What prompted you to found Trainworx?", Pat Sanders responded "There was a freight car that hadn't been done in N scale that I just had to have and it didn't look like anyone was ever going to make it."