Bluford Shops 52060 - 52'6" 15-Panel Lightly Dented Mill Gondola Pittsburgh & Lake Erie (P&LE) 2689 - N Scale

Pittsburgh & Lake Erie took delivery of this batch of gons in 1946. P&LE had been a subsidiary of New York Central for many years but following the financial collapse of NYC successor Penn Central, P&LE, which was still profitable, began to distance themselves from PC including removing the “mating worms” PC logos. P&LE would remain nominally independent until 1993 when they were acquired by CSX. This paint scheme represents this period of independence.

52'6" 15-Panel DENTED Mill Gondolas.

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 dull 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 our 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. Note we previously reported the minimum radius as 11" based on early designs but after a couple of revisions and with the sample cars in hand, we can report they will do 9.75" minimum radius.