Walthers 52’ Thrall Gondola
Wm. K Walthers
5601 West Florist Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53218
www.walthers.com
HO Scale
MSRP $19.98
The Prototype
In the 1960’s the railroads were actively
upgrading their freight car rosters to meet the demands of shippers, to
address the changing character of the rail freight business and to
counter competition from other modes of transportation. The steel
industry in particular pushed the railroads to introduce gondola cars
with higher capacity and higher sides. The higher sides were needed to
achieve the greater capacity, but also to ease load-securing problems
associated with earlier low-sided gondola designs. In the early and mid
60’s the 52’ gondolas were frequently 70-ton capacity cars with 4’ or 4’
6” sides. The 1970 Car and Locomotive Cyclopedia note that by that date
a significant portion of new gondola construction was 100-ton capacity
cars.
The Thrall Car Manufacturing Co. was a major
supplier of the new higher capacity freight cars, and specialized in
all-welded construction. Thrall was a family owned business located in
the Chicago area until sold to Trinity Industries in 2001. The initial
Thrall 70-ton gondolas were characterized by welded construction with
fish belly sides having 13 or 14 ribs, and could be ordered with a
variety of side heights, ends, floors and load restraints to suit
customer needs. In the late 1960’s Thrall introduced 100-ton cars that
featured larger side ribs that distinguish them from the earlier 70-ton
cars. Thrall continued to build these cars well into the 1990’s. They
were supplanted by the current production 52’ 6” IL cars that typically
have 5’6” sides and a higher 115-ton capacity. These cars are used by
the steel industry for hauling both steel scrap to the mills and
finished steel products. They can also be seen with loads of pulpwood,
machinery, aggregates, track materials, etc.
The Model
The Walthers model is based on the Thrall
100-ton car with 5’ sides having 14-posts. The specific car reviewed
was lettered for the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton car number 9676, Walthers
item number 932-40257. The paint and lettering conform to prototype
photos, and are neatly applied and very crisp – all the words in the
minute equipment lease stencil can be read with a magnifying glass. The
car comes fully assembled except for the grab irons. The modeler must
drill #80 holes at the locating dimples, install the wire grabs provided
in the kit, and paint the grabs in an appropriate color for the car.
(For the DT&I car, the grabs were initially yellow like the ladders, but
quickly became black as the cars saw heavy use.) The
www.rr-fallenflags.org web site has a great number of prototype
rolling stock photos that can be used to confirm colors for the other
road names Walthers offers.
Walthers includes a removable interior rack
for securing coil steel loads. The model has abbreviated underbody
detail with longitudinal and transverse ribs together with air brake
cylinder, triple valve and air reservoir, but no air piping or brake
rigging. Prototype photos show that some of the brake rods are visible
below the fishbelly sides, so modelers with eye-level trackage may want
to add these details. The car comes with rigid frame roller bearing
trucks with metal RP-25 wheelsets and working knuckle couplers. The car
weighs 2.5 oz., somewhat less than the NMRA recommended 4.75 oz. for a
car of this length. However, this is easily remedied by adding any
number of different loads.
These widely used cars should be at home on
any layout modeling the period from the late 1960’s to the present.
Walthers has announced the following road names for these gondolas as
both single cars and two packs:
932-40250 - Thrall 53' Gondola - Undecorated
932-40251 - Thrall 53' Gondola - Soo Line
932-40252 - Thrall 53' Gondola - Wisconsin
Central
932-40253 - Thrall 53' Gondola - Milwaukee
Road
932-40254 - Thrall 53' Gondola - Green Bay &
Western
932-40255 - Thrall 53' Gondola - Union
Pacific(R)
932-40256 - Thrall 53' Gondola - Conrail
932-40257 - Thrall 53' 14-Post Gondola -
Detroit, Toledo & Ironton
932-40258 - Thrall 53' 14-Post Gondola -
Illinois Terminal
932-40259 - Thrall 53' 14-Post Gondola -
Denver & Rio Grande Western
932-40260 - Thrall 53' 14-Post Gondola -
Florida East Coast
932-40261 - Thrall 53' 14-Post Gondola -
Missouri-Kansas-Texas
932-40262 - Thrall 53' 14-Post Gondola -
Wisconsin Central
932-240251 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited-Run
Two Pack - Soo Line
932-240252 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited-Run
Two Pack - Wisconsin Central
932-240253 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited-Run
Two Pack - Milwaukee Road
932-240254 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited-Run
Two Pack - Green Bay & Western
932-240255 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited-Run
Two Pack - Union Pacific(R)
932-240256 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited-Run
Two Pack - Conrail
932-240257 - Thrall 53' 14-Post Gondola
Assembled Limited-Run 2-Pack - Detroit, Toledo & Ironton
932-240258 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited Run
2 Pack - Illinois Terminal
932-240259 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited Run
2 Pack - Denver & Rio Grande Western
932-240260 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited Run
2 Pack - Florida East Coast
932-240261 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited Run
2 Pack - Missouri-Kansas-Texas
932-240262 - Thrall 53' Gondola Limited Run
2 Pack - Wisconsin Central
Reviewed
by Gary Quale
