[N&W] Class GK Question

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

  Page 171 of Lewis Jeffries's "N&W: Giant of Steam has a hgh-angle view of a
Y2 pulling a train of N&W coal gons. The photo is dated 1936, but I strongly
suspect it should be 1926, as none of the cars in the train has the arched ends
the GKd rebuilds received in the late 1920s and the ninth car back is a GS,
which were retired in 1934.

  Anyway, the first car has three crossties mounted perhaps 9 inches below the
top, while the cars behind it have three crossties mounted just below the top.
Does anyone know enough about the particulars of the GK and its relatives to
say what subclass the first car was, and what the others were? I have Andy
Dow's book, but it doesn't go into any detail about the crossties on the GKs.

David Thompson