Westerfield Gon

[NW Modeling List]

Frank:

Oh, what a nice term for us!  “Enthusiasts”, indeed.  That’s the best diagnosis I’ve had in decades…

I’m also acknowledging Rob Doorack’s note here.  I really appreciate knowing about downloadable resources, and Rob you too have brightened my day considerably!  It looks like one needs to belong to a “Partner Organization” of Babel (or maybe the Hathi Trust?) to download the 1879, 1888, 1903, and 1909 CBCs, but the 1919 CBC is (as of today) fully downloadable.  All can be viewed on-line at this time, but of course no CBC prior to 1912 would benefit this particular issue.

Here are some results of digging into the 1919 Car Builder’s Cyclopedia, theTrain Shed Cyclopedias, and Model Railroader:

1919 CBC, pp304 – 305
1 photo and several mechanical drawings of VGN 50003, 120t 3785 cu ft hopper.  The figure captions indicate this is one of the cars made by Virginia Bridge & Iron.  It has the stepped bottom and side sills (wow, these must have rusted out quickly!) rather than the fishbelly or later straight side sills.  Included in the drawing set are plan and side views of the car-mounted portion of the brake rigging, plus a vertical cross-section that also shows the lateral positions of the brake cylinders.  Fascinating (to me) is the fact that the two brake cylinders are 10”x12” and 12” x 16”.  Also interesting is that the foundation straps for the cylinders are sized proportionately for the cylinders’ sizes.  It looks like the triple valve is integral with the one and only reservoir—but this needs expert scrutiny.  There is an appendage on the outer side of the 12” x 16” cylinder that I assume is a second valve that disables the larger cylinder when the car is empty, but there is no indication how this valve is plumbed or connected to the truck bolsters to determine whether the car is loaded or empty.
               The drawings here are very close to the detail Dave Ayers added to his NPP battleship gon, with the dual cylinders, single reservoir, and lever arm sizes, pivot points and connections.  The NPP model depicts the fishbelly sill prototype, though, so I need to dig further.

1919 CBC, p306
Side view (photo) of N&W 100629, 90t car “with drop bottom doors”.
3/4 view (photo) of N&W101393, 100t car.  Photo shows striped wheel rims (wow, a tarted-up battleship gon!)
Neither of these cars appear (to me) to have Lewis trucks, so one of you N&W “enthusiasts” might take a look and help us VGN “enthusiasts” understand what we’re seeing here.
Both cars have a big rectangular white patch (same height as the N&W logo) painted on the car sides.  Was this used to indicate that the cars should not be used in interchange service?

Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 62, pp178-179  [Note that all material in TSC 62 is from 1925 CBC, which I haven’t found a copy of yet.]
Very good plan, side, and section drawings of the C&O 100t car.  ¾ view photo of C&O 100500, built by Standard Steel Car Company.  These plans show two brake cylinders and one reservoir.  The associated text includes some interesting detail on weight breakdown of the car, and states that there are 10” and 16” brake cylinders.  It also states that there is a 3rd brake cylinder, 4” diameter.  The text calls this a”take-up” cylinder.  I believe that I see two valve castings present in the drawings, but I haven’t been smart enough to find the 3rd, 4”, brake cylinder yet.  The drawings indicate that there are drop doors in the floor of the car.

Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 62, pp180-181
Useful but incomplete drawings of PRR 110t gon.  Car clearly has drop-bottom doors, but there is no brake rigging detail.  Photo side view of PRR 306001; caption includes major dimensions.

Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 62, pp181-182
¾ view (photo) of N&W 101750.  Excellent clarity for lettering and truck identification.  Caption includes major dimensions.  Useful mechanical drawings of 100t car, but they do not provide any more than partial detail of the brake rigging—merely location of the two apparently different size brake cylinders.

Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 62, pp182-185
¾ view (photo) of VGN 19699 120t (G-4) gon, built by Pressed Steel Car Company.  This is the fishbelly sided type represented (maybe) by the NPP model.  Decent clarity for lettering and truck identification.  [Enough to realize that the Athearn Buckeye trucks often used with the NPP models are pretty poor representations, since this photo clearly shows outside brake shoes.  In fact, the trucks in this photo are quite a bit different from those provided with the F&C kits, which appear to be Buckeye, but do have the ouside brake shoes and hangers.]  Major weights and dimensions provided.  HIGHLY detailed car body drawings—providing absolutely zero detail of the brake rigging or components.  Incredibly frustrating!

Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 62, p192
¾ view (photo) of PSCX 1091 100t gon.  This was apparently built by Pressed Steel Car Company to advertise their ability to deliver very light-weight (57,000# empty wt, compared to VGN G-4’s 78,900# ew) 100t capacity cars to any railroad.  Basic dimensions provided.  This photo is fascinating in that the car rides on 4-wheel trucks.  [That’s 64,250# axle loading—would require a minimum rail weight of 115#/yd, but believable for major coal-hauling railroads in 1925.]  It almost looks like one could take the F&C kit, cut out one panel (need to shorten the VGN model by scale 6’3” to match the PSCX car length), maybe fiddle with the poling pockets, find some funky heavyweight 4-whl outside brake trucks, take a flaming guess about brake gear details, and get Bill Mosteller to make up decal sets that might sell 8 copies, and build a decent replica of this car in HO scale!  (How’s that for “enthusiasm”, Frank?)

Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 46 (from 1936 CBC), Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 70 (from 1943 CBC)
No additional material found from what was presented in Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 62.  Go with 62, if you’re looking for the broadest content on battleship gons.

MR Oct 1974 pp70-72, John Munson’s article “A 105-ton gondola from hopper car parts”  [I accessed this from my “Model Railroader Magazine 75-Year Collection 1939 – 2009” CD set.  Man, this set is just so cool compared to having 1700# of magazines taking up shelf space.  When oh when will we be able to buy the complete Arrow collection on CDs???  And, yes, I would gladly pay $200 for such a CD set, just like I did for the MR set, even with the sunk investment I have in paper Arrows!  (More “enthusiasm”.)]
Well, Mr. Munson’s stated objective was to build representative models of the VGN “105t gon” with moderate effort, not to build accurate models.  He states that his cars (kitbashed from a pair of Athearn quad hoppers) end up being about 24” short.  He did not cite a source for his brake rigging and component layout drawing.  The drawing most certainly does not look like a reprint of a drawing from a CBC or other authoritative source.  It also doesn’t look like one of MR’s typically well detailed in-house drawings.  It seems more like a sketch.  Mr. Munson did not cite a reference for his use of two AB brake sets.  He used the Athearn Buckeye trucks.  The article included a photo of VGN 19819, post-modification with straight sills.  It also included a reference to an MR Dec 1958 article on building “these cars” using sheet copper.

MR Dec 1958 pp52-59, Michael Meier article, “Virginian 100-ton gondola”
My Gon!  This was the time when Men were Men, and Models were scratchbuilt.  What an amazing effort and result by Mr. Meier!  Photo included of (you guessed it) VGN 19819, post-modification—the exact same photo used in Munson’s article.  Also numerous photos of the model under construction and finished.  Two brake system detail drawings are included, plus a side view that shows additional brake equipment placement detail.  The first is (you guessed it) identical to the one used in Mr. Munson’s 1974 article, except that this one is rendered in two colors to differentiate the brake gear from the center sill, crossbears and floor outline.  The second one shows the brake air line plumbing diagram, again in two colors.  There is also a set of isometric sketches that add some detail as to how Mr. Meier mounted some of the major brake system components.
               The “feeling” I get of all the drawings in this article is that they were hand-drawn in pencil by an amateur (in the good sense of the word) from personal observations and measurements taken of an actual car.  Mr. Meier states in his 1958 article that “Dozens of these gondolas can be seen at any time in the Norfolk yards, waiting to be unloaded or to be made up for the return trip.”  But neither the 1958 or 1952 ORERs show any of the G-3c or G-4c cars in service, so I’m not sure what to think of his veracity.  I believe that I can see two AB reservoirs in his article’s copy of the photo of VGN 19819, so maybe Mr. Meier’s drawings have merit.  But nowhere in his article can I find any attribution or source for them.

F&C web site http://www.fandckits.com/HOFreight/2070.html
Good photos of built VGN G-3c / G-4c battleship gon models.  Note that the web site and model descriptions clearly indicate that these models are the modified c-versions, “105t G-3c and G-4c”, of these cars.  The kits have post-rebuild straight sills, not fishbelly sills.  As noted above, the F&C trucks (which are rather delicate for decent running on a layout, and whose journals, if I recall, are the resin of the sideframe castings) are different from the G-4 trucks shown in the TSC No. 62 p182 photo. The F&C website provides a photo of the bottom of the car.  Gadzooks!  It doesn’t look like any “official” brake rigging / component mechanical drawing or layout I’ve found yet of any battleship gon, VGN or otherwise.  But it sure enough includes two (same-size AB) brake cylinders, two (standard AB) brake reservoirs, and two (standard AB) triple valves, and it follows the MR Oct 74 Munson (or maybe the MR Dec 59 Meier) article drawing precisely, with the sole exception of omitting one connecting rod to the left truck.

What’s a mother to do???

The bottom line here is that I have well detailed, authentic brake rigging and component layout drawings for cars you can’t buy models of (except maybe the Westerfield N&W car), but no drawings of same for cars you can buy models of.  Dave Ayers’ detailing of the NPP model (which has the pre-modified fishbelly side sills) may be spot on, but I can’t verify it.  It surely looks cool, though.  Meier’s sketches of the G-3c / G-4c brake system (and therefore Munson’s drawing and the F&C model) may be accurate, but I can’t verify it.  On the other hand, if Mr. Meier was just “winging it”, he has led three generations of modelers down the Path Of Iniquity.

After thinking about weights a bit, I’m having some trouble believing that the dual cylinders, whether of the same or different sizes, on battleship gons was a design response to a problem of controlled braking when loaded and empty. The full:empty weight ratio of a VGN G-3 or G-4 gon was about 3.53:1.  A typical 50t gon of the period had a full:empty weigt ratio of around 3.3:1 to 3.4:1.  Not a hugely different ratio from the battleships’.  It’s easy for me to believe that a 140t (gross) car would need a lot more braking force than a 70t (gross) car, though.  So maybe the pioneer designers figured, “Hey, if we need 2 cylinders anyway, we might as well add a valve and differentiate them in size and make these battleship gons behave way better in both the loaded and unloaded cases that typical cars behave.”  And maybe the later designers figured, “Hey let’s keep the extra valve, but standardize the parts across the dual systems to reduce costs—and let’s make them normal Type AB parts to save even more cost.”  Plausible maybe, but only a reasoned guess.

One faint hope I have is that the 1925 CBC may have included detailed brake rigging drawings that the Train Shed Cyclopedia publications just decided to omit.  Does anybody out there have access to the 1925 CBC?  Or can anybody suggest other sources that might prove definitive?

-Eric Bott, “Enthusiast”.  Or quite possibly worse.

From: NW-Modeling-List [mailto:nw-modeling-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Modeling List
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2016 15:57
To: NW Modeling List
Subject: Re: Westerfield Gon

Amazing what happened to my simple request for any photos of a completed Westerfield GKa.  The good news is that apparently there's more interest in these gons than I thought, which means that if this book ever gets done we can sell more than 10 copies.  Now, in addition to some of the Train Shed cycs, I just saw a diagram for underbody detail including the braking system in that article from Model Railroader October 1974 John Munson's article.  Stipulation: that's a VGN gon that he's building, but I wonder how much difference there is in the dual braking systems.

Eric, I hope you're thinking about coming to the NWHS convention in Pikevile or the Virginian gang get together in October at Twin Falls and introducing yourself to the rest of us......enthusiasts.

Frank Bongiovanni

On Tue, Apr 5, 2016 at 11:42 AM, NW Modeling List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org<mailto:nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>> wrote:
Rick,

I recently mentioned that that was the Train Shed Cyclopedia #62, in a reply to Frank B.

Dave Ayers

On Apr 4, 2016, at 10:15 PM, NW Modeling List wrote:

"I haven't seen any one mention the H.K Gregg reprints of the Car Builders Cyclopedia.  There were at least 2 of the booklets that included hoppers and gondolas and one was called coal cars.

One of those had the complete diagram describing the KDEL brake system as applied to an N&W Gk."



Dave
http://daveayers.com
http://brassbackshop.com




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