PRR G31D Gondola question

[nkalanaga]

I have a Micro-Trains covered gon, PRR 376771, which would be a G31D.  I would like to replace it with a BLMA G31, which will require considerable work.  However, before starting, I have a question about these cars.

Robert Schoenberg's website, http://prr.railfan.net/freight/ has a nice page on these cars: http://prr.railfan.net/freight/classpage.html?class=G31.  This page, in turn, has links to two equipment diagrams for the covered cars, with two different roofs.  Between them, the diagrams list only ten car numbers.

Were these the only G31D covered gons?  Apparently "skid cars", with coil cradles and individual skid covers, were much more common.  I have no need for a coil car in rural Montana, so if there were only ten conventional covered G31Ds, there's no point in my building one.

Any advice?

[bbussey]

Yikes.  The MTL car is two feet too short.  I'd be more inclined to 3D print a new cover for the BLMA model.

[nkalanaga]

That's the reason I'm asking, but the real issue is that, if there were only ten of these, I don't NEED one at all.  No point going to the trouble of building one if I don't have any reason to run it.

If they had a few hundred, I could find something that could be hauled in it that one of my customers could use.  But a car that rare isn't likely to be seen in my area.

Also, the BLMA car needs more than a new cover.  The G31D had fixed ends, so the car would need new ends.

I don't remember ever seeing a covered gon, any road, in Pasco, growing up.  It would have been unusual enough that I would have noticed it.  I did see a PRR triple hopper once, no idea what it was doing out there, but it was odd enough that I remembered it.

[bbussey]

I think the vintage AHM/Trix covered gondola lid is actually based on the G31 prototype. Perhaps it is possible to stretch the ends without it being noticeable, and then upgrade the roofwalk to current standards.

[nkalanaga]

The Trix covered gon I have is closer to the Bluford model, with the wider center panel.  They also have a deeper sidesill than the MT or BLMA cars, closer to a CB&Q prototype.

[bbussey]

I’m partial to the G36D covered gon (I think that’s the correct designation). Pennsy had more than a handful of them and they look especially sweet in PC livery.

[Mark5]

Bryan beat me to it. 

The Minitrix model is supposedly based on the PRR G36c (2.5 ft too short as ya know). PRR had a few thousand.

https://www.spookshow.net/freight/roco50covered.html

[Dave V]

Ever since I first started modeling PRR I've been running the Micro-Trains PRR 376704...I don't much mind that it's a foobie. I figure as long as I have enough accurate-to-prototype cars and locomotives in Pennsy garb, the eye and brain will be fooled into believing it's all correct. I prefer correct over foobie obviously, but I have a few Micro trains gons that are stand-ins for PRR prototypes that I don't really lose a lot of sleep over.

[nkalanaga]

The MT cars are fine, and I was quite happy with them.  But after buying the newer correct-length cars, the difference was noticeable.  So, I figured I'd upgrade all of mine, except for a couple whose prototypes were less than 52'6".

Bryan:  How about doing the G36c?  As you said, they had thousands, they could be sold in both open and covered versions, and PRR gons were seen nationwide (probably continent-wide).  They're definitely an "Eastern Seaboard" car, and different enough from anybody else's gondola models to stand out.

[bbussey]

I've had the G36 body designed for a while, as far back as when I designed the G32C.  I also have the MOW version.  But I don't have the roof designed.  It's not as "exotic" looking as the G32 variants so I don't think it would sell as well as they did.

[nkalanaga]

For the roof, it probably wouldn't be worth doing in plastic.  But today, a direct-order 3D printed roof as an option for the plastic gon should be doable.  The customer might have to renumber the car, but there are plenty of PRR decals with proper numbers.  It wouldn't even have to be done by you, if someone else wanted to make it.

The roofs I used to see at Kentucky Electric Steel weren't always a perfect match for the car, color-wise, so the customer shouldn't have any problem there.

Off-topic, but most of the cars at KES since 2000 or so seem to have white, rounded, covers.  Fiberglass, maybe?  I haven't seen an old-style "boxcar roof" covered gon in many years.