CSXT Gondola

Brian Smith sent me a few pictures that he took recently.  He had particularly noticed the "MW" mark on the side of the gondola and thought maybe I would like to do the same on a model.

A bit closer look

While Brian liked the "MW", what caught my about this gondola was the doubled reflective stripes, as well as the L-shaped combination of two stripes at the end. And looking closely, there's a single stripe at the right hand end of the gondola that is located lower than the others.

I thought I'd do something similar to one of my gondolas here, but without the Maintenance of Way marking.  I chose JSSX 1410 for the subject.

Here's my gondola JSSX 1410 with the reflective stripes as they were.

Now, I know that it's a small change to the gondola in this next picture, and really, who else would even notice such a thing?  But I'll know it's there.

Just a simple matter of moving Smokebox Graphics reflective stripes and adding a couple on on each side.  Took five minutes for me to do this.  The hardest part was deciding which gondola to choose.  I picked one belonging to my shortline (that way nobody can say it's not prototypical).

And a look at the other side of the gondola

Brian also went to the trouble to take a few more photos that day, so I'll show them here as well.  I've adjusted each photo to be just a bit brighter.

A nice look at the gondola's "A" end.  Track buried in the dirt

Coupled next to the CSX gondola was this RailGon

This one bears the old Chesapeake & Ohio "CO" reporting marks

And there's this picture with a tank car parked on a siding.  Notice the condition of the rails..

Thanks very much for the photos Brian !