Thanks so much Scott! For some reason I love a train of gons hauling scrap ... lol! Yes, usually the gons do look worse than the scrap loads they are carrying. It's nice to know you and I share the affection.
Your reply inspired me to reminisce about my earliest years here on the planet. Gondolas were actually the first kind of freight car I came in contact with, and have fond memories of them set out on a siding as they were used as idler cars. My hometown was served by a branch line of the B&O. The branch line served a cotton mill which was located on the opposite side of the river directly across from the rails of the branch line. The bridge used to span the river had been moved to this location from elsewhere on the B&O and had low weight restrictions. Locomotives were prohibited from crossing the bridge. In order to reach outbound cars and spot in bound cars at the cotton mill, a string of idler cars in the form of gondolas were employed. The floors in these idler/gons were rotted out in many places and I'm sure the cars were at the very end of their useful purpose ... hence being relegated to idler car status on a branch line. I'm sure they were on borrowed time from the scrapper's torch.
Due to having to use idler cars, the switching maneuvers were quite involved:
The idler/gons were coupled between the locomotive and inbound/outbound freight cars ( boxcars and open hoppers ) to extend the train over the bridge.
The switching move routine would be: Locomotive pushes the train of inbound cars from the mainline up the branch line to my hometown. The inbound cut of cars to be delivered to the mill on the opposite side of the bridge ( spanning the Little Patuxent River ) would be pushed to the precipice of the bridge and uncoupled. The locomotive ( in my day a GP7 or GP9 before that a steam loco) would then move forward, clearing the switch, and then back onto the siding with the idler gons. Once coupled .. the locomotive would pull forward until the last gon cleared the switch, then back up to the cut of inbound cars .. couple on, and shove the inbound cars across the bridge. Once the loads were to the other side of the bridge, the train was coupled to waiting outbound cars. The loco then pulled the entire train of idlers, inbound cars, and out bound cars over the bridge then back the outbound cars onto the idler car siding, uncouple ... pull forward with last inbound cars clearing the switch ... then back the entire train over the bridge so that the inbound cars reached the loading dock. Once in bound cars were uncoupled .. the idler cars were pulled forward past the switch for the idler car siding where the outbound cars are now set out ... idler cars were pushed back onto siding and coupled to outbound loads ... locomotive pulls forward with idlers and outbound cars ... once out bound cars clear the switch .. locomotive pushes idlers and outbound cars back toward bridge where outbounds are uncoupled and left sitting ... the idlers are then pulled forward and then backed into the idler car siding where they wait to perform the same function the next day.
Lots of switching moves which would be fun to simulate on a model railroad!
Patrick, Thanks for the rather intense description of the switching! I'll bet as a young kid that was so much fun to watch, and as an adult I get the idea. I can imagine you as a you person enjoying this wonderful railroad activity with all the lash ups and bashing of old worn out rail cars. That's a lot of info and description on a bygone era, it's like reliving it with you. Thanks for taking the time to describe all the activities of that complex rail manifer step by step.
As you say, "Just another Day on the Railroad"!
