New Lionel 65' Mill Gondola

I'm very excited about them.

Very nice. I will be watching for these. 

After jotting down the product numbers on my "items to watch ship dates for" list, I noticed that it appears that the decision to release three road numbers per roadname was an afterthought. Not because of the lack of illustrations (that would be a waste of space), but the product numbers.

The Lionel 6-xxxxx numbering is sequential across the first offered number of the six roadnames (83317 to 83321), but the second and third road numbers are in a different product number sequence (84582 to 84587, BNSF/CNW,CSX) and (84590 to 84593, SP/UP) with yet one more (84538/39) for the second and third NS cars.

It certainly looks like Lionel had to shoehorn additional product numbers for the additional road numbers, though I haven't looked at any other three-packs to see if the same pattern holds. (or to see if the two numbers missing in the second/third car sequence--"84588/89"--were already being used elsewhere, leading to the NS cars being assigned yet another sequence...assuming that's not a typo)

---PCJ

I've wanted these for quite some time. Too bad they didn't do the ones with the corrugated panels. But I'm getting a bunch of these.

Big_Boy_4005 wrote:

"Too bad they didn't do the ones with the corrugated panels."

Agreed...  The Greenville version of this 65' car would have been snazzy.   Or even the shorter 53' Thrall version.

Here is a link to the 65' Greenville Exact Rail HO offering:   

https://exactrail.com/collecti...ille-65-mill-gondola

I hope Lionel does a good job with the underbody brake rigging detail as in the Exact Rail car.  A car that has a high riding underbody like this gondola needs good brake detail  .  

Scott

Scott Kay posted:

Big_Boy_4005 wrote:

"Too bad they didn't do the ones with the corrugated panels."

Agreed...  The Greenville version of this 65' car would have been snazzy.   Or even the shorter 53' Thrall version.

Here is a link to the 65' Greenville Exact Rail HO offering:   

https://exactrail.com/collecti...ille-65-mill-gondola

I hope Lionel does a good job with the underbody brake rigging detail as in the Exact Rail car.  A car that has a high riding underbody like this gondola needs good brake detail  .  

Scott

Didn't Lionel just lessen the underbody detail of the big 86' cars?

Who is going to be the first to upload and publish a video of the new Mill Gondolas on YouTube? 

Andrew

There is a lot of these gondolas on ebay at the moment. Roo.

I just looked at a CSX gon, at the DuPage Show today.   Not a bad looking car, but the detail does seem rather light.   Any comments on this.  Akso,  what roadnames are correct for this car, as I do recall some posts regarding  inaccuracies for proper roads done bt Lionel............

In looking at the latest Lionel Signature Edition Catalog 2017 v2 pg 46-47 looks like Lionel is offering the next run in 3 roadnumbers, including single cars with Graffiti in the following roadnames

• BNSF (Wedge)
• Railgon (GNTX)
• Atlantic & Western (ATW)
• Arkansas & Oklahoma (AOK)
• Steelton & Highspire

Andrew I tried all day to post a short video, for some reason best I can get is 17% 

Clem

Finally success

Clem

R Nelson posted:

I just looked at a CSX gon, at the DuPage Show today.   Not a bad looking car, but the detail does seem rather light.   Any comments on this.  Akso,  what roadnames are correct for this car, as I do recall some posts regarding  inaccuracies for proper roads done bt Lionel............

The Lionel is based on the latest Greenbrier Ind 66' gon built for CSX, it is a welded car so few if any rivets and underbody is basic, I believe only one other rd name is accurate at this time the overall dimensions are accurate with the exception of the interior depth which is apparently 1 5/16" rather than 1 1/2" [6 scale feet],someone posted this number. No doubt the inside floor was molded in slightly higher to allow cookie cutter wheelsets to clear bottom sufficiently for O-31 operation. JMO

Dear List,

Need help on selecting the correct NWSL  36" wheelsets to fit in the trucks. Thank you, John

jdunn posted:

Dear List,

Need help on selecting the correct NWSL  36" wheelsets to fit in the trucks. Thank you, John

Lionel actually offers replacement wheels for the gondolas, but they're 33". I've been told that the Atlas 100-ton trucks are a perfect fit to replace the Lionel trucks, but you'll need to shim the couplers down to the right height. I'm going to go that route as I like how Atlas has done their trucks and wheel sets.

Matt, I agree, Atlas O trucks are awesome. The cars come with shims which lower the Kadee to the correct height (plus screws). I've converted all my cars, and they look so nice. 

A word of caution.  Some cars factory equipped with factory Kadee mounting pads have the correct ride height for Kadee couplers - but incorrect overall car body height.  This can be the case with compromises made to provide underfloor clearance for hi rail flanges.  If I'm not mistaken this was the case with the nicely detailed Lionel PRR GLa hopper cars.  AtlasO's approach to offering 2 and 3 rail versions using using 3 rail  truck shims avoids the issue.    

Hey all,

I wanted to share what I did to 2-rail these cars. I used the Atlas O 100-ton roller bearing trucks to give the gondola the correct 36" wheels (Pic #1). However, the Lionel supplied Kadee mounting pads lower the car too far when using the Atlas trucks (Pic #2). (The Lionel pads work correctly when using Lionel's conversion kit, but then you have the wrong wheels(Pic #3)). To remedy this, use one of the Micro-Mark spacer pads and a 5/16" screw (Pic #4). When you do this, you can NOT use one of the Lionel supplied screws as they will travel too far and punch a hole in the bottom of the car. (I used a sharpie to hide this mistake until this gondola gets a load (Pic #5).)So, you will need to supply your own screws. The Lionel screws seem to be 3/8", so I used some 5/16" screws instead, and they worked perfectly (Pic #6). For the couplers, I used Kadee #740s. The cars bump a bit when sitting but separate when pulled on 072/36" radius Fastrack, so they should probably be run on 40.5" or larger track (Pic #7/8). Unfortunately, I don't have any track that size to test with at the moment, but I hope this info helps anyone trying to 2 rail these cars.

I modify mine with Jim Lincoln's Shapeways under frame extensions, protocraft 100 ton P48 trucks and couplers.