I decided I wanted this car, because run-of-the-mill contemporary equipment isn't all that easy to find. And actually, the Walthers rib-side car itself doesn't quite have a prototype. I did some research and discovered that this is 1990s tooling, originally issued as a Walthers kit, but the rib sides were simply added to plain-panel Thrall gon tooling. You can see this in the photo below, where I juxtapose a CP Rail Thrall car with the BNSF gon:
The closest prototype to the Walthers rib side car is in fact a BNSF, ex BN class:
However, it looks like these cars never had a panel with the circle-cross logo like the Walthers car. And I've never shot one out here, but I've seen many other BNSF gons, so this one is close enough.
To do will be painting the wheels, the truck sideframes, the couplers, and the interior, adding a better COTS stencil, tags, and yellow conspicuity stripes so it comes out a little more like this:
Nice looking gondola! The second prototype photo provided an excellent idea for a load for this car. Look forward to seeing the new car in revenue service with the planned upgrades.
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