A Moldy Oldy

[E7]

Pete,

Fairly sure they were done by both PSC and Overland.

Butch could probably confirm one way or the other. I know at least one importer brought them in.

[Jay Criswell]

Can't speak for sure about the Overland...it depends on the vintage. The PSC was crap.

Jay

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rufus, you sly dog! How many do you have reserved????
How much extra to get then in CVRR???

Not a one would I waste a penny on........ok, for a penny, I might.

PS: I was trying to spare Jon the 6K sledge hammer between the eyes!

If he's going to go after one, he'll need to start knocking over Wa-wa's, pull that spare change out of the sofa cushions, dig up the bullion buried out back, and get in line - only doing 50 of them....

[Chris Webster]

Grab your smelling salts

Check out his Bethgon page, which says:

They will also be available in up to 110 road numbers as there are people wanting a full scale train (100+ cars)....They will be reasonably priced at $600 per car.

[E7]

If he's going to go after one, he'll need to start knocking over Wa-wa's, pull that spare change out of the sofa cushions, dig up the bullion buried out back, and get in line - only doing 50 of them....

Just to show everyone what a humanitarian I am, I will be giving up my reservation, and also the one for 100 Bethgons. Though I am extremely pained by this action, I will sacrifice for the betterment of my fellow modelers.

[E7]

Chris,

Is there anything special about these bethgons? They look like a cross between a hopper and a gondola, but I've only seen them from the side. I suppose 'reasonable' depends on the depth of your wallet.

Rich

[Chris Webster]

Is there anything special about these bethgons? They look like a cross between a hopper and a gondola, but I've only seen them from the side.

They were built out of aluminum and, instead of hopper doors, they have two tubs on the bottoms, one on each side of the centersill. The lighter empty car weight and increased volume inside meant they could carry more coal per car than regular hoppers.

I used to see a lot of solid unit trains of them in the late 90s and early 2000s. They were good looking freight trains -- the cars were relatively clean, always grafitti-free and were usually pulled by state of the art power - SD80MACs and C40-8Ws on Conrail in Pennsylvania and Southern Pacific C44-9Ws on the North Fork branch & former D&RGW main in Colorado.

Kato (N), Athearn (HO), Lionel and others have made plastic models of them. Here's an webpage about Conrail's versions: Conrail Cycolopedia - G52X Coalporter Prototype Page

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Is there anything special about these bethgons? They look like a cross between a hopper and a gondola, but I've only seen them from the side. I suppose 'reasonable' depends on the depth of your wallet.

Boring looking is where I'd categorize them,

Reasonable might equate to having more money per car available to spend than most people earn in a week?

A good styrene kit or an ABS one like the Glacier Park gon kit seems like an opportunity waiting to happen here,

[Chris Webster]

A good styrene kit or an ABS one like the Glacier Park gon kit seems like an opportunity waiting to happen here,

Here's a photograph of the prototype kits: RRPictureArchives.net - New car gondola/hopper sides on an old PRR flatcar
I suspect that ABS or styrene sides would have to be much thicker than the prototype.

[De Bruin]

Yes, IMO this would otherwise beg for a low cost resin, vacuform or injection mold. Actually the cheaper the better.
The bethgon tub car is certainly emblematic of that period's unit coal train, as in DE or Tugco etc
so you know aesthetics aside(Rufus) not a bad idea until you consider what the obligatory prototypic length is and how that scales down to a typical layout, my layout (is very weird) can handle train lengths of up to 40 cars plus, assuming you have the attention span of an invertebrate.
Back to the rich as midas commentory- times $600 a unit? .....losing multiple vacations with that and likely my wife along with it.
Hey, more power to them.
wow

[2railjon]

Hey!! Quit picking on me!! I already have the PSC model and it didn’t cost 6K! My only issue was repairing the roof between the engine walk-through as it was a poor solder joint and weak. Popsicle sticks and epoxy did the trick!

[Jay Criswell]

Jon,

Where's the damned "Like" button?

Jay

[E7]

Jon!!! How many people does it take to pick that thing up????

To get back to the issue of bethgons, when Chris said they (the prototype) were made from aluminum, I immediately thought of the old K-Line (I think they were K-Line) aluminum hoppers. Call up K-Line by Lionel (Do they still exist?), and tell them to cast up a batch. I bet they won't cost $600 a pop.

I will be in the No Thanks queue behind Rufus, since anything built after 1960 offends my sensibilities.

[rex desilets]

<snip>
I will be in the No Thanks queue behind Rufus, since anything built after 1960 offends my sensibilities.

Preach it, brother.

[Chris Webster]

Yes, IMO this would otherwise beg for a low cost resin, vacuform or injection mold. Actually the cheaper the better.
The bethgon tub car is certainly emblematic of that period's unit coal train, as in DE or Tugco etc

The Trinkle Trains guy was making his own unit train of (I think) Ortner cars, so I believe it's already been done.

I have no plans to scratchbuild a unit train, but if that changes, I would start by investigating CNC routing brass sheet - there are some impressive demos on youtube.