Picked up an Aristo Illinois Central gondola. I don’t know much about it or if it’s rare like I was told. lol.
I forgot they were 40’ cars, so I may not keep it. I’ll get some of my other rolling stock out later tonight and see how it looks. I had a 40’ box car a while back and just didn’t like how short it was.
Anyway on to the pics!
It is a nice, sharp looking car Matt. Consulting the Aristo database it seems there were two versions of this car, Ref: 41010. One style was orange ladders and black stirrups, which looks like your car and the other version had black ladders and orange stirrups. My preference would have been fpr your car. I did not see a production date mentioned but you probably know that date from the half moon date on Aristo cars.
I am sure someone will be interested in the car.
I don’t know if that car is rare or what but your grass looks nice.
Alan, where did you find an Aristo database? I was led to believe that when they left, the database went into the Ethernet.
Thanks Alan. I didn’t even realize there was a database or a half moon on the car. lol. Right above the black step it says 1993. Dang, I knew it was old, but didn’t figure it was that old.
Thanks Mike! I need to fertilize it, but I just don’t have the time. Working tooooooooooo many hours. But keeps me in train money. lol.
So, by itself I like it. But as soon as I put it with two other cars…not so much. It just doesn’t look right to me. I had the same problem with an older aristo 40’ box car I’d bought. I think if I could fuse two together and make a longer one, it would look normal to me. But I’m not prepared to do that…or skilled enough. lol.
not bad from this angle:
looks goofey to me here:
Well Matt, my birthday is right around the corner, so if you decide it just doesn’t look good on your railroad… well, I’m just saying…
-Kevin.
In response to Lou’s question:
The database was saved and transferred to another server. It looks a little different (I hated the old colors), and new pictures added to the database will be larger, but all the info is the same.
http://aristodatabase.x10host.com
-jon
Kevin, happy early birthday. So, you’re sayin’ you will buy it for a large sum of moolah since you will be rolling in birthday cash. 
Thanks Red! I’ve been thumbing through that database. I see some things I NEED! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)Going to be hard to get though.
Oh how I’d like to get a hold of that IC gon, so that I could convert it to body mounted Kadee 906 or 1906 couplers. This would ruin it for collectors, but make it look so much better…My quest is to “Properly” body mount Kadees on as many Aristo, and LGB NA cars as possible, before I die…!!! COLLECTORS beware…I’m out to get the cars before you do…!!!
Are we having fun yet ?..??
(I’d convert those other two cars too, in the blink of an eye, if I got a hold of them…!!!)
Fred, you should be communicating with Ted Doskaris, he has the same goal (although I think he’s ahead of you). Have you ever checked out Ted’s “section” of my web site where he details the trials and tribulations of Kadees on Aristo (and other mfgs)?
http://www.elmassian.com/trains/ted-doskaris-vignettes
Greg
Greg, what ever happed to Ted’s railroad? He’s not posted an update in around 8 months.
Hi Matt,
If you can get another IC gondola, you can cut them in certain places, join them to make a longer car. You would need to remove some lettering.
I did this with two NYC gondolas which fortunately have no marking problems. I joined the two short pieces which made a short gondola and gave it away. The NYC cars are covered gons and I cut the covers so they would fit. The covered gons are the same car, just an added cover.
The only other road names that will work without lettering removal are the Virginian which is black with white lettering.
I don’t know how to post pics here or I would post some of my NYC gon.
Bob, I would like to try that at some point. I’ve seen some custom railgon cars that I’d like to do. But…I’ve already traded this car. lol.
Matt, Ted is ALWAYS working on something, you might check my youtube site for his latest videos, under “gregeusa” …
Greg
Attached are some pics of my NYC gon. Length of the car body is 21 9/16". Trucks are USAT modern with SanVal metal wheels, shortened Aristo couplers.
Thanks Greg. That’s the channel I’ve been watching.
Bob, I see no pictures. 
