I’ve had a spare Aristo wedge plow blade on the shelf since 2005. Originally it was bought to repair my plow, but I was able to make the repair without using it so it went on the shelf as a spare. Whenever I run a plow extra I think that I really should have a second plow for the rear of the train so I can run through my wye in one pass. Last week Mark V offered up a set of BB wheels so I jumped on them as the only part I didn’t have in stock to make this happen. The project almost stalled when I thought my deep stock of Aristo Classic gondolas had been sold. A trip to the attic tpday proved that wrong so the decision was made to put one of my EBT wood gondolas under the knife 
First, the gondola sides were carefully separated from the base flat car. Then the fun began. The frame and deck were cut back even with the bolster…
Then the gondola sides were cut back to the second stake…
Many years ago, this car was involved in the wreck that gave Coal Dump Curve its name…
It was the flat car at the rear of the pile up. I was running it with the gondola sides removed. As a result of that wreck, one of the frame mounting studs was broken. An earlier repair didn’t hold so while it was apart I attacked that too…
I always save studs that I remove for any reason. This one came from my Porter RC conversion. I sawed off the old one and attached it with Weldon 16. I didn’t really feel like painting the cut edges that would hardly be seen after assembly, so I enlisted some magic markers to darken the cut edges. Here is the re-worked gondola re-assembled…
One other modification required was to remove the coupler and cut off the tang from the front truck. Those are the Gary Raymond Ball Bearing wheels in the trucks…
And with the modified truck in place on the modified gondola…
Time to attach the blade. I painted it today outdoors with a rattle can bringing it indoors between coats to dry in the heated basement. The paint job is far from perfect, but will do for now. I can always hit it again in the spring. Here is half of the blade attachment, it simply hooks under the side sills…
And the top side…
And here we have a wedge plow never produced by Aristocraft. A very rare one-of-a-kind model. Perfect for all you Kollectors out there. Offered this week only for only $500!
Red (it’s actually satin Burgundy) wasn’t my first choice, but I figured it would help me determine which end was the rear in the deep snow. It was better than the browns and blacks I have in stock…
Just needs a headlight. I’m thinking a 6 LED Array for night plowing
Hey - This is a first. I am posting a FINISHED project !!!
Now we just need some snow.
