Large Scale Central

Steel Rotary Gons

John was interested in my rolling stock work, so I thought I would share one. Most of my work has been upgrades and mods to available models, but I do have one scratch built project.

During the 70’s and 80’s, thousands of steel rotary gons were put into service in Western Canada hauling coal and sulphur. I currently have seven under construction, six coal and one sulpher. ( 4xCN / 1xProcor / 1xBCNE / 1xSultran ) A four foot length of styrene cut to the right length gives me 14 car sides. I would like to complete a twenty car coal train eventually as I find in the videos I have watched, twenty cars looks like a real train. As these were built over twenty years, there are many minor variants. Many of these cars are still in service, but are slowly being replaced with aluminum cars.

The cars sit on an aluminum channel, and will be equipped with Kadee couplers and trucks.

Below are two photos of the basic model. Detail, ladders, air and brakes still need to be added.

Shane

Shane, Another fine bit of workmanship. You certainly know how to keep an audience on the edge of their seats.

Thank you John for expressing that interest. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

What the H*ll Shane …

Love it !

serious skill on display!

Very nice Shane

Thanks Guys. I’m glad you like it.

Some of the cars built in 1970 had a tapered I-beam instead of the tubular design. One of the CN builds is this style. Lots of extra work, but I had to do one. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)These beams are noticeably wider, so it will add some variety to the train.

Some of the cars have three ribs on the ends. A couple have an extra side rib on each end instead of the flat steel plate. The CN '86 version has some added reinforcement at rotary points of contact. Lots of fun. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)

Shane

The new question is … when … are you going to build the rotary dump … or is it already done… ?

Sean, they’re just a through train at my terminal. The guys on the coast need the rotary dumps. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)

I took a couple photos to show the I-beam vs. tubular design.

I’ve made the decision that a future project will be the bathtub ( Teoli ) gons. When CPR pioneered their rotary trains in 1969, they went with the bathtub design. Sultran purchased both the CP and CN styles, so their trains were about a 50/50 mix. I think I’ll build a couple of these to go with the Sultran car I am currently building. Maybe I’ll even do an extra in CP paint.

Shane

Just read an article on these in old RMC mag …neat build Shane

Looks Like Sultran has retired their steel fleet. They are being offered for lease by Residco.

https://residco.com/rail/

Shane

Who is faster @ putting out these projects Shane or Mark ?

We Haven’t herd from Mark lately and his link below say private… evil minds…

Hmm I didn’t see any green tape Shane … I think your buying them from someone… either way very nice…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

Sean, the only tape left is marking the rotary end. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)This one might hit the paint shop in the next couple of weeks.

Didn’t Burl make some rotary couplers?

Greg

He did, and they look really nice, but unless you’re going to have a working rotary dump, it’s a pretty big expense.

http://burlrice.com/view.php?img=http%3A%2F%2Fburlrice.com%2F_LS_Coupler%2Frotary.gif&return=%2F_LS_Coupler%2Findex.php

I will be using his brake wheels. They should be arriving soon.

Shane

These look really nice Shane. Don’t know if they still have the rotary couplers, but the local railroad (Housatonic) has a fleet of very similar cars used in construction debris service. They get beat up pretty bad in the loading process (local to me) and they have already amassed a pretty long scrap line.

Thanks Jon. Scrap service seems to be where a lot of them have ended up, so it’s quite possible that they’re the same cars. Like you say, they don’t stand up very long in that service. The sides get badly damaged, and it doesn’t take long before they are punching holes through the walls.

Up here, MOW has also taken control of a lot of them. They use them for old tie service, and I have also seen them with loads of spikes and tie plates.

Shane