52’-6” “Greenville Gondola” for the Patapsco & Back River/South Buffalo

An interesting car and an even more interesting pair of railroads - both the Patapsco & Back River and the South Buffalo Raillway, while one in upstate New York and the other around the Baltimore, Maryland area, were both owned by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.  Short lines for sure but they both connected with major railroads and passed on steel products with the Pennsylvania, Western Maryland and the Baltimore & Ohio, many times transversing all over the US, although mostly on the East Coast,  While the cars employed many of the components of the usual “Greenville Gon”, with hard wood planked floors, and the 28 interior folding stake pockets, they had a unique top rail tie down set of 15 individual loops welded to the top chord.

The PBR received 100 cars in November 1949 built by Bethlehem Steel under order number DF 142, and assigned Series 100-199.  A month later in December 1949, the South Buffalo received 50 cars of the ‘clone’ Greenville Gondola under order number 143

Another interesting feature was the bright red paint and Armor yellow lettering and made the car stand out in a consist.

Both sets of decals are available from Protocraft Decals