Gondola
A gondola is an open tub: fixed sides and ends, no roof, for loads that can live in the weather.
An open tub
A gondola has sides and ends and no roof. Scrap, steel shapes, pipe, ties, and mill products ride in them. Some have drop doors in the floor. Some have higher sides for coal that will be dumped by a rotary dumper, car and all. From a distance the rotary cars can look like hoppers. The difference is the floor: a hopper is built around sloping bays and gates, and a gondola is a tub.
The type letter is G for a plain gondola, E when the car is equipped with covers, coil racks, or restraints, and J for a family of gondolas that includes the high-side coal cars. Older mechanical designations include GB for a mill gondola.
Ends, sides, and covers
Ends may be fixed, drop, or removable, depending on the load. A coil car is still a gondola family car, with a trough or racks for steel coil and often a cover. The cover keeps the weather off the steel. It does not turn the car into a boxcar.
The reporting mark still only identifies the owner. A railroad gondola and a leased gondola can do the same job. The mark tells you who the car is registered to.
Common questions
- What is the difference between a gondola and an open hopper?
- A gondola is a tub, unloaded by crane, magnet, or a rotary dumper. An open hopper has sloping bays and bottom gates so the load can fall out underneath.
- Why do some coal cars look like gondolas?
- Many coal cars are high-side gondolas emptied by turning the whole car over. They do not have the bottom gates of a hopper.