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~ Latest Update Tuesday, October 25, 2022 ~ |
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Although the "War Effort" had breathed new life into the
Narrow Gauge, what with
gasoline and tire rationing, to name but a few of the inconveniences people had
top put with during those terrible times, it took only a few short years before
freight and passenger traffic were once again on the decline on "The" Narrow
Gauge...
Fortunately for those of us "hooked" on the Narrow Gauge,, "Black Gold", Oil, and its by-products were discovered out on the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation between Dulce and Farmington New Mexico, and those drillers with their drilling rigs were really hungry for casing materials... At that time, the "highway" across the mountain passes between Alamosa, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico were unpaved. Powerful, Turbocharged Diesel Trucks hadn't yet come to be. And the Railroad had already been in place for eighty plus years, so why not use it to haul the pipes? Freight cars of all kinds were quickly pressed into service, and due to their great abundance, the hi-side gons were likely candidates. Simple conversions could be performed by knocking out the end walls. Even the relocating of the brake equipment from the end to the side of the car was relatively simple. And since the "Hi-Side Gons" sat higher up off the ground than most of the freight cars on the line, their over-length cargo could extend out over the decks of the much lower "idler flat cars" without anything hanging up in the process. Thus the "Pipe Gons" were born!
Our models are accurate representations of their prototypes,
right down to and
including the side-mounted brake gear. They are spin-offs of our "regular"
Hi-Side Gons, as were their prototypes. But unlike the prototype, whose
conversion was a relatively simple affair, we had to create special tooling in
order for our models to be correct. ( Yes, the crooked brake staff is
intentional! )
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