I am remembering that Jon Botten said his car was N&W because he used an N&W car that had containers on it as a prototype. The RI cars I wanted to do were very close enough to suffice for what I wanted--it was apparently built for other roads also. Jon told me his builder would furnish only the all-metal version. or the simulated original wood side version; I figured the all-metal one would be best, but forgot that the builder apparently bonded (soldered?) the sides to the bracing which was the last thing I wanted.
AFAIK, only RI rebuilt 200+ "standard" gons by removing all wood siding, and otherwise made trailer-haulers out of them. After the days of circus-style ramp-loading wound down in favor of overhead cranes, RI then recycled a number of these cars a second time by filling on the side members they had removed to provide access to the dolly cranks on the trailers, and then used the cars in M/W service to haul new crossties. My confusion came from thinking someone else besides Jon had done these cars, and was trying to clarify. It turned out the second car was a 65-foot one, which among other things, would likely be a foot narrower in width overall. BTW, What is Jon Botton's current status; I had met him at one of the Columbus, Ohio S Spree's of the past. DJE ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 9:53 PM Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} You don't have any of these! N&W G3! > What is the difference between these and the ones that Mr. Botten put out, in brass. DJE Dave...I don't know squat about the prototypes, but the outside bracing on the models is quite different between the Botten gon and the Lane gon. One has straight vertical square (tubing?) and the other has flat diagonal bracing. Or something like that. I only worry about things I can see from five feet away and so a lot of the details escape me. Sorry 'bout that. Ed L.
