At the end of the article featuring the hopper conversions in The OO Road in 1996 (as featured in the previous post) Bill Gilbert noted “I enjoy creating the variety of car types used by specific railroads without getting too nit-picky on dimensions and details. Now if someone has an extra Schorr covered hopper I would like to convert the Pullman Standard model to an ACF. The major differences are the triangle cut-outs on the sides and square hatches.”

A photo of a car that had completed that conversion may be found in the August, 2000 issue of The OO Road (before painting), and may be seen again in the June, 2007 issue. In that issue he wrote “Note change of end hat section ribs to channel, addition of a center rib, triangle cutouts, and changing the round hatches to square ones.” This photo is of the car today, with a stock version of the car for comparison.

In that same 2007 article he also has a photo of this “cut down gondola” converted to “a low side N&W style.” Here is that car today as well, with a stock Schorr gondola for comparison. A piece of brass channel stock tops the sides. Gilbert also notes that “Virgina, Southern, and Seaboard also used low side gondolas.” It is a distinctive car and with the load it has some weight and tracks well.

These are both great cars, very nicely decorated and executed, and great on the layout. I will feature more cars by Bill Glibert soon.