These cars came out circa 1979 and were originally sold by MDC/Roundhouse. The first releases used Atlas trucks with silver metal wheels. MDC discontinued the line for a while, only to re-release them in the mid-80's in kit form. I'm told that the trucks and wheels that came with the kits are terrible. Post-2000, MDC once again started selling these cars "ready to run".
These cars come with various different designations, depending on what catalog you're looking at - "50' Modern Gondola", "52.5' Thrall Mill Gondola", "50' 100T Thrall TSG-10 Mill Gondola", etc.
Circa 2005, Athearn acquired all the old MDC/Roundhouse cars and re-released them under their own label -
As pictured above, the Athearn models are available with either a scrap load or a coil load.
I'm told that these models are based on a Thrall/Railgon prototype that first entered service in the mid-to-late 70's.
Athearn features -
- Fully assembled and ready to operate
- Based on Model Die Casting tooling
- Highly detailed, weathered and removable coil load
- Separately applied brake wheel
- Screw mounted trucks for accurate tracking
- Truck mounted magnetically operated knuckle couplers
- Plastic wheels