PRR Class G31 gondolas

PRR Class G31 gondolas

G31, Photographer PRR Photo, Image from online auction, used by permission of seller.

PRR 363400 G31 PRR Photo

General information:

The 2900 G31 gondolas (with no suffix) were originally built in Altoona during 1948 through 1951. The G31s were welded, steel-floored, drop-end gons of 52'6" inside length. Additional subclasses spun off from the G31 subclass, identified as G31a through G31e, were also 52'6" inside length mill gondolas, but had wood floors (identifiable by the small "w" in a circle to the left of the keystone). The G31 series was a substantial class on the PRR. Later added sub-classes G31f through G31m were rebuilds of the above classes G31 through G31e. They were all originally 70 ton cars (140000 CAPY, about 155000 LDLMT, and about 55000 CAPY). The G35s were the same externally as the welded drop-end G31a's and b's, but had a different underframe, which won't make any difference if you don't model the underframe!

52'6" long
fish belly sides
13 side stakes
welded construction
tapered end sills
G31 - 456 cars built pre 1949, 944 cars built in 1949 and 1500 cars post 1949

Some stats:

Class	G31	G31a	G31b	G31c	G31d	G31d cov	G31d cov w/ bulkheads	G31d skid	G31e skid	G31e	G31h	G31k	G31l	G31m
Diagram?	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	no	no
Model	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Comments	-	-	-	-	-	stanray roof	stanray roof	skids	skids	-	-	-	-	-
Qty Built	2,900	-	2,000	-	1,200	-	-	-	-	-	400	-	-	-
Built	1948-1950 (Altoona)	-	1951 (ACF)	-	1951-1952 (ACF)	-	-	1959 (rebuilt)	-	-	-	1967-1968 (rebuilt from G31a)	1967-1968 (rebuilt from G31b)	1967-1968 (rebuilt from G31c)
Capcy	140,000	140,000	140,000	140,000	140,000	130,000	140,000	130,000	130,000	140,000	-	-	-	-
Weight	54,600	55,100	55,100	57,100	53,900	72,800	61,400	74,500	74,500	55,600	57,500	-	-	-
Capcy box	1,745	1,646	1,646	1,646	1,646	2,171	2,504	-	-	1,646	-	-	-	-
Capcy heap	405	415	415	415	415	-	-	-	-	415	-	-	-	-
Sides	steel	steel	steel	steel	steel	steel	steel	steel	steel	steel	steel corrugated horiz	steel	steel	steel
Floor	steel	wood	wood	wood	wood	wood	wood	wood	wood	wood	-	wood	wood	wood
Ends	drop	drop	drop	drop	fixed	fixed	fixed	fixed	fixed	fixed	fixed	fixed	fixed	fixed
Sill	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly	fish belly
Underframe	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
I.L.	52' 6"	52' 6"	52' 6"	52' 6"	52' 6"	52' 3"	52' 6"	52' 6"	52' 6"	52' 6"	-	-	-	-
I.W.	9' 6"	9' 6"	9' 6"	9' 6"	9' 6"	8' 8"	9' 6"	9' 6"	9' 6"	9' 6"	-	-	-	-
I.H	3' 6"	3' 3-⁵/₈"	3' 3-⁵/₈"	3' 3-⁵/₈"	3' 3-⁵/₈"	4' 4-¹/₂"	5' 0-¹/₄"	3' 3-⁵/₈"	3' 3-⁵/₈"	3' 3-⁵/₈"	-	-	-	-
Truck center	43' 8"	43' 8"	43' 8"	43' 8"	43' 8"	43' 8"	43' 8"	43' 8"	43' 8"	42' 11-¹/₂"	-	-	-	-
length over strikers	54' 8"	54' 8"	54' 8"	54' 8"	54' 8"	54' 8"	54' 8"	54' 8"	54' 8"	53' 11-¹/₂"	-	-	-	-
coupled length	57' 2"	57' 2"	57' 2"	57' 2"	57' 2"	57' 2"	57' 2"	57' 2"	57' 2"	56' 5-¹/₂"	-	-	-	-
panels	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
height	6' 11-¹¹/₁₆"	6' 11-¹¹/₁₆"	6' 11-¹¹/₁₆"	6' 11-¹⁵/₁₆"	6' 11-¹⁵/₁₆"	9' 1-¹⁹/₃₂"	8' 9-¹¹/₃₂"	12' 8-⁷/₈"	12' 8-⁷/₈"	6' 11-¹⁵/₁₆"	-	-	-	-
width extreme	10' 6-¹⁵/₁₆"	10' 6-¹⁵/₁₆"	10' 6-¹⁵/₁₆"	10' 7-³/₈"	10' 7-³/₈"	10' 8"	10' 8"	10' 7"	10' 7"	10' 7-³/₈"	-	-
Trucks													-	-

Types of trucks used

Class	Car	Numbers	Truck Class	Truck Name	Qty cars:
G31	34432		2E-F27		1
G31	363400	363882	2E-F22B	A.S.F. Ride control	483
G31	363883	363884	2E-F27		2
G31	363885	363890	2E-F22B	A.S.F. Ride control	6
G31	363891		2E-F27		1
G31	363892	363899	2E-F22B	A.S.F. Ride control	8
G31	363900	363901	2E-F27		2
G31	363902	363965	2E-F22B	A.S.F. Ride control	64
G31	363966	363969	2E-F27		4
G31	363970	363975	2E-F22B	A.S.F. Ride control	6
G31	363976		2E-F27		1
G31	363977	364008	2E-F22B	A.S.F. Ride control	32
G31	364009		2E-F24		1
G31	364010		2E-F22B	A.S.F. Ride control	1
G31	364011	364016	2E-F27		6
G31	364017		2E-F24		1
G31	364018	364021	2E-F27		4
G31	364022		2E-F24		1
G31	364023	364029	2E-F27		7
G31	364030	364031	2E-F24		2
G31	364032	364035	2E-F27		4
G31	364036		2E-F24		1
G31	364037	364043	2E-F27		7
G31	364044		2E-F24		1
G31	364045	364047	2E-F27		3
G31	364048	364049	2E-F24		2
G31	364050	364054	2E-F27		5
G31	364055	364096	2E-F24		42
G31	364097		2E-F27		1
G31	364098	364148	2E-F24		51
G31	364149		2E-F27		1
G31	364150		2E-F24		1
G31	364151	364153	2E-F27		3
G31	364154	364196	2E-F24		43
G31	364197	364393	2E-F27		197
G31	364394	364431	2E-F24		38
G31	364433	364442	2E-F24		10
G31	364443		2E-F27		1
G31	364444	364447	2E-F24		4
G31	364448		2E-F27		1
G31	364449	364515	2E-F24		67
G31	364516	364517	2E-F27		2
G31	364518		2E-F24		1
G31	364519	364753	2E-F27		235
G31	364754	364758	2E-F24		5
G31	364759	364760	2E-F27		2
G31	364761		2E-F24		1
G31	364762	364769	2E-F27		8
G31	364770	364794	2E-F24		25
G31	364795		2E-F27		1
G31	364796	364798	2E-F24		3
G31	364799		2E-F27		1
Truck data is from PRR documents circa 1940's. Other truck classes may also have been used.

Cars on the PRR roster (as listed in the Official Railway Equipment Register (ORER)):

Class	Car	Number	AAR Class	PRR Oct 44	PRR Oct 48	PRR Apr 52	PRR Oct 53	PRR Oct 58	PRR Oct 63	PRR Apr 68
G31	363400	366299	GB	-	-	2900	2900	2898	2293	775
G31a	373950	375749	GB GBS	-	-	1049	1799	1796	1793	1389
G31a	612000	614999	GB GBS	-	-	3000	3000	2997	2993	2480
G31b	371950	373949	GB GBS	-	-	2000	2000	1994	1989	1575
G31c	371200	371949	GB GBS	-	-	750	750	750	747	596
G31d	375750	376949	GB GBR GBS GBSR	-	-	1200	1200	1196	1195	1183
G31e	376950	377449	GB GBS	-	-	416	500	500	499	495
G31f	363400	366299	GB	-	-	-	-	-	600	1370
G31h	363400	366299	GB	-	-	-	-	-	-	400
G31k	373950	375749	GB	-	-	-	-	-	-	388
G31k	612000	614999	GB	-	-	-	-	-	-	500
G31l	371950	373949	GB	-	-	-	-	-	-	397
G31m	371200	371949	GB	-	-	-	-	-	-	145
Roster data compiled by Rich Orr

Modeling Information:

MicroTrains
G31	N	-	G31 gondola	RTR plastic w/ molded grabs	-
Revell/Con-Cor
G31c	HO	9003	54' Mill Gondola PRR	plastic	remove rivets, side sill 12" too deep, end sills absent, car rides too high.
Tangent Scale Models
G31b	HO	10710-01	ACF 70-ton welded Drop-end Gondola, PRR G31b	RTR plastic w/ seperate grabs	24 #'s available
G31b	HO	10712-xx	PRR "Plain Keystone 1962+" G31B	RTR plastic w/ separate details	-
G31b	HO	10720-xx	PRR "Early Shadow Keystone 1957+" G31B	RTR plastic w/ separate details	-

Model Photos online:

(Photos of models submitted by visitors. Accompanied by descriptions)

Report Mark Class Description Manufacturer Scale Modeler

PRR 374913 G31 G31 gondola Atlas 1/4" Eugene Deimling

Modeling G31 Series (G31, G31a through G31m?) and G35 Gondolas by Elden Gatwood

Photos online:

Report Mark Class Description Location Date Photographer

PRR 364291 G31 w/ corrugated sides Conway, PA 6/21/1977 Ed Martin (Kodachrome 64)

PRR 614463 G31a plain keystone unknown - Greg Dickinson (from George Elwood's site)

PRR 375892 G31d - Altoona, PA 5/16/1974 Greg Martin

PRR 377243 G31e - - 1963 PRR photo (B&W) from The Pennsy, Mar-Apr 1963

Photos in print:

Class	Publication	Page	Car No	Scheme	Location	Date	Comments
G31	PRR Color Guide Vol 1	46	PRR 376373	CK	-	10/60	Leased to WAB, Auto Frames
G31a	PC Color Guide	74	PC 511171	PC	Columbus, OH	7/68	nee PRR 373963
G31a	PRR Color Guide Vol 1	46	PRR 612909	PK	-	4/74	-
G31a	PRR Color Guide Vol 3	81	PRR 374256	PK	-	-	Anaconda Cable reel load
G31a	PRR Color Guide Vol 3	81	PRR 614361	SK1b	-	-	cable reel load
G31b	PC Color Guide	76	PC 516728	PC	San Luis Obispo, CA	3/27/77	nee PRR 37????
G31b	Pennsy Power 3	404	PRR 371950	-	-	-	PRR
G31b	PRR Color Guide Vol 1	48	PRR 373070	PK	-	4/74	-
G31b	PRR Color Guide Vol 2	78	PRR 372968	PK	-	-	-
G31b	PRR Color Guide Vol 2	78	PRR 373719	SK2b	-	-	-
G31d	PRR Color Guide Vol 1	47	PRR 375852	PK	-	7/69	w/ MW Test Dept truck
G31d	PRR Color Guide Vol 1	47	PRR 376611	SK	-	10/60	Leased to WAB, Auto Frames
G31d	PRR Color Guide Vol 1	48	PRR 375937	SK1a	-	8/67	-
G31d	PRR Color Guide Vol 2	79	PRR 376422	CK	-	-	-
G31d	PRR Color Guide Vol 2	79	PRR 376901	PK	-	-	-
G31d	PRR Color Guide Vol 3	82	PRR 376813	SK2	Altoona, PA	5/1967	Used truck load
G31h	PRR Color Guide Vol 2	80	PRR 366048	PK	-	-	-
G31k	PC Color Guide	76	PC 515321	PC	Cicero, IL	2/14/81	nee PRR 614852
G31k	PRR Color Guide Vol 2	80	PRR 374019	PK	-	-	-

Equipment Diagrams online:

Class(es) tracing # View

G31 E-441430-A elevation

G31a E-429519-B elevation

G31b E-454799-A elevation

G31c E-429475-B elevation

G31d E-454799-A elevation

G31d-covered E-461648-A elevation

G31d-covered E-461649-A elevation

G31d,G31e-skid cars E-461648-A elevation

G31e E-454799-A elevation

Plans and diagrams in print:

Applicable Classes	Type	Publication	Page	Description
G31,G31a,G31b,G31c,G31d,G31e,G31f,G35	Arrangement of Lettering	PRR Compendium Vol 1	60	Plain Key - G31a shown
G31,G31a,G31b,G31d,G32,G32a,G34,G35	Arrangement of Lettering	PRR Compendium Vol 1	47	Shadow Key - G31, G32 shown
G31c	Class Diagram	Pennsy Car Plans	84
G31c,G31e	Arrangement of Lettering	PRR Compendium Vol 1	48	Shadow Key - G31e shown

References:

KEY 12/80 - PRR'S POSTWAR GONDOLAS (Richard J. Burg & Ian S. Fischer)

Thanks to Andy Miller, Rich Orr, and Elden Gatwood for providing information for this page!

Report Mark	Class	Description	Manufacturer	Scale	Modeler
PRR 374913	G31	G31 gondola	Atlas	1/4"	Eugene Deimling

Class(es)	tracing #	View
G31	E-441430-A	elevation
G31a	E-429519-B	elevation
G31b	E-454799-A	elevation
G31c	E-429475-B	elevation
G31d	E-454799-A	elevation
G31d-covered	E-461648-A	elevation
G31d-covered	E-461649-A	elevation
G31d,G31e-skid cars	E-461648-A	elevation
G31e	E-454799-A	elevation