PRR Class GS and subclasses - 40' Steel Gondolas

General information:

• GS - tight floor, single brace on end
  built - 1902 only, 1000 cars built
  Brake wheel originally on the right side of the B end of the car. As partof the adoption of the 1911 United Safety Appliance Standards, it was movedto the left side of the end. By 1923 most but not all cars had been so converted.(Reference, PRRT&HS Keystone June 1975)
  
• GSA - four emergency doors, two braces on end
  built - 1902 through 1909 anyway, abt. 6000 built
  Brake wheel also originally on right.
• GSB - tight floor, drop wooden end
  
• GSC - four emergeny doors, drop wooden end
  built - 1902? only 101 cars built for Vandalia RR?
  
• GSd -
  built - 1905 through 1909 anyway, abt 10000 built
  
• GSg - Rebuilt
  Introduced in 1942
  
• GSh - Rebuilt from Classes GS, GSa, GSb, GSc, GSd
  Number series: 390151-405002
  Introduced in 1943/44
  914 cars rebuilt.
  6 cars lasted in revenue service until 1966
  differs from other GS gondolas in having shallow side sill reinforcements (there may be other differences as well but they're not visible in the prototype photos).
  With the reinforcement of the top chord during the rebuild, the internal gussets were removed. Photos of the rebuilds show the holes where the rivets for the gussets were removed. This was done to comply with MCB recommended practices.
  
• GSx -
  Introduced in 1904

Some stats:

Types of trucks used

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

Modeling Information:

Address for Yankee Clipper Models is PO Box 412, Grafton, MA, 01519.

Some comments about the Bowser Model from the Freight Cars List:
The Gs and GSa were built with the brake wheel on the right. Bowser made the rebuilt GSa (at least they now claim it is a GSa) but kept the brake wheel in the original position. The result is all the brake rigging is wrong. Based on very sketchy and questionable information, they may have an argument for this configuration if they had kept the KC brake system parts rather than using the AB system. Also, the end beam is a strange shape, with tapered ends, and requires squaring up.The poling sockets are also incorrect, and need changing.
(Information in this section was exerpted from posts to the Freight cars list from Rich Orr and Ian Clasper)

Photos online:

Report Mark	Class	Description	Location	Date	Photographer
PRR 290148	GSD	-	-	-	PRR Photo (B&W) from Modern Cars & Locos 1926
PRR 302520	GS	builders photo	-	-	Pennsylvania Railroad

Photos in print:

Equipment Diagrams online:

Class(es)	tracing #	View
GS	-	elevation
GSa	-	elevation
GSa coke	-	elevation
GSa,GSd coke	-	elevation
GSa,GSd coke	26890	elevation
GS,GSa	E-71579-B	elevation
GSb	-	elevation
GSc	-	elevation
GSc	E-71579	elevation
GSc	E-71579-B	elevation
GSd	-	elevation
GSd	E-77486	elevation
GSd	E-442739	elevation
GSd	E-442739-B,A	elevation
GSg	E-426736	elevation
GSh	E-454797-A	elevation
GSx	E-66490	elevation
GS-4	E-439240-A	elevation