Going, Going, Gondolas - Epilogue or "Roll The Barrels"
by Mike Stella

Nobody, in the several months since I started this series, has emailed me with the gondola that I forgot to include. From the picture shown here, it is obviously the Blue #6042. No matter. The classic Lionel #773 from 1950 that I was going to award as the prize to the first TCA member to provide the correct answer will just have to remain in my roundhouse. Onto other matters.

The operating Lionel barrel car is the last remaining gondola I have to share with you and it is the topic of this epilogue. This is one operating car that always seems to work well; never giving any problems and fun to watch in action. The #3562 comes in black as the #3562-1, in gray as the #3562-25, in yellow as the #3562-50, and, finally, in orange as the #3562-75. The black barrel car comes with a black tray or a yellow tray. The gray barrel car comes with blue letters or, sometimes, with red letters. The yellow barrel car comes PAINTED yellow or in yellow plastic. Dip the painted version in acid, and it turns WHITE! The orange barrel car only comes one way.

This makes a total of eight cars to collect. I know there is an elusive ninth car in the series and I have even seen one on display at another clubs convention, but I have never seen one available for sale and don't expect to ever add one to my collection. So, these nine gondolas mentioned here are added to the previous gondolas in Parts 1 to 4, and my collection is as complete as it will get. I hope you enjoyed this series on collecting gondolas. Tomorrow, I will think about my tank cars.

Please Note: Part of the reason I enjoy writing articles about collecting trains is that I learn new things about the hobby from readers like you. If you would like to share your experiences, or notice any errors or omissions in any of my posts, please write to me, Mike Stella, directly at: zwpower@aol.com.