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Now Available! TrainLife Exclusive - ExactRail 3564 Gondolas in HO & N Scale!

October 11, 2019

We're doing it again!

After the overwhelming response of our past TrainLife.com Exclusive release, we have returned with 5 paint schemes that are often requested, but not completely correct on the mighty Thrall 3564 Gondola from ExactRail.

ExactRail's dedication to accuracy means that they don't very often use 'stand in' tooling for projects that are close to a certain freight car (some people call these 'foobies'). We know that there are many holes in the modeling world and many people that are happy to have a stand in model so long as it represents something close to the real thing. We've worked closely with ExactRail to create close 'stand in' models to fill these holes.

These Models are only available on TrainLife.com

About the Models!

The modern 66 foot long mill gondola has a commanding presence on today's railroads. The Thrall built 3564 cubic foot capacity has been a common sight from the mid 1990s to today and can be seen in most corners of the USA, Canada & Mexico. These large gondolas are used in a wide variety of uses, they are often seen with loads of pipe, rebar, sheet metal, scrap metal and so much more. Introduce this staple of heavy industry to your layout today.

Shipping Soon - The Boat Broke Down!

These models are en route from ExactRail's manufacturing partner. Unfortunately prior to leaving port the ship that this project was loaded on broke down and sat in port delaying the shipment by several weeks. Because of prior marketing commitments we are choosing to release as previously scheduled and ship when the product arrives in early November. Orders that include any of these beautiful gondolas will be held and shipped when they are in stock

Paint Schemes!

We are excited to share 5 new 'Stand in' Paint Schemes on one of ExactRail's most popular freight cars.

TTX - 'Rail Gon

In late 2004 through early 2005, TTX began taking delivery of new, larger gondolas to compliment and replace the aging 52 foot gons in their fleet. These new cars were initially built by National Steel Car and Trinity. The TTX RailGons with GNTX reporting marks that is on our car was applied to the Trinity built cars (297000-297299). While the Trinity gondola looks nearly identical to the Thrall 3564, it stands about 8 inches shorter and has a cubic foot capacity of 3267.

TTX - 'Gold Crown'

In late 2005, TTX began to take delivery of a second batch of 100 cars from Trinity to compliment the 300 that were delivered earlier in the year. These cars came in a nearly identical paint scheme as the first 300 cars, however a logo known as the Gold Crown was applied in the far left panel on both sides of the car. While the Trinity gondola looks nearly identical to the Thrall 3564, it stands about 8 inches shorter and has a cubic foot capacity of 3267.

TTX - 'New Logo'

Needing more gondolas, TTX acquired 200 gondolas from FreightCar America in 2012. This order came delivered with the new TTX logo design that some call the "Forward Thinking" logo. These cars visually look very similar to the Thrall built cars and have the same capacity as well. We think its a mighty fine stand-in for sure!

Union Pacific

Greenbrier assembled 300 gondolas for Union Pacific at their Gunderson Concarril plant in Mexico in late 2012. UP classified this series of cars as G-110-006. These large gondolas can be seen throughout UPs system serving today's heavy industry.

Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern has a massive fleet of gondolas. Recently they have been adding many new gondolas that are both 52' as well as 66' in length. These new attractive and spartan gons have been getting delivered with the new 'Horse Head" logo.