Lehigh & New England
Gondola #10381
(...and #729, #730 & #10390)
Jeffrey Zweizig Jeff Zweizig
Lehigh & New England gondola #10381 was built in 1934 by American Car & Foundry. It features a steel underframe, steel dreadnaught ends and steel truss sides. The floor and sides are wood planked. Once a general purpose freight car, the WK&S converted it to an open-air observation car. A bench seat runs down the middle of the car and an opening was cut in one end so passengers may pass to and from an adjoining coach. This car is a favorite among passengers, but don't venture to the open car unless you're prepared to be sprinkled by hot, wet cinders from the locomotive. 
This photo shows an interior view of #10381. Here you can see the bench seating and the pass-through to the adjoining coach. 
Northbound LNE gondola #10381 trailing LNE flat car #719 and LNE caboose #512 on approach to the Ontelaunee Creek bridge. WK&S once rosterred four LNE gondolas, #729, #730, #10381 & #10390. All four cars were converted to open-air observation cars just like #10381 described above. During the first few years of operation in the early and mid 1960's the WK&S ran a two train schedule with two open cars in each train. However, only #10381 has been maintained in service since then. The remaining three were left to the weather. But during the 1990s #10390 was sold to an operator of the Kutztown/Topton line. Car #10390 was identical to #10381 described above. Car #10390 was refurbished and used on the Kutztown excursion trains. The car was given the grandiose name of "Pennsylvania Dutch Vista View Open Top Dome Car". Around 1999 the Kutztown/Topton line was taken over by another operator and #10390 was trucked to another tourist operation called the Three Rivers Rambler that operates on the Knoxville & Holston River Railroad in Tennessee. The car was once again refurbished and named "Dauntless". 
Dauntless is shown above at a Three Rivers Rambler rail fan event on Auguest 26, 2007. 
The remaining two cars (#729 & 730) are still at the WK&S. The Lehigh & New England numbered most of their non-revenue cars in the 700 series. Car #729 was rebuilt from an unknown LNE #10201 series car around 1958 and was used as a boom car for LNE crane #698. Car #729 is shown above. During 2004 the car was stripped of what remained of the wood planking. The car may be restored to service. 
Car #730 was rebuilt from LNE #10256 around 1958. Car #10256 was originally built by Magor Car Company in May 1923. Rebuilt #730 features side dump doors for distributing cinder ballast along the track. The doors are clearly visible in the photo above. There are no future plans for #730. |