Norfolk Southern Top Gons

" ...And Justice For All. "

Norfolk Southern Top Gons

Overview

Add historical information here.

The Long And Short of Top Gons

Short Top Gons are 45'0" inside length, and include G84R, G89R, G90R, G91R and G93R cars. There were mostly built from the various H11 hopper classes.

Long top gons are 46'4" inside length, and include the G85R, G86R, G88R, G98R, G100R and G101R classes. These were rebuilt from the H12/H12A class hoppers, as well as from the various H11 hopper classes by stretching the center sill.

Getting to the Bottom of Top Gons

Early to gons were built with several ribs supports on outside bottom and sides of the floors. Late in 1996, the introduction of a stronger floor design to the rebuild process eliminated the need for the floor support ribs.

Class Summary

Class	Series	Inside Length	Floor Design	Capacity CU. FT.	Notes
G84R	NS 20000-20001	45'0"	Ribbed	3710 (ORER) 3725 (Dow) Stenciled?	The two prototype cars.
G85R	NS 20002-20249	46'4"	Smooth	3850
	NS 25000-25749		Ribbed
	NS 25750-25999		Smooth
	NS 39000-39999		Smooth
G86R	NS 21000-23771		Ribbed and Smooth Split occurs between 23506 and 23512.		NS 23772-23999 not built?
G88R	NS 24700-24719		Ribbed	NS 24720-24799 never built?
G89R	NS 26000-28999	45'0"	Ribbed	3725
G89R	NS 36000-36496		Ribbed		NS 36497-37999 never built?
G90R	NS 29000-31999		Ribbed
G90R	NS 38000-38523		Ribbed		NS 38524-38999 never built?
G91R	NS 32000-32825		Ribbed		NS 32826-33999 never built?
G93R	NS 34000-35227		Ribbed		NS 36228-35499 never built?
G98R	NS 40000-42316	46'4"	Smooth	3850	NS 42317-42499 never built?
G100R	NS 42500-42864		Smooth	3850	NS 42865-44499 never built?
G100R	NS 44500-44509		Smooth	3850 (Stencilled) 3706 (ORER)
G101R	NS 44510-44909		Smooth	3850 (Stencilled) 3706 (ORER)	NS 44910-45009 never built?

G100R series NS 42550-42864 and G101R NS 44510-44909 show as 3706cf in both ORER and UMLER, but are actually stencilled 3850 cu ft. per photos.

Special Cars

Car	Class	REBODY	Original #	Notes
NS 20000	G84R	11-90 or 12-90	NW 92148 (H11A)	First prototype Top Gon.
NS 20001	G84R	01-91 or 02-91	NW 12458 (H11B)	Second prototype Top Gon.
NS 36033	G89R	??-95	NW 132438	Has twin rounded (coalporter-style) tubs instead of flat tubs, but has the normal Top-Gon rib pattern.
NS 21326	G86R	08-92		(small "10000th rebody coal car" stencil)
NS 27026	G89R	??-9?		(small "15000th rebody car" stencil)
NS 32779	G91R	11-95		(small "20000th rebody coal car" stencil)
NS 23760	G85R	10-97		(large "The Thorougbred" Horse logo and "ROANOKE CAR SHOPS 25000th REBODY CAR" stencil)

(Commemorative Rebody Car total include rebodied coal hoppers, not just Top Gons.)

Matching rebody dates to other classes and series will take a lot more work.

One other interesting fact about Top Gons is that the car shops painted a few in black since the grey didn't hold up as well as the black on the hoppers, but the legal department put a stop to that plan since the "Top Gon" registered trademark was registered as black on grey and not white on black. The cars were repainted grey before being placed into revenue service.

References

Andrew Dow's "Coal Cars of the Norfolk and Western" book contains an incomplete list of Top Gon classes, and some of the number series listed in it were (apparently) never completely filled.
The April 2001 Official Railway Equipment Register.
UMLER.

"Top Gon" is a registered trademark of Norfolk Southern Corporation.

G83 G87 GS1 G85R G86R G88R G89R G90R G91R G93R G98R G100R G101R G109 G113

NS Coal Gondola Index NS Index Contemporary Freight Cars Index Photo Index

Joe Shaw -- joeshaw@krunk.org
Last update: Saturday, 15-Dec-2007 16:40:19 EST