An Excellent TopGon Fleet
A NUMBER OF YEARS ago Norfolk Southern started a program to rebuild old cars in a program they called TopGon - I wondered if that's a play on words since the movie "Top Gun" came out about the same time. I thought it would be neat to have some of these cars ever since I saw one locally. Richard Thomason did an article on making TopGon cars from an Atlas 90-ton hopper that looked "do able" for someone with more time and talent than me. In the Murphy's Law spirit of "if someone builds it, someone else will produce it, BLMA announced they would be making the car in N. Yeah!
How Many Do I Need?
THE DEALER I reserved with didn't get the cars ordered in time, so I wasn't able to get all of the first run. Did I really "need" 30 cars? I eventually found most of the first run and then ordered two boxes of 12 from the next run. I realize that NS doesn't run these cars in solid unit trains, but I like the idea of two big locomotives, 50+ cars, and a Richmond Controls FRED on the end. I put a Hay Bros. Garage coal load into each car. My wife commented that they look much more productive with a load, even if that covers the fine interior detailing.
NEW! Pictures of Bachmann's Amfleet cars disassembled
