Construction of the
SOUTHERN Fish Belly Gondola

by Lee Wright

Several steps in design and research were accomplished before picture one was produced.
I was down the road so to speak before I brought out the camera. Basically, I wanted to use my Gondola Plan Book as a starting point and modify the design to give me the fish belly style I was looking for.

The main parts I took right off the parts list. The only modification was the height of the side panels. I took a few pictures of a prototype gondola and after some figuring drew out what I thought the sides to look like. Some of the considerations were; truck placement as related to the end of the car and of the rib centered on the truck center.

The spacing between the first rib, the center rib and the rib before the start of the fish belly part was some what of a challenge. I discovered that the wheel base on my trucks was shorter than the wheel base on the real trucks. A little playing around with the rib location worked that out.

At the same time, there was the consideration of how far off the track would the car set in relationship to the rail. All this made the inside height of the car different as now the sides were some what lower than the Rail-gon. If I made the cars the same height as the Rail-gon,the fish belly would be way out of proportion.

This all seemed so simple when I started…

The sides of the bottom panel were extended down to about 2" This gives the bend on the bottom of the side panel something to rest on making it easier to handle. Since the outside side panel is cut to make the fish belly shape, the inside panel has to be cut also. I did this with a sawzall as you can see in the photo
 

Since it is impossible to bend a lip on the area where the saw cut was, I had to come up with a way to put a lip on that area to match the sides. I had several choices. One was to just leave the vertical edge. Two was to weld a 90 degree piece on the back or make a lap joint. I chose to make the lap joint since I thought it would look better.

Here the vise grips are equipped with an off-setting tool. The sides were temporarily clamped along with the added lip material see the photos below.

Photos 6 thru 9 shows the welding on both sides of the seam and ground flat on the outside. Care was taken to not weld where rivets holes would need to be drilled.
 
 

Next, I moved to welding the square tubing to the side panels. Same location and length as in the Gondola plan book. In this photo, I am just laying out the ribs so that my welds for the addition of the square tubing will be covered by the ribs.

 

After locations for the welds are marked with a sharpie, the parts are secured to a 3 x 3 steel angle with all the clamps I can find. This will ensure that the side remains straight after welding. The sides are welded at the rib locations and along the top. These will be ground down later..
 


Moving to the ends, I printed off a cad drawing with lines to locate the bends. I cut them in strips and glued them to the 18 gauge steel blanks. These pirces were bent in the press with a die to give them a squarer look.

The original Book Design that required no bending would also work with similar results. I just wanted to see the bends from the inside of the car. It's just a rivet counter thing…

The photo below shows a blank formed rib. After the ribs were bent into a C shape they were made into the hat shape using the blue die. This is my design and made from scrap found around the shop. All the parts are adjustable for different size ribs. The lower part of the die comes out. It just sets in an adjustable track. Sections can be added or taken out to make different size stampings. The other handy feature is that most of the time the part has to be removed with a screwdriver so removing the die makes this an easy process.
 

Fixtures were made to machine the ribs as forming will leave them slightly out of level. Phot 19. A welding fixture was made to hold the parts for welding the cap on the slanted part of the rib. Photos 20 thru 23.
 
 


Under the car we find the need for the bolster and center plate. This photo shows the parts. I made this out of thicker material and welded it up as opposed to bending it from one piece.


These photos show the welding and placement on the car with the center tube. Once everything is located and welded in place. Now it is time for the bolster covers to be welded on.
 
 

 

I bent the covers and welded them on using plug welds. The different colored covers is due to using material that had been used to test paint samples and has nothing to do with this project except add some color to the photos.
 
 


In order to add some rust prevention, all the floor stiffeners were cleaned and painted with a self etching primer. These photos show them on a box outside. This stuff stinks and is probably hazardous to your health. I got the paint at Advanced Auto store. I also use it to prime aluminum and brass.
 


The parts are first attached with clicos and then riveted together.
 
 

 

At this point it is time to add the sides. The floor is resting inverted on a 2 x 6 ladder frame made from wood. The frame is out of site in the photos. The sides are hung and riveted on.


Welding complete and priming done. Note the safety chain loops welded on the coupler cover.
 


There were some photos that were kind of miscellaneous but needed to be in the article. First two photos are laying out parts and testing. The photo on the right is bringing all the part from the welding shop up to the assembly and paint area riding on my special parts transfer system.


After the car was complete, it was set on its trucks to check everything out.
 


Detail time. The train line and angle cock were soldered together with a bracket for attachment.
 


I found the best way was to just tape the parts together for bending. They are all the same and much easier to keep straight in the brake.
 


Because the lettering for SOUTHERN was individual letters a way to keep them straight was needed. I used Auto cad to make a paper liner-upper.


Pictures 57,58 shows the paper guide taped to the car. The letter is taped with a small piece through the window at the top. The guide is removed and more tape is added to make a secure hinge for the decal.
Check and check again before actually applying the letters.
 


Grab irons were added along with the pin lifter and air hoses to complete the job. The paint job was done by the author using standard automotive paint. Quite an expensive way to go but the results were well worth it.
 

 


Here's a comparison between the two types of gons I've built.
 

 

The end.

 


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