Gondola (rail)

In North American railroad terminology,^{[note 1]} a gondola car or gondola is typically an open-topped railroad car used for transporting loose bulk materials, although general freight was also carried in the pre-container era. Because of their low side walls, gondola cars are also suitable for the carriage of such high-density cargos as steel plates or coils, or of bulky items such as prefabricated sections of rail track. Gondola cars are distinct from hopper cars in that they do not have doors on their floor to empty cargo.

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The first gondola cars in North America were developed in the 1830s and used primarily to carry coal. Early gondolas were little more than flatcars with wooden sides added, and were typically small – 30 feet (9.1 m) or less in length, and 15 short tons (13 long tons; 14 t) or less in weight.^[2] Those cars were not widely used at first, because they could only be unloaded by workers shoveling out the cargo by hand, a slow and labor-intensive process. A solution to the problem was developed around the 1860s with the drop-bottom gondola: hatches were installed in the floor which could be opened at the destination, and workers using shovels directed cargo towards the hatches. Although it was an improvement over earlier gondolas, it still required manual unloading.^[2]

After the American Civil War, advances in technology, especially the development of steel, allowed new and larger gondola designs. New gondolas were built with steel sides and frames, although wood was retained for flooring since it was flexible and cheap to replace. The cars were often built to lengths between 40 and 50 feet (12 and 15 m), and gradually increased in capacity from around 30 short tons (27 long tons; 27 t) to as much as 70 short tons (63 long tons; 64 t) by the early to mid 20th century.^[2]

Gondola cars began to be built for specialized purposes and, depending on their intended cargo, the side heights could range from just two feet (0.61 m) for bulk commodities such as sand, to six feet (1.83 m) or more for loads such as pipes, and ten feet (3.0 m) or more for light cargos such as woodchips.^[2] Covered gondolas were also developed for cargos that had to be protected from the elements, such as newly milled steel.^[2] Increasingly, present-day loose-material loads are covered by airtight covers to minimize air pollution.^[3] Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, high-sided gondolas were used for coal, thanks to stronger car construction and the invention of rotary car dumpers, which allowed those gondolas to be emptied automatically.^[2]