<div>Ahh, Jim. Perhaps you were there when I gave my slideshow on the High Capacity Gons of the three roads. In researching this project, Al Kresse, Steve Summers, and I have a reasonable belief (meaning that if anybody out there has additional or better information, please let us know)that:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>"battleship" was a term used for steel hoppers in advertising and informal use, even prior to the advent of the HCG's on N&W.</div>
<div>"battleship" was, as near as we can tell, not commonly used by railroaders themselves. However, we have some records that, after the N&W/VGN merger, for the very brief period of time that they survived, some of the N&W men referred to the VGN HCG's as "them durn battleships".</div>
<div>At various times, and possibly at various locations, the terms "Titanics" and "holy rollers" were also used, <br>It appears that "battleships" as a common term for the HCG's is a railfan/model railroader creation.</div>
<div>Research continues.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Frank Bongiovanni<br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 11:50 AM, NW Mailing List <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">So that means "battleship gon" is the wrong term for both Vgn and N&W heavy<br>gons. Anyway, neither existed in 1909, so "battleship" was a reference to<br>
something else. All my life I have been thinking they were "battleship<br>gons," and recently I have learned that the railroaders did not use that<br>term. Live and learn! Jim Nichols<br>
<div class="im"><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: <a href="mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org">nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org</a><br>[mailto:<a href="mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org">nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org</a>] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List<br>
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 10:24 AM<br>To: <a href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a><br>Subject: RE: "Battleship" gons<br><br>Pocahontas crews referred to the N&W 120-ton gons as "Titanics" and the<br>
trainmen I've talked with were unaware of the term "Battleship" regarding<br>any coal cars.<br><br>Grant Carpenter<br><br>> The Hinton News (?) newspaper in 1905 or 1906 referred to a string of the<br>> C&O's new 50-ton steel hopper cars coming into the yard as "Battleships"<br>
> and that they had to be segregated from their wooden cars to avoid<br>> destroying their wooden FB and HB gondola cars.<br>><br>> Al Kresse<br>><br>> > Bluefield Daily Telegraph<br>> > December 19, 1909<br>
> ><br>> > IN CITY AND COALFIELD<br>> > ------<br>> > Three Cars Overturned<br>> > Three battleship*(1) coal cars were overturned yesterday afternoon<br>at Ruth*(2) and Train No. 10 had to take the high grade*(3) at that point<br>
in order to make Bluefield on time. The wreck was cleared away by night.<br><br><br></div>
<div>
<div></div>
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