Highlights

Another feature of rotary dumping (explained on the Repairs page) was a removable grab iron on the top of the car. This may have been designed to facilitate the rotary dumping equipment. This is only a guess; if anyone knows for sure, please let us know.



The jennies hauled taconite pelletts, which are pulverized iron ore and betonite clay rolled into marble-sized balls.


  




Project PRR 15555 G38


The jennies were classed "G" for "gondola." Unlike hoppers, the jennies did not have an opening on the bottom, which meant they had to be rotary dumped (see the Repairs page).

This car had been given a Penn Central number of PC 500543. While power washing the car, however, we uncovered an original PRR stencil (PRR 15555) on the center sill. This number corresponded to the number under the trust stencil (see lower photo). It wasn't until we sanded through some paint layers on the car end and uncovered PRR 15555 one more time, that we felt certain that this was the original number.

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