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New From Greenbrier, NS and U.S. Steel: High-Strength, Lighter-Weight ‘Green’ Gondola

The open-top gondola car is one of the oldest freight car types. The first gondola cars in North America were developed in the 1830s, and used primarily to haul coal. Early designs were flat cars with wooden sides added; they were small—30 feet or less in length, and about 13 tons or less in weight. Now, nearly two centuries after the first gondola turned a wheel, this ubiquitous car type has reached a design pinnacle through a collaboration of The Greenbrier Companies, Inc., United States Steel Corp. and Norfolk Southern.