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1
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- My passion in collecting is locating original sets, just as they were
sold, unmolested by would be collectors, usually still in the families
of the original owners. A lofty goal, not always obtainable! To that
extent I have always distained displaying old trains in ‘groups’ with
walls of boxcars or locomotives representing years of production. One
exception to my ‘rule’ has always been the little No. 54 gondola or
‘Gravel Car’. Certainly the
smallest, maybe the most overlooked of anything ever cataloged by IVES.
It is the only piece that appeared in the very first ‘track’ catalog in
1901 and the very last one in 1930.
It may be that in 30 years of production, there are 30 distinct
variations to this little car. Hard to put a number on them and it
depends what you call a variation.
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2
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- The earliest are the easiest, at least as far as identification. The
first 54 gravel cars were all hand painted, in either green or red. I
believe the green gravel car was actually the earliest. It came with
embossed springs, cast iron or
tin wheels and three stripes through the middle of the car, pretty much
the way it was shown in the 1901 catalog and every year through 1905.
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3
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- Much like the early hand painted passenger cars, these early gravel cars
came in red also. The red hand painted variation usually comes with
smooth pedestals (some are actually lithographed) and four stripes
painted along the side. It’s pretty much a given at this point that IVES
started lithographing in 1902, but continued to sell much of their line
in the painted versions as late as 1904 or 1905? These hand painted
early gravel cars can be found with or without cast iron wheels, smooth,
embossed or lithographed bases and early loop couplers. They are hard to
find with the majority of their paint still intact.
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4
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- The 1906 catalog was the first to show the 54 gravel car as
lithographed. The catalog showed it with blue/white vertical
lithographed stripes . Although never shown in the catalog in any other
color those years, the blue / white variation may be one the hardest to
find of this early lithographed group.
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5
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- Other litho combinations that are known to exist include a red/black
(cherry striped) stripe version
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6
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- a brown/white (butterscotch) stripe version,
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7
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- a red / white stripe version found with either the regular Mohawk base
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8
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- The early ‘stripe’ litho gravel cars are also known to come in a plain
cream lithograph
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9
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- Some of these cars are known to come with horizontal stripes, which came about when the sheets of
stock stripped lithograph were placed in the punch die incorrectly.
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10
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- Other reported examples of this car include a black/white stripped
version with white lithographed base and a solid red lithographed
version.
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11
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- Starting in 1910, IVES began using a more realistic lithograph, one that
simulated the wood planking found in real gondolas of the time. Their
open 4-wheel frame characterizes all the freight cars made from 1910 to
1914. These frames contained no embossing and have been found in gray,
black and green. The bodies themselves were lithographed in either a
bright red with black details
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12
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- or an Orange with black details – this orange or
rust colored version is very scarce.
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13
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- Although we usually think of floor toys as using bodies from the pre
1910 line, this was really never true with the 54 or 154 gravel car.
There were several cataloged freight sets that used the small series
cars and included a gondola or gravel car. Most of these sets that have
survived today show up with either a solid red litho or a solid green
litho
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14
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- somewhere around 1911-12 IVES actually designed ‘new’ lithography just
for these freight cars (153, 154, 155, 156). The No. 154 gravel car was
lithographed in cream with light green details
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15
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- 1915 was another milestone year for IVES. The lithograph didn’t change,
but the frames on the small 50 series cars did. They were now a closed
frame with embossed springs. Over the next 15 years we don’t have a lot
to go on in an effort to try and date these cars. The construction and
parts remained constant. We’ll list the remaining variations known to
exist for this car in the order we believe they were made, although this
is an arbitrary classification, based on catalog pictures and depth of
detail on the frames. The example pictured above is probably the most
common.
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16
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- solid dark green with cream/green planking
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17
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- Cream/Green with dark green wood grain
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18
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- White with green litho wood grain on entire car.
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19
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- solid maroon with cream/black planking
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20
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21
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- maroon with silver rubber stamped lettering – probably 1930 only
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Notes