Conrail had a wide variety of 52' and 65' gondolas inherited from the predecessor roads to handle the extensive steel and metal business that existed on the system. In the early 1990s, Conrail also began purchasing gons secondhand from roads like the DT&I, P&LE, CSX, and NS. In the final years, Conrail also purchased new Trinity gondolas and a group of similar cars secondhand from the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia.
