It's amazing to think that most wood chips were deemed useless and destroyed just a few decades ago. Now, they are a vital branch of the timber industry family tree (pun intended.) Particle board, chip board, paper, even some building insulation started its voyage to usefulness in the belly of a wood chip gondola. These cars also answer the age old question "What's heavier, 100 tons of wood chips or 100 tons of steel?" More than 62' long and with an interior height of 11'6" these cars dwarf mill type gondolas which are typically 10' shorter and less than half the height even though their load limits are about the same. These cars can be unloaded in several ways. The ends are hinged at the top so the car can be tipped on end or, the ends are opened and a skip loader drives in to shovel the load out or, the car is rotary dumped on its side or, the mother of all vacuum cleaners sucks the chips out.

There are two basic versions of the car in this run of 6 road numbers. One car in each multi-pack will have the UP shield while the rest have billboard lettering. Most have a ratchet-style brake and one, road number 147678, has a side-mounted brake wheel.

Features:

? Injection-molded body shells with injection-molde body shells.
? Equipped with 100-ton roller bearing trucks and knuckle couplers.
? Includes a sprue of top bracing (which can be added to empty cars)
? Brake ratchet or wheel details as appropriate for each roadname.
? Cars accept Wood Chip Loads 238-990403 (sold separately).

Reserve Before November 10,2010

Delivery Expected February 2011