Past Releases - N Scale Wood Chip Hoppers

Beginning in the late 50s, wood chips went from something to be disposed of to a valuable commodity. Since wood chips are less dense than coal, gravel and other hopper loads, many railroads added high extensions to standard hoppers for this service. The extentions were simple affairs, either rib sided or flat sided that were welded to the top chords of standard hoppers. These N scale models come ready-to-run with knuckle couplers, loads, and are equipped with metal wheels.

Boston & Maine Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. In 1964 Boston & Maine purchased a modest fleet of used hoppers, added flat steel extensions and assigned them to wood chip loading in Woodsville, New Hampshire. As the New England region’s largest railroad, Boston & Maine relied heavily on traffic for the paper industry. 16011 Boston & Maine single car; 16012 2-Pack; 16013 3-Pack.

Canadian National Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. Canadian National also modified standard offset side hoppers for wood chip service in the mid-60s however, their extensions were made largely of plywood with steel reinforcing around the edges. Despite that, the cars were relativly long lived due in large part to the fact that wood chips are far less abrasive than other types of hopper loads. 16021 Canadian National single car; 16022 2-Pack; 16023 3-Pack.

Kansas City Southern Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. In 1967, Kansas City Southern rebuilt 300 hopper cars for wood chip service. KCS serves the densely forested Ozark Mountains along its mainline from Kansas City to the Gulf Coast. 16031 Kansas City Southern single car; 16032 2-Pack.

Milwaukee Road Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. In the Summer of 1962, Milwaukee Road’s Milwaukee Shops converted a group of elderly (1928) offset side hoppers for wood chip service with the addition of ribbed extensions. MILW served paper mills in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana and Washington. 17011 Milwaukee Road single car; 17012 2-Pack; 17013 3-Pack.

Chicago & North Western Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. In 1964, Chicago & North Western converted a small portion of their coal hopper fleet with the addition of ribbed extentions, not for wood chips but for scrap tinplate service. This group was assigned for loading in Butler, Wisconsin. 17021 Chicago & North Western single car; 17022 2-Pack; 17023 3-Pack.

Georgia Railroad Rib Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. United States Railway Equipment purchased a number of used 14-panel coal hoppers and sent them to Evans Products in the Chicago area for rebuilding into wood chip hoppers with flat extensions. These car were then leased to Georgia Railroad in 1970. 18011 Georgia Railroad single car; 18012 2-Pack.

Seaboard System Rib Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. The 1983 merger of Seaboard Coast Line, Louisville & Nashville, Georgia Railroad, Clinchfield, Atlanta & West Point and Western Railway of Alabama into Seaboard System led these former Georgia cars to be renumbered with SBD marks. Nearly all other lettering had also been changed in the 13 years since delivery. 18021 Seaboard System single car; 18022 2-Pack; 18023 3-Pack.

Norfolk Southern Rib Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. In 1963, NS rebuilt a number of their standard hoppers into wood chip hoppers to serve their surging timber industry business. Of course we are talking about the original Norfolk Southern. This NS ran from Norfolk, Virginia south into North Carolina, then west to Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, and finally Charlotte. In comparison, this NS was a bit bigger than the Monon. 19011 Norfolk Southern single car; 19012 2-Pack; 19013 3-Pack.

Louisville & Nashville Rib Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. Louisville & Nashville began converting a number of 70 ton 3-bay coal hoppers into high capacity wood chip hoppers in 1963. They began receiving this black scheme in the mid-70s. 19021 Louisville & Nashville single car; 19022 2-Pack; 19023 3-Pack.

Gulf Mobile & Ohio Rib Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. In 1965, Gulf Mobile & Ohio bought a fleet of used 70 ton rib side coal hoppers from Detroit Toledo & Ironton. The following year, they began adding ribbed extensions to these cars wood chip service at their Frascati Shops. The fleet remained intact well into the Illinois Central Gulf era. 19031 Gulf Mobile & Ohio single car; 19032 2-Pack; 19033 3-Pack.

CP Rail Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. In the 1970s, CP Rail converted a number of older coal hoppers for use in hauling wood chips and renumbered them into the 356000 series.17041 CP Rail single car; 17042 2-Pack; 17043 3-Pack.

Missouri Pacific Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. Missouri Pacific began converting standard hoppers into wood chip cars in the 1960s. MP blanketed much of the Ozark region, a principle source of chips and pulpwood for America’s paper industry. 17051 Missouri Pacific single car; 17052 2-Pack; 17053 3-Pack.

Illinois Central Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. Illinois Central adopted this image in 1967. The “split rail” logo formed the letter I with the left half of the rail (including the dot) while the right half of the rail formed the letter C. After the merger with GM&O, the split was closed up and the dot moved over the center. 17061 Illinois Central single car; 17062 2-Pack; 17063 3-Pack.

Grand Trunk Western Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. GTW adopted their version of the “noodle” logo in 1962, two years after parent Canadian National adopted their version. A few years later, a portion of GTW’s hopper fleet was rebuilt for chip service.17081 Grand Trunk Western single car; 17082 2-Pack; 17083 3-Pack.

Soo Line Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. Soo Line adopted this lettering style in 1951 although at the time, Soo Line was just their nick-name. Their full name was Minneapolis St Paul & Sault Sainte Marie. In 1960, they merged with Wisconsin Central (already a Soo subsidiary) and Duluth South Shore & Atlantic to form Soo Line Railroad - a nick-name no more. 17071 Soo Line single car; 17072 2-Pack; 17073 3-Pack.

Seaboard Air Line Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. Like their neighbors Southern and Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard linked the Southeastern U.S. with the rail gateway of Richmond, Virginia. Seaboard had long been considered the weakest of the three but after WWII, they steadily gained strength. In fact, they were one of a handful of railroads to own more freight cars in the 1960s (about 29,000) than they did in the 1920s despite the huge gains made in car utilization. 16061 Seaboard Air Line single car; 16062 2-Pack; 16063 3-Pack.

Frisco Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. Frisco was a 5,700 mile system radiating from their hub in Springfield, Missouri, linking Kansas City and Dallas in the west with St. Louis, Memphis and Birmingham in the east. Although Frisco was a long time strategic ally of Santa Fe, it was Burlington Northern they would merge with in 1980. 16081 Frisco single car; 16082 2-Pack; 16083 3-Pack.

Chattahoochee Industrial Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. The CIRR was built in the early 60s to serve a new Georgia Pacific paper mill in southern Georgia. Traffic was so heavy that it took 10 diesels to serve this 15 mile shortline! Today, CIRR is one of the G&W family of shortlines. 16051 Chattahoochee Industrial single car; 16052 2-Pack.

Gulf & Mississippi Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Flat Side Extensions. In 1985, Gulf & Mississippi became the first major spin-off of Illinios Central Gulf. The line had 700 miles of track in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. This group of wood chip hoppers were not ex-ICG however. These cars were ex-Kansas City Southern (the white paint gives them away) that were patched with new GMSR reporting marks. A few years after start-up, Gulf & Mississippi became a subsidiary of MidSouth (itself an ICG spin-off.) In 1994, MidSouth merged with Kansas City Southern. 16071 Gulf & Mississippi single car; 16072 2-Pack.

Ashley Drew & Northern Offset Side Wood Chip Hopper with Rib Side Extensions. Opening in 1913, this Arkansas based line was built to serve the timber industry and in 1963 became a subsidiary of timber giant Georgia Pacific. AD&N picked up this modest fleet of wood chip hoppers second hand from Missouri Pacific. 17031 Ashley Drew & Northern single car; 17032 2-Pack.

Some of the above pictures show the cars with track, scenery and even other cars for a bit of context. Obviously the cars in question don't include that stuff - but you knew that already.

In 1964 Boston & Maine purchased a modest fleet of used hoppers, added flat steel extensions and assigned them to wood chip loading. As the New England region’s largest railroad, Boston & Maine relied heavily on traffic for the paper industry. This group of B&M cars lacked the specific routing instructions as seen on our first B&M run and could be loaded anywhere as needed. 16091 Boston & Maine 2nd version single car; 16092 Boston & Maine 2nd version 2-pack; 16093 Boston & Maine 2nd version 3-pack.

Kansas City Southern began converting a group of 300 hoppers for wood chip service in 1967. They were outshopped in the recently adopted white paint scheme. We present them here a few years later after they had received their ACI tags and con-stencils. KCS served the densely forested Ozark Mountains on their way between Kansas City and the Gulf. This made forest products an important part of KCS’s traffic base. 16101 Kansas City Southern white single car; 16102 Kansas City Southern white 2-pack; 16103 Kansas City Southern white 3-pack.

Cotton Belt (SSW) served the pine forests of East Texas and Arkansas which provided wood chip, lumber and pulp wood loads to the railroad. While Cotton Belt’s parent Southern Pacific preferred wood chip gondolas, SSW opted for converted hoppers using plans similar to those of neighbor Kansas City Southern.
16111 Cotton Belt single car; 16112 Cotton Belt 2-pack; 16113 Cotton Belt 3-pack.

Canadian Pacific added flat extentions to a number of hoppers for wood chip service. They did not bother to change the road numbers and the exact number of converted cars in this group is the subject of some debate. This group also featured the Canadian style center bays in which the middle pair of hoppers face the brakewheel end of the car instead of the other way around. This detail is represented on this run.
16121 Canadian Pacific script single car; 16122 Canadian Pacific script 2-pack; 16123 Canadian Pacific script 3-pack.

Canadian National modified standard offset side hoppers for wood chip service in the mid-60s. Their extensions were made largely of plywood with steel reinforcing around the edges. Despite that, the cars were relativly long lived due in large part to the fact that wood chips are far less abrasive than other types of hopper loads. Like other CN cars of this period, these cars are lettered Canadian National (in English) on one side and Canadien National (in French) on the other. This run consists of six all new road numbers. 16131 Canadian National 2nd run single car; 16132 Canadian National 2nd run 2-pack; 16133 Canadian National 2nd run 3-pack.

The Georgia Railroad linked Augusta with Atlanta and Macon plus branches. The famous Georgia Pine forests provided plenty of timber industry traffic for the GA. Georgia RR was jointly owned by Louisville & Nashville and Seaboard Coast Line. This run will be available as a single and 2-pack only - no 3-pack.
17091 Georgia Railroad single car; 17092 Georgia Railroad 2-pack.

As demand for wood chips began to build in the 1960s, Illinois Central converted this group of 350 hoppers with new ribbed-side extensions and applied the then-standard “Main Line of Mid-America” paint scheme. Forest products primarily originated on the southern half of the railroad. In fact IC had more track in the heavily forested state of Mississippi than every other railroad combined!
17101 Illinois Central Main Line of Mid-America single car; 17102 Illinois Central Main Line of Mid-America 2-pack;17103 Illinois Central Main Line of Mid-America 3-pack.

In the Summer of 1962, Milwaukee Road’s Milwaukee Shops converted a group of elderly (1928) offset side hoppers for wood chip service with the addition of ribbed extensions. MILW served paper and chip board mills in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana and Washington. For this run, we present these cars as they appeared after 1967. This run will be available as a single and 3-pack only – no 2-pack. 17111 Milwaukee Road post-1967 single car; 17113 Milwaukee Road post-1967 3-pack.

This group of CP Rail hoppers received wood chip extensions with ribbed-sides. For this project, CP pulled hoppers from various groups including those with standard and Canadian center hopper bay arrangements. Last time we did CP Rail with all standard hopper arrangements so this time we are doing six new road numbers, all with the reversed Canadian style center hopper bays. In addition, these cars have a reversed paint scheme so the multi-mark logo is always toward the brakewheel end.
17121 CP Rail reversed bay single car; 17122 CP Rail reversed bay 2-pack; 17123 CP Rail reversed bay 3-pack.

Missouri Pacific began converting standard hoppers into wood chip cars in the 1960s. MP blanketed much of the Ozark Region, a principle source of chips and pulpwood for America’s paper industry. For this run, we present these MP cars as they appeared after 1974.
17131 Missouri Pacific post-1974 single car; 17132 Missouri Pacific post-1974 2-pack; 17133 Missouri Paciifc post-1974 3-pack.