Hubert's - HN5002 - Gondola, Woodchip, Welded Sides - Golden West Service - 325000

Model Information: E&C shops originally designed this tooling in the late 1960's. It was later acquired by LBF and then by Hubert's and as of recently by InterMountain. Cars come factory equipped with Micro-Trains® trucks/couplers and come with a loads. Examples can be found with E&C, LBF and Hubert's branding. InterMountain (as of 2/2020) has not yet produced a release though announced under its 'Value Line by InterMountain' range.

Prototype History: Wood chips are used to make paper, and particle board and sometimes even burned as fuel. The early woodship cars were built by adding high sides to gondolas, or can-opener-ing boxcars (cutting the roofs off and welding up the doors).
While this worked for a while (some of them are still in service), the 1960's saw the introduction of specialized gondolas and hoppers designed specifically for wood chips.
Large 60- to 65- foot gondolas became the preferred style. Most are around 6,000 to 6,800 cf capacity. FMC, NCS and Pacific Car & Foundry built a specific type with smooth sides and interior braces.

Road Name History: Golden West was a financial invention -- SP wanted to get capital equipment off the books but the railroad needed the cars. So a corporation was invented that used borrowed money to "buy" the cars, refurbish them, and lease them back to the SP. In the long run this is basically a transfer of wealth from the railroad to the investors, but in the short run it helped the railroad by providing working capital. The UP ended the whole deal as soon as it could and that is why everything is reverting to original ownership.

Brand/Importer Information: Hubert's Model Railroad Mfg Corp group was located in Roseburg, Oregon and then Cincinnati, Ohio. Frank Hubert purchased the toolings of the LBF company (a.k.a. USA Plastics), that itself succeeded to E&C Shops, both founded by Fred Becker. Hubert had been one of Becker's partners in LBF/USA Plastics. Later, when Hubert's operation folded by the end of 2007, the toolings were acquired by InterMountain.
Like its predecessors, Hubert's released every road name with 12 to 48 different road numbers, offering the cars in 6- or 12-packs.