Hubert's - HN5004 - Gondola, Woodchip, Welded Sides - Central Oregon & Pacific - 355374

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: The Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad (reporting mark CORP) is a Class II railroad operating between Northern California and Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was previously a mainline owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) between Eugene and Weed, California (north of Redding, California) via Medford, Oregon. SP sold the route on December 31, 1994, in favor of using its route to Eugene via Klamath Falls, Oregon and Cascade Summit.

The mainline of the CORP is 389 miles (626 km). CORP is a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming, which acquired the railroad as part of its acquisition with RailAmerica in late 2012.

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.