Wood Chip Gons

The SP hauled a lot of woodchips. These chips were byproducts of lumber finishing mills in the Pacific Northwest and east Texas. To haul these chips to paper mills, the SP rostered some specialized cars. At first, ordinary 40' gons from the SP's rather large fleet of 50 ton composite and all-steel cars. Due to the low density of wood chips, side extensions were added onto these cars to allow them to be loaded closer to the capacity of the car. In the late 50's and early 60's, new larger cars of 70 and 100 ton capacity built specially to haul wood chips were ordered.

Photo by: Bob Dengler

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