Full Throttle FT-COL69 GBW, MEC Offset-Side 2-Bay Woodchip Hopper Set | 2-Car Set
Northern Chippers
Road Numbers: 403, 1527

When finally railroads realized woodchips and bark could be a profitable haul, they customized their older hoppers with extended tops to carry greater quantities of the lighter loads. All manner of extensions were devised, from wooden slats and braced panels, steel plates, to parts of damaged cars. A new market evolved using chips for paper production, bedding on the farm, mulches, playground surfacing, forest fire prevention, and alternative fuel. Full Throttle brings you two examples from railroads which roamed our northern forests.

The Green Bay and Western Railroad (GBW) served central Wisconsin for almost 100 years when in 1993 it was absorbed into the Wisconsin Central which was purchased by Canadian National in 2001.

By 1884 the MAINE CENTRAL Railroad Company (MEC), known as the Pine Tree Route, was the longest railroad in New England. Serving parts of VT and NH, most of its track was in central and southern Maine. The USRA assumed control in 1917, and it remained independent until 1981, when it became part of what is now the Pan Am Railways network.