Deluxe Innovations - 160803 - Gondola, Woodchip - Chattahoochee Industrial - 3 numbers

Specific Item Information: Canadian National ex CIRR
CN 873212
CN 873747
CN 873734

Model Information: This model comes in both "Smoothside" and "Shallow-Rib" variations.

Prototype History: Although they are one of the lightest loads carried by rail, they require one of the biggest cars! Wood chips are big business for today's saw mills and lumber operations. Once burned as scrap or fuel-on-site, these by-products of the lumber industry are purchased by paper companies and used to make paper.

Specially designed for the pulp and paper industry, these cars can hold up to 6,800 cubic feet of pulpwood chips. Open-top gondolas without doors, end doors or bottom gates are designed for top loading. Unloading can be performed by top, end or bottom, depending on car design.

Road Name History: The CIRR was chartered in 1961 to build a line between Hilton and Saffold in southern Georgia. Operations began in 1963. For most of its history, the line was owned by paper giant Georgia-Pacific whose huge mill in the area is the source of most of CIRR's traffic. Interchanges are with CSX, NS and Georgia Southwestern. The motto for the Chattahoochee Industrial is "Better by a Dam Site" which appeared on many of their freight cars.

Although the line is just a touch over 15 miles long, around 10 locomotives are required to handle the heavy traffic. From startup into the 90s, most of the work was done with secondhand Alco RS-1’s.

In 2004, Georgia-Pacific sold many of their railroads, the CIRR included, to the Genesee & Wyoming group. Today, the RS-1’s are gone although several have been made into slugs, and secondhand EMD's now do the work.

Brand/Importer Information: DeLuxe Innovations is a "wholesale manufacturer" of model trains. We manufacture scale replica train models and sell them to hobby shops and distributors worldwide. 2013 marked the 20 year anniversary of DeLuxe Innovations brand trains. There are over 25 body styles in our product line and all of the cars in our single and multi-car packs have different road numbers. DeLuxe Innovations, Inc. is owned by Dave Ferrari, founder of Squeak N Products. We are located in Midland Park, New Jersey. When Dave purchased the business it was located in Burbank, California which would have been a bit of a long commute so the move to the East Coast was planned. Our first East Coast location was in Whippany, NJ along the Whippany River.

The business was started in 1993 by George Johnsen and Roberta Liebreich in Burbank, California. They had a philosophy that just wouldn't allow using a coal car as a "stand in" for a woodchip car, or printing any and all boxcar paint schemes on a PS-1. Starting with the release of the first ever etched metal parts for a ready to run car (1994's Twinstack's metal walkways) through the full dimension underframe and etched metal roofwalk (1996's 1944 AAR Boxcar) to the challenging RoadRailer system (2000), our products have been accurate to target the modeler or enthusiast.

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