LBF Company - 6409 - Gondola, 52 Foot 6 Inch, Mill - Oregon Steel Mills - 12 Different Available

Model Information: E&C shops originally designed this tooling in the mid 1970'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.

Prototype History: Mill gondolas are primarily used for steel mill products, including metal beams, pipe, coiled steel, scrap, wire and other finished mill products. Their drop end enabled them to carry items longer than the car itself (usually with idler flatcars on either side).
Through the 1950's most gondolas were 50-Ton cars; it grew to 70-Ton in the 1960's. From 1960's on, Thrall became a major builder of gondolas. Other builders included Pullman-Standard, Greenville, Bethlehem, Ortner, Evans/SIECO and Trinity.
These gondolas are still offered nowadays by major builders such as Greenbier or TrinityRail.

Text adapted from Jeff Wilson's "Modern Freight Cars" (Kalmbach Media).

Road Name History: Oregon Steel began as Gilmore Steel in 1928 when William G. Gilmore started the company. In 1987 the company became Oregon Steel Mills. Then in 1993 OSM purchased Colorado Fuel and Iron. In January 2007 Evraz Group S.A. of Russia bought OSM for $2.3 billion. Prior to this Oregon Steel was traded on the NYSE as OS.

Oregon Steel Mills, Inc. (OSM) is a Portland, Oregon, United States, based steel producer with facilities in Colorado and Alberta. In November 2006, Russian steel producer Evraz Group S.A. agreed to purchase Oregon Steel for $2.3 billion, and this was approved by U.S. regulators in January 2007. Operated as Evraz Oregon Steel Mills, Inc., the company produces items such as structural tubing, pipes, and steel rails.

In Colorado, OSM?s Rocky Mountain Steel subsidiary operates three production facilities. One facility makes rails for railroads, one rods and bars for construction, and the third plant manufactures seamless pipes. These facilities were part of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, founded in 1881 and bought by OSM in 1993.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: The LBF company was based in Roseburg Oregon founded by Fred Becker. LBF was the successor company to E&C Shops, also founded by Becker. LBF also did business under the name USA Plastics. USA Plastics/LBF opened for business in 1993. They produced N Scale models using toolings purchased from the E&C Company. Later, in 1998, LBF folded and the toolings were sold to Hubert's Model RR Manufacturing group which was also located in Roseburg. Hubert had been one of Becker's partners in LBF/USA Plastics. Later, when Hubert's operation folded, the toolings were acquired by InterMountain.