Micro-Trains - 084 44 051 - Gondola, Sugar Beet - Northern Pacific - 118542

Specific Item Information: These Northern Pacific gondolas in series 118541-118590 were built in 1936-1937. Decades later, these GS gondolas were converted with the addition of wooden extensions. The extensions allowed for loads such as woodchips, or sugarbeets as represented here. Sugarbeets are root crops with farms in over 10 states across America. These foot long beets account for the production of over 5 million tons of sugar in the U.S. each year! Road numbers 118542, 118551, 118583.

Prototype History: Originally, beet racks (as they wee always called) were flat cars with plank sides built up. These were called racks. The name stuck when they went to the drop bottom composite gons in the early 50s. These were used without extensions in the 50s but the extensions were added to increase capacity.

The beet gons were really a piece of junk, equipment wise. They were only used for a few months out of the year. Their trucks had friction bearings, and they had AB control valves which contributed to the brake system not being quite as good as a freight car equipped with an ABD control valve.

Road Name History: The Northern Pacific Railway (reporting mark NP) was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States from Minnesota to the Pacific Coast. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly 40 million acres (160,000 km2) of land grants, which it used to raise money in Europe for construction. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in western Montana on Sept. 8, 1883.

The railroad had about 6800 miles of track and served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. In addition the company had an international branch to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The main activities were shipping wheat and other farm products, cattle, timber and minerals; bringing in consumer goods, transporting passengers; and selling land.

The company was headquartered first in Brainerd, Minnesota, then in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It had a tumultuous financial history, and in 1970 it merged with other lines to form the Burlington Northern Railroad.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Micro-Trains is the brand name used by both Kadee Quality Products and Micro-Trains Line. For a history of the relationship between the brand and the two companies, please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide.

Manufacturer Information: Micro-Trains Line split off from Kadee Quality Products in 1990. Kadee Quality Products originally got involved in N-Scale by producing a scaled-down version of their successful HO Magne-Matic knuckle coupler system. This coupler was superior to the ubiquitous 'Rapido' style coupler due to two primary factors: superior realistic appearance and the ability to automatically uncouple when stopped over a magnet embedded in a section of track. The success of these couplers in N-Scale quickly translated to the production of trucks, wheels and in 1972 a release of ready-to-run box cars.

Micro-Trains Line Co. split off from Kadee in 1990 to form a completely independent company. For this reason, products from this company can appear with labels from both enterprises. Due to the nature of production idiosyncrasies and various random factors, the rolling stock from Micro-Trains can have all sorts of interesting variations in both their packaging as well as the products themselves. When acquiring an MTL product it is very important to understand these important production variations that can greatly enhance (or decrease) the value of your purchase.

Please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide