Wood
chips are used to make paper, and particle board and sometimes even
burned as fuel. Ironically, for  decades
wood chips were burned as waste by sawmills who had no use for them.
It wasn't until the fifties that they really began to be viewed as
a commodity. Railroads solved the problem early on by adding high
sides to gondolas, or can-opener-ing boxcars (cutting the roofs off
and welding up the doors) . While this worked for a while (some of
them are still in service), there was a need for something stronger
and bigger. Originally developed in the late 60's by Gunderson Brothers,
this design class would see service from coast to coast. Gunderson
often licensed the design to builders like Magor, Maxon, Ortner, and
others. These builders would add their own twists, but the design
would stay basically the same. The deep rib gondolas have sides that
are slightly sloped to make unloading by rotary dumper a
little easier. The ends are also hinged at the top (opening like a
big garage door) so the car can be unloaded by tilt table (like a
dump truck) or the end can be propped open and the car can be unloaded
by skip loader. Although the sides are sloped, the ribs are not, which
means the ribs seem to get deeper from the top of the car down. The
100T deep rib woodchip car had the rigidity to withstand being upended
on a lift, and emptied through the swinging doors at the end of the
car. With the first version of the cars, built for the Northern Pacific,
there was only one end door, with a high mounted brakewheel occupying
the other end. This necessitated having the cars in the correct orientation
for switching. When the UP ordered cars, Gunderson Brothe rs
was asked to have the cars open from both ends. Union Pacific ordered
many of the cars, some with ratchet brake handles and some with a
side-mounted brakewheel. In the southwest and the southeast, similar
designs were in use for the Western Pacific, the Southern, the CSX,
and others. Not all of the cars were in railroad service, as
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