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!