Model Railroading > Pulpwood loads

What is the most simple way
of making pulpwood loads for the
Atlas GSC pulpwood cars..........

Thanks

JLSeale

The best looking pulp wood I have ever used for loads is.......weeping willow branches. Now here is the trick, you don't cut or remove the branches still attached to the tree. Pick up the long, straight dead branches lying under the canopy. I then made a jig that allowed me to cut the branches into all the same length.

I used Elmer's white glue to hold them together. I usually filled gondolas with end extensions, and used a wooden yard stick and cut it up the length of the gondola to fill up the bottom so I could use the " pulpwood logs" I cut up only in the visible area above the gondola sides.

I will try and post some pictures.

Thomas G.

While I realize you are asking for advice on such loads for ATLAS pulpwood cars, the following posts may INSPIRE you (and others) to take a closer look at how pulpwood is loaded on the prototype -- and since I don't have pics of shorter woodracks such as those ATLAS offers in scale models, the larger, more modern V-decks shown in my posts here (and below) will have to suffice.

There is one item to consider when constructing such a load: FLAT DECK bulkhead pulpwood cars would carry 10-ft. logs loaded crosswise (side-to-side), and V-DECK [BH-end] pulpwood cars would carry 5-ft. logs, also loaded crosswise but in two, parallel stacks. On most of those types of cars, the wood actually sticks out about 1/2-foot on either side of the car, hence the fact that most prototype RR's built V-Deck PW cars 9-feet wide. SEE PHOTO 1 here to see what I mean (that's a former Southern Railway V-deck car being unloaded in West Point, Va. circa 1991.

I've seen a variety of regular FLAT-DECK BH-equipped flats (SOU, TTPX, etc.) carrying 10-ft. wood, which also sticks out of the sides just a little bit.

Most model-making companies don't seem to construct pulpwood loads for the shorter pulpwood cars that resemble the prototype WITH SLOPPED PULPWOOD LOADS such as the one pictured here, even though the prototype photo is of a longer (60-ft.) car. The V-deck is meant to be THE ONLY method of keeping such a load on the car; there were NO straps or ladign anchors to keep the 5-ft. pulpwood on the cars such as is pictured here; only gravity -- and the V-decks themselves -- did that.

If your car has a FLAT deck, this is something to consider, even if your load hides the deck itself during running sessions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/12 11:14 by rbx551985.

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Here's ANOTHER example, this time of a SHORTER pulpwood car, CAGY woodrack No. 12149, also seen in West Point, Va. during 1991 carrying two, parallel stacks of 5-ft. pulpwood. This is another of the V-Deck type cars. Now, NOTE the car coupled to the LEFT of the CAGY car in the 1st photo below: it's a FLAT-DECK BH-equipped car carrying 10-ft. pulpwood. LOOK CLOSELY at the types of logs: they don't all match, and it's easy to see where the loading process for this car stopped, then started again with another, different [smaller] batch of logs -- in the upper, right corner of the car's load in the first shot.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/12 11:07 by rbx551985.

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SOU 142411 is seen being loaded at Pamplin, Va. It's easy to see, in shot #1 below, the two, parallel stacks of 5-ft. pulpwood loaded on V-Deck woodracks.

Another pair of shots of the FLAT-DECK BH-car carrying 10-ft. pulpwood, crossing West Point, Va.'s 14th St. grade crossing: N&W 170403.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/12 11:00 by rbx551985.

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1st shot here: NOTE the layered appearance of this load, on a CSXT [former Southern] V-Deck woodrack....

And 2 more shots of these types of cars:
---At Richmond, Va. a loaded V-deck car brings up the rear of NS train V24.
---At West Point, Va., a cut of loads is being shoved into the mill's unloading area.

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AND A FEW MORE SHOTS FOR GOOD MEASURE (and perhaps a bit of inspiration):

HYDRA-RAKE unloads PW-cars (7 per track, 1 track on @ side of the water pflume) at West Point, Va. circa 1991.

A long cut of pulpwood cars enters West Point, Va.'s yard track #11, before being shoved back over 14th St. into the Chesapeake Corporation's woodyard.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/12 11:24 by rbx551985.

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I can also add Rose of Sharon branches to the list of "things that look like trees in HO scale"
Just check with the Missus before "harveseting" the entire bush! :)

rbx551985 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1st shot here: NOTE the layered appearance of
> this load, on a CSXT V-Deck woodrack....
>
> And 2 more shots of these types of cars:
> ---At Richmond, Va. a loaded V-deck car brings up
> the rear of NS train V24.
> ---At West Point, Va., a cut of loads is being
> shoved into the mill's unloading area.

Great informative photos of pulpwood loads. That is one subject I never took a lot of photos of, and believe the Georgia Railroad had a lot of pulpwood business. It was a load I always thought would be around but it seemed to disappear rather fast. I loved the smell of a freight train with pulpwood and woodchip loads on a hot southern summer day.

That CSX car is more than likely an ex-Georgia Railroad or West Point Route car. The GA/WPR cars were very similar to the Southern cars but there were differences such as grab irons vs ladders.

Jay

The best loads for those of us in the Deep South seem to be lengths of crepe myrtle. We cut them with a dremel motor tool and the patchy color of the bark makes it look like pine bark. If they dry just right, you actually get rings in the crossection just like you see on the real pine cuts. We cut lengths from the prunings each fall or winter starting at about the diameter of a pencil down to the size of pencil lead. Wax paper is taped over the inside of the bulkheads and on the top of the V-deck. We then hand glued the scale sticks random sized in stacks on the car. We used hot glue and go back with white glue. This makes a large block of wood that can be removed with the corect angle on the stacks. A piece of tape on the bottom of the load corresponds to the type of car.

There is an old Rail Model Journal on how to do it, along with scratchbuilding some SAL rack cars around about 1991. You can find the full article by Larry Denton at Train Life:

http://www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/152/10985/october-1993-page-3

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