Model Railroading > Here is Another easy Car load to Build

This is a load of telephone poles on a bulk head flat on a oregon car load bound for fresno calif....note most all the poles are different lengths, so a supply of dowels, some wood for bracing and your choice of strapping, plus a bulk flat and you have a interesting load to add to your traffic....if you want to go further, here is a pig flat with extra long poles that are headed to Fresno also, and thes poles are of different lengths also....

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Actually I think the lengths of the poles are pretty close, but staggered so the weight is spread over the length of the car

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

There's been a lot of these through Dunsmuir, an interesting variation has been two stacks of shorter poles with the large diameter on the end of the car, then a stack of medium length poles in on top in the middle. When you think about it 85 ft is a lot of pole, 40 ft is still a prettty good sized pole. Of course the utility Companies need different sizes especially for specific projects, that's some big trees when you think about it.

If using basswood or poplar dowel rods, wouldn't that make for a pretty heavy car?
I don't think I've seen balsa rods.
Phil

The first thing that comes to mind which seems to get ignored in using dowels is the fact they should be tapered. I've sort of taken the "too hard" on that for an HO gondola load.  The other thing I've noticed is people using Bamboo skewers which I think look like Bamboo Skewers.  They are hard to stain and the grain does not simulate west coast timber to my eye.  Having said that, sometimes poles get shipped in a raw unstained form.

The final mention is to not use chopsticks.  They look a long ways toward being oversized for HO.

Rick

       Seriously doubt they ' staggered ' the poles to distribute weight. Really !  They load them on and thats where they land but within the end limits of the car is all. The difference in weight from one end of the car to the other is insignificant.

WOW, a carload of toothpicks for a gorilla.

Jim
Hatboro, PA

Try these, let us know how it works out:

http://www.coastmans.com/utility-pole-car-loads.html

Great trees too.

This may fall in the category of TMI but...

The poles are staggered to reduce or even off overall load height.  An ANSI 05.1 specification Class 1 wood pole can be up to 125  ft in length and have a minimum tip circumference of 27 inches.  The pole can taper in circumference 0.21" per foot from butt to tip so a 100 ft pole would have a butt circumference of 48 inches.  This translates to a tip diameter of 8.6 inches and a butt diameter of 15.3 inches.  By the way, the taper varies with species.  The taper number I quoted is for Douglas fir. The taller poles are usually used for transmission lines while short poles are used for local distribution.  The ANSI standard also requires ID markings that indicate the pole suppliers code or trademark, year of treatment, pole species and preservative among other things.  These IDs are located about 10 ft from the butt end of poles less than 50 ft in length and 14 ft or so from the butt end of poles greater than 50 ft long.  The actual specifications have some wiggle room in them.  My wife got used to me stopping along the roadside to look at and take pictures of poles and pole stamps for class use!

Bruce
Columbia MO

Good info Bruce !

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

A friend has used chopsticks, really, to simulate this load.  He bought a package at an
Oriental Food Supply store and cut them to length.  I haven't seen the finished product,
but it seems a good idea as chopsticks are already tapered.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

A load like the DTTX in the second picture, with the poles hanging a couple of feet over one end of the car, would look like some of the ones that my MILW switch crew in Bellingham WA handled.

TAW

Telephone poles come in lengths from 35 to 100 feet long. Most common sizes are in the 45 to 65 foot range.
Working for AT&T I've climbed more then a few.