Model Railroading > Unloading at the Paseo Team

As I was putting together a Wheels of Time lumber load for a Walthers GSC UP bulkhead flat car, the notion struck me to pause and take an "unloading" picture.
The steel bands are fine black chart tape.
I glued the plastic lumber bundles together with canopy glue on the flat car, with a layer of "Saran Wrap" covering the deck so the load can be lifted off (whole) and stages for the next shipment and the local can haul off the empty.
What I have only hinted at is the unholy mess of steel bands that seem to follow these shipments around, you can see one guy hauling of a piece and more are sticking out of the dumpster.
The valley and mesa in the background are  a portable background that I can use so you won't see the boxes and junk against the far wall.
An iPhone 11 shot, held against the layout pavement for stability.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/23 21:14 by railstiesballast.

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Very nice.  The pictures you make on your layout are very very good.

Great scene.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

That's a very nice scene with alot of well-planned detail. The loose banding is a great touch!

As a teen I had a summer job in Nacogdoches crating and banding goods for export to the Middle East.

This scene reminds me of that job, and yes the unbanding of materials really was a mess.

Very nice work on this scene.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/23 05:13 by WrongWayMurphy.

Amazing modeling and photography.

Dangerous situation there. Centerbeams generally had to be loaded and unloaded gradually from both sides so they would not tip over. They had stenciling on them saying so.
I had an embarrassing flash of insight about this when I overlooked the requirement in a sketch problem I assigned to my engineering students to design a transload facility.

mile250 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dangerous situation there. Centerbeams generally
> had to be loaded and unloaded gradually from both
> sides so they would not tip over. They had
> stenciling on them saying so.
> I had an embarrassing flash of insight about this
> when I overlooked the requirement in a sketch
> problem I assigned to my engineering students to
> design a transload facility.

The model shown is a bulkhead flatcar, not a Centerbeam.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mile250 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Dangerous situation there. Centerbeams
> generally
> > had to be loaded and unloaded gradually from
> both
> > sides so they would not tip over. They had
> > stenciling on them saying so.
> > I had an embarrassing flash of insight about
> this
> > when I overlooked the requirement in a sketch
> > problem I assigned to my engineering students
> to
> > design a transload facility.
>
> The model shown is a bulkhead flatcar, not a
> Centerbeam.

They still tip over if you unload everything from one side only. Gravity doesn't care what kind of car it is.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They still tip over if you unload everything from
> one side only. Gravity doesn't care what kind of
> car it is.

Obviously.  Just pointing out that it's not a Centerbeam. 

The truth of the matter is that I did not get the idea to make the "unloading" scene until I had built half the load, including the vertical boards in the center.
As it sat on the layout it had a definate lean, just as you would expect.
We can make up a story that the boss is about to lay down the law and get them to comply with the safety regulations.
From my limited exposure to tipped over flat cars, the only ones I heard about on the SP were centerbeams that had been (successfully) unloaded on one half and the shipper talked the switch or local crew into taking it away to wye it; They fell over while being moved.
Thanks for the comments.

Really clever scene. That it's a bulk head and not a center beam is an advantage here on a dock. At this point in the unloading the crew can simply pull the center dunnage and start unloading the far side. Let's see if this crew is smart enough to do that :-).

That is a great scene, and one that seems to be overlooked!

It reminds me of the summers during college, when I worked in a Medford area lumber mill, in the mid-80's, and I can tell you, that banding a flat car load of lumber would take a lot longer than simply loading it.  A boxcar could take an hour to an hour and a half... The flat car would take upwards of 5hours.

Nice work!

Kirk

I’m one of those old guys who is always being reminded of something. This scene reminds me of riding the SP’s San Joaquin Daylight, standing in the vestibule with the upper Dutch door open. We were rounding a curve near Crockett, CA and a freight was passing on the other mainline track. I could hear a bell type sound approaching and saw it was from a piece of steel strapping attached to an empty flatcar, slapping around and striking the ground. 

True. My perception was not nostalgic enough.