HO scale freelanced pulpwod car

[Bill Gill]

I'm working on a pair of these freelanced pulpwood cars using Tichy end platforms on Athearn flatcars. These are operational cars rather than fine scale models so the details are "rugged" (OK, coarse), but the experiment was to give the cars a rusty undercoat like found in some prototype photos. Pulpwood seems to have been a less than desirable commodity to haul in the 1950s because it didn't earn the hauler much profit and it was dangerous work, so some cars looked homemade and fairly beat up.

[finescalerr]

I like the overall impression the scene creates and that includes the flatcar. -- Russ

[1-32]

hi alan i really like your car.this particular version is great loaded with assortments  of plywood or timber products.the tie downs are also interesting.maybe a bit of variation of the base colour especially about the edges ie exposed metal
cheers kim

[Ray Dunakin]

I don't know much (well, anything) about pulpwood cars, but this looks good to me.

[Bill Gill]

Hi Kim, Thanks. I hadn't thought about plywood loads. I have seen photos of similar cars loaded with lumber, long logs loaded longitudinally and even telephone poles. The 'tie downs' you noticed are the stake pockets on the original flat car this car was made from. If this were strictly a pulpwood car there wouldn't be any stake pockets, but my railroad is small. The story is they built the two cars in their own shop from surplus flat cars and were either so cheap not to do the extra work of removing the pockets or so wise to realize the pockets could be used for tie downs and the cars could carry more than one commodity.

I saw a few prototype photos of empty cars that had a lot of scraps of bark, sawdust and evergreen needles along the center line of the deck. My plan is to try to duplicate that look, but then to also make removable loads of pulpwood logs, and now after your comment I think I'll make some other kinds of removable loads as well, like...plywood for example. Thanks!

[Bill Gill]

Ray, I don't know lots about pulpwood cars either. I had more flat cars for my railroad than needed and wanted to adapt a couple of them to some other purpose. Pulpwood came to mind because my layout is in Vermont and paper mills were common industries served by railroads in New England in the 1950s (the layout's time period).

The trees cut for pulpwood were those not good enough for lumber, either too small, crooked or dead. Clearing some of those out of a logging area could be dangerous work. Down South I think they mostly cut pines. In New England they cut mostly evergreens too, but also some deciduous trees.  

The logs were typically cut into short lengths between 4-6 ft and then stacked crosswise on the decks of the cars. Each longitudinal half of the deck of a pulpwood car slants inward from the side of the car to the center line and a row of logs is stacked along each side of that shallow "V" deck. The bulkheads on the ends keep the logs from rolling off the ends and the pitch of the deck combined with the weight of the load keeps the logs from tumbling over the sides. There aren't any other restraints to secure the load, that's why the stake pockets that Kim commented on are a bit unusual.

Before there were special built pulpwood cars, other kinds of cars were pressed into service. I saw photos of ~1930s homebuilt cars from someplace in the deep south that were old truss rod flat cars that looked like someone stood an old wooden gate up on each end, tacked a couple diagonal planks to hold them up and piled on the logs. I'd love to make one of those. Gondolas got loaded several different ways. I've seen photos of gons with the logs standing vertically, laying down crosswise and even just dumped in randomly. Some old boxcars were loaded with pulpwood by hand (I think that could be dangerous at times too if the stack shifted while someone was piling it up). Some boxcars even had their roofs removed and were loaded from the top.

Here's two photos of a gon with pulpwood load that I did for the RR club at RPI. It's another "operational" car used for club operating sessions, so again the detail is coarse. The load is twigs from the backyard, some painted a bit to vary the type of tree. The vertical "logs" at the ends are short pieces of bamboo skewers painted to match the twigs.

[Ray Dunakin]

That load of logs looks great!

[SandiaPaul]

That looks great Bill...does someone make a more delicate looking brakewheel? My eyes keep focusing on that.

Paul

[Bill Gill]

Thanks, Ray. Now have to make two more for my own pulpwood cars.

Thanks, Paul. Just recently I discovered that True Lines Trains makes a very fine etched stainless brake wheel. It's a bit pricey for a "working" model and is currently sold out, but I may consider it.http://www.truelinetrains.ca/home/news/klasinghandbrake

[SandiaPaul]

That true line one does look good!

[Barney]

looking good - is this all part off an HO empire - love to see more of it
Barney

[Bill Gill]

- is this all part off an HO empire - barney

Barney, the answer is mixed. The blackish pulpwood car is one of a pair for my Connecticut & Vermont RR, a tiny HO scale project by almost any standards. The gondola loaded with pulpwood is one of a pair for the New England & Berkshire RR, a model railroad empire by any standards! You can see a bit more of the NEB&W here: https://www.facebook.com/NEBandW. There aren't many good photos of the C&V, but maybe I can dig up a few passable ones and post them. Thanks for asking.

[Barney]

Thanks Bill
some nice stuff there
Barney

[Lawton Maner]

Filling these cars with scale pulpwood is a good wintertime project which starts in the summer when you trim azaleas, dogwoods, and others whose bark realistically scales down. Hang the branches in the garage for the first phase of drying, cut them to size while watching something like a football game, and then bake them in a toaster oven which you bought at a yard sale @ 250 degrees for 2 0r 3 hours before you assemble the loads.  Of course you can do s I did at an NMRA contest and make the load loose so that when a judge picks the car up to check the brake rigging, there is pulpwood scattered all over the room.

[Bill Gill]

Thanks, Lawton. The loose-oops! version sounds like my style too My second plan is to glue the twigs together but make each load removable as a solid block. That way I can change from pulpwood to logs, telephone pole or even plywood according to Kim. And the cars can also run empty, although I really like a couple prototype photos of empties that had lots of sawdust and leaves and needles on their decks. I might permanently add that debris and make different loads that can fit over it.