Recently the author purchased two PGE (Pacific Great Eastern - predecessor to BC Rail) 50' bulkhead flatcars at an estate sale that were spotless and ran them for a while without loads. You know what comes next, he needs loads for them. He has an Indiana Harbor Belt (IHB) train that serviced the Gary, IN USS mills. It is loaded with bulkhead flatcars carrying anything from girders, rebar, pipe, bar stock, etc. but those type loads didn't feel right for a train from western Canada. Hmmm...WOOD, LUMBER!!! Already having plenty of pulpwood cars on multiple trains put those out of the question. So he set about researching wrapped lumber loads and how to make them.
That didn't last long. They are not easy scratch builds and he is a modeler! Taking a look at eBay to see what was available he came across a seller that had very good looking wrapped loads and a huge selection of manufacturers. He ordered two 50' loads with the CANFOR (Canadian Forest Products) logo. When they arrived he was very happily shocked at the quality of this product! See figure 1
Figure 1 Wrapped lumber load as receivedThe load slid right into the 50' car and was snug against the ends. See figure 2.
Figure 2 Lumber load mounted
He contacted the seller and had a long conversation with him about how these were made, sanded or planed, painted or not, etc. Not giving away too many secrets of the seller they are made from layered, separated, sanded plywood (no warping there) and they are not painted but wrapped in computer printed sticky backed paper with the template designed by the seller. Could have (and did) fool the author.
One of the things that stuck this author as ingenious was the way the strapping was done. See figure 3.
Figure 3 The wrapping process
Instead of individual wraps around the load at spaced intervals he used a single piece of black thread starting at one end and diagonally to the next slat and around again then diagonally and around and so on to the end. Ingenious and much quicker to wrap.
He has various sizes and the author has tried them in both Walthers 50' and Athearn 60' cars. They both fit perfectly. Along with the various sizes he has a very comprehensive list of manufacturers to chose from. Figure 4 shows the new Weyerhaeuser wrapping.
Figure 4 New Weyerhaeuser wrapping
Putting several of these cars together looks very good.
Figure 4 Back-to-back car loads
He also has loads for centerbeam cars and as an added touch of excellence he embeds magnets in the wood to hold them more securely on the cars. An example is shown in figure 5.
Figure 5 Centerbeam load
If you're interested his eBay name is
vaug5706_exwyuk. He sells two different very reasonably priced qualities, regular and premium. This article covers the premium load.
If you have a specific request he would very probably be willing to work with you on it.
If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.
