Open Loads (Part 9) - West Coast Loading of Foreign Gondolas & Flats

Some of you might be wondering why a West Coast modeler is doing multiple lumber loads for foreign East Coast gondolas.

What to do with all the empty East Coast cars?  Reload them! - Jason Hill photo at LMRC, San Diego.

Well, I do like modeling equipment that would have been seen over Tehachapi Pass, which includes the lumber load traffic from Oregon and Northern California to Los Angeles and much of it was then sent east to El Paso and beyond.

A sizable number of the cars in this traffic flow were 'rollers' which were brokered en route and were sent via the longer route down out of the Pacific Northwest to Southern California.  This allowed more time before turning east to sell the load of lumber and diverted to the customer, which was preferred by the shippers.

Prototype Operating Considerations

From the collection of Dan Holbrook, the SCO C507 (May 1950 issued) includes notes that certain eastern roads allowed their gondolas on the west coast to be moved north or south to find loads that can move the cars back east of the Mississippi River, towards home.  The C507 also includes LV, B&O, BLE, CNJ-CRP, DL&W, Erie, NYC-PLE, NKP-WLE, PWV, Reading, Union, and WM, so for western modelers, don't be afraid to load your empty foreign gondolas with lumber loads!  - This is one of the reasons I've been building lumber loads for my B&O, Erie, NYC, and PRR cars.

I will also say that in my other research it would appear that some of these roads also allowed their flatcars to be reloaded also, so I'll be mentioning that at the end as well.

Some of the 1950 SCO directive from the eastern roads is probably a carry over from the WWII directive for the flatcars to be nationally pooled 'for the duration', which was found to be useful in some commercial revenue applications in the post-war era into the 1950s.

Note, some of these cars are repeating the use of the same loads in other cars... but that's to prove my point about being able to use a single set of loads to add variety to a single set of operating routing.  I've taken to index numbering the loads so I can keep track of them. I will be using their ID numbers in these photos so you can see which loads are swapping to other cars.

So let's have a look at some examples:

Tangent 52'6" Bethlehem Gondola

Load 1145 - B&O 259798, Tangent 52ft Gondola with full 3-stack OMM 3005 Lumber Load kit. 

The Tangent Bethlehem 52'6" gondolas can trans-load the lumber loads between them without any problems to create variety in the operating look of the trains.  This is an example of a B&O car.

Tangent 52'6" AC&F Gondola

Load 1145, 2 Stacks - PRR 372468 with two smaller stacks of lumber from OMM 3004 kit.

Tangent also produced this ACF 52'6" Gondola on the PRR these are G31Bs, which numbered in the 10's of thousands!  So by the early 1950s a very common East Coast type of car.

Load 1164 - This load is about 5/6s of an OwlMtModels 3005 kit.

This load is 5/6s of the OwlMtModels kit, configured in 2-3 stacks with 48" tall units.  Wooden cross bracing is replaced with 6lb fishing line 'iron wire' between the stakes over the load.

Load 1145 - Here's the full 3-stack 3005 kit in the PRR gondola.

There aren't many options when the full load is used, basically just the height of the units used.  The AAR standards say not to make units less than 30" and not more than 48".  Some cars in photos are not stacked out to the cubic limits of the car, as sometimes 'wet' or 'green' wood would weight much more than expected.  So there is some rhyme and reason for why cars appear to be "under loaded" in the same train.  Remember also that some of these cars are heading home towards restricted vertical clearance home-roads.  If the car makes it all that way as a 'roller' without being sold, then it will have to navigate the Plate-C Clearances, so on those cars, be sure to cut the stakes down and not load the car too high, even if cubic and weight allowances aren't a consideration.

Load 1065 - Fully wooden-braced 3005 kit.

This load is made up of 36" tall units in a 2-3-3 configuration.  Wooden bracing is used on this load, with two full stake sets outboard of the central top units.

Proto2000/Walthers 52'6" Greenville (WWII AAR) Gondola

Load 1145 - Proto2000/Walthers Greenville 52'6" WWII-built gondolas.

The Bethlehem and ACF cars by Tangent don't have collapsible stakes pockets on the interior of the sides, but instead moved to strap tie-downs along the top edge of the sides.  Proto2000/Walthers gondolas (NYC below) have molded collapsed stake pockets, which narrows the interior size of the car slightly, which means that full-size stakes can't be used effectively there on the OwlMt Lumber Loads.  Also providing actual stake pockets, instead of just wedging in the stakes for the cars that have no stake pockets, mean that it's possible to line up the stakes with the theoretical pockets if they were deployed.

Load 1065 - Swapping loads to the NYC P2K gondola

I will be building a couple more loads, one will specifically be with stakes to align with the stake pockets of the Proto2000 gondolas.  I will also be using the notched stake option, so that the load is more freely fitting, so I can easily remove the load from the car without catching the stakes on the carside.

Tichy 52'6" WWII Emergency Composite Gondola

Load 1145 - Tichy NYC 52'6" WWII Emergency Gondola with OwlMtModels 3005 3-stack load kit.

Tichy also makes a compatible composite WWII gondola, which can be loaded with lumber.  These cars are fun to weather with the contrast of wood sides with steel structure over the top.  Some railroads resheathed these cars in steel after the war-time material restrictions were lifted.

Walthers 46ft USRA Gondola

Load 1159 - Walthers 46ft USRA PRR 317083. one of the thousands of G25 class cars.

Chalk marks on the car side are used to align the stakes to the load.  In some ways this cuts down the positional options of the loads, but if the loads are kept as A/B stacks, then they can be transposed or rotated in multiple arrangements to vary the look of the same load.

Load 1169 - Another PRR G25 with a steel-top-banded load which has started to shift noticeably.

This load is the subject over the previous Open Loads (Part 8) post.  The load uses the ChartPak 1/64" tape for the high-tension steel-bands across the top of the load.  I modeled this load as a shifting stack of lumber.  Thankfully the load therefore is not centered around the stake sets, which should stay aligned with the car's pockets... and allows off-set arrangements if I rotate the two stacks or transpose their positions.

Load 1169, transposed - LV 27202 is another Walthers' 46ft USRA gondola.

In this photo with the Walthers LV model, the loads have been transposed outwards from the car's center.  The load's still shifted, but the two stacks aren't to the point of impacting each other.

Load 1159 again, this time in Erie 15503, a stock Walthers 46ft USRA Gondola.

As can be seen, just changing the loads around a bit creates new looks to the cars, thus making each train look unique, even if you've not re-blocked the train.  Just changing which load goes in which car and how, will make your sessions 'feel different' from a visual stand point.

Load 153 in NYC 501536, another Walthers 46ft Gondola

I'm not sure if the black NYC gondolas are correct for post-WWII cars.  The stock Walthers model comes with a tare date of 1947, so might be right.  Any NYC modelers are welcome to tell me if it's wrong.  In any case, NYC cars certainly were available to reload and send towards home.

The Load 153 is one that's actually designed to fit a Red Caboose steel GS gondola, but it works well here too, although the stakes don't line up with the car's pockets, so these would have to be wedged in against the car's sides.

Foreign Flatcars?

I know of at least one photo of a B&O 40ft P-11 class car loaded with lumber in San Diego, circa 1955.  San Diego actually had sawmills to cut up large log rafts brought down by ocean-tug from the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia.  So it's hard to tell if the B&O flat was a 'roller' from the PNW which was diverted to San Diego because the lumber was sold, or if it was a foreign car being reloaded for movement eastward towards home.  In the end I guess it doesn't really matter, as either would be a reasonable explanation of what the car was doing loaded with lumber at the southern edge of the USA.

F30A Flatcars from Bowser or Rapido

PRR 475237 with a pair of lumber stacks over the trucks.

Here's some examples of PRR F30A flatcars from Bowser loaded with the new OwlMtModels 3003 Lumber Loads.

PRR 475260 with a couple of centered stacks. - Looks like the brakewheel got smashed, gonna have to get a carmen to fix that up!

While these smaller 2-stack loads wouldn't be taxing the 70-ton capacity of the Pennsy flats, it was a way to get some extra lumber moving east if these were 'rollers' and cover some future order from a yard along the way.

Again PRR 475260, this time with a much higher board-feet count load.

In this load, I kitbashed some of the panels into a very long load, and then did a couple of more regular stacks.  The 50ft deck length of the F30A makes "fully loading" it a bit trickier, but possible with some creativity.

A high-view of 475260 with a load of older 3001 lumber loads, in this case with iron-wire banding.

Don't forget you can build centered stack loads, like this one too.  I suggest putting some of the separator pieces lengthwise to tie the bottom of the load together for strength.

P2K/Walthers 52'6" AAR WWII Standard Flatcars

C&NW AAR WWII Flatcar loaded with lumber. (Walthers/P2K flatcar, OMM 3003

Other cars from the mid-west could also be reloaded, as it would be easier to send them home.  However, this would not have the SCO authorization from the owner to send them empty anywhere in the western US to find that load.  So these would be locally unloaded near the lumber loading areas of NP, GN, UP/OSL, SP, etc. and then sent out as needed, hopefully towards home rails!

A heavy load of lumber, probably near the capacity for the 50-ton NKP flatcar.

Here's an Nickle Plate example, this car would be a 'long east' car working its way back towards home.  If it was a 'roller', it could probably show up just about anywhere in the country with this load.

Balancing the Message

Obviously, the 'home roads' would have to provide their own cars if enough 'foreign' cars couldn't be used.  This results in the mixed consists that are what we see most of the time: home road cars, interchanged partner roads, and then the really far from home cars that have been reloaded all mixed together.  

SP 4177 Lumber Drag 1-671 two miles east of Oakridge 1947 - Vanishing Vista postcard JT-63, Jason Hill collection

In the photo above, we can see many different railroad's cars mixed in this consist.  For Southern Pacific trains leaving Oregon, interchanges would be from the friendly NP, and less friendly UP, CP,  CN.  The GN and WP were at the time more friendly with Santa Fe's connections, but they certainly would still interchange if the customer had ordered the routing to go via the SP.

The advent of hump yards allowed for better sorting by destination of interchanged cuts, but even then the 'rollers' are going to be a wildcard as to when they will be sold and need to be cut out of the train.  Usually the diversion points would be a place which had the yard facilities to handle breaking up the consist anyway.

In Closing

The east coast sends the rust, the west coast will return the favor with splinters.  So it's fun to have both removable steel loads and lumber loads for the same pool of cars, then you can mix up sending them away from home loaded and either send them home empty or reload them with local products.

An overview of the lumber loads shown above. - Notice specifically the differences: wood paint/coloring, shifted loads, and bracing with wood, iron wire, and steel bands.

Another point of variation is not building all the loads with identical methods of bracing, or even style of bracing.  Unless you're modeling a lumber mill shipping 20 carloads of lumber under the same crew and foreman, the different mills would each load their cars differently.  Mill A might have started using steel banding and palletized loads on flatcars, but the rest haven't except for Mill C, which only uses them to connect the top of the stakes.  Mill B is still using iron wire between the stakes, while D, & E all are still using wooden bracing because they have the extra scrap hardwood pieces.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Open Loads (Part 8 ) - Modeling High-Tension Steel Banding on Lumber Loads

Open Loads (Part 7) - Shifted Lumber Loads - What happens when your load moves?

Open Loads (Part 5) - Lumber Loads on Flats & Gondolas - Examples of Open Lumber Loads.

Open Loads (Part 2) - Lumber in Boxcars - Ideas for building lumber loads inside boxcars.

Lumber Load in Gondola SP 160522 - MDC Kitbash - Modifying OwlMtModels 3004 Lumber Load for gondola with false-load below gondola sides.

Open Loads (Part 8 ) - Modeling High-Tension Steel Banding on Lumber Loads

I've been working on a large number of lumber loads this fall, including pilot models of the new OwlMtModels 3002/3003 "Short-Wide" kits, which are now available for pre-order.  

Finished OMM 3004 "Narrow" Lumber Load with ChartPak 1/64" 'Steel-Banding' replacing the wooden cross-ties.

I've been wanting to try the high-tension steel-bands, which started being used on lumber loads during the 1950s, and became widespread in the 1960s and beyond.  Modern modelers need to use high-tension bands on almost all of their modern loads, and even by the 1970s, wooden stakes were becoming very rare to see in prototype photos.

ChartPak to the Rescue!

My package of 1/64" ChartPak tape arrived yesterday... time to get tied up, or is that tied down?

The High-Tension Steel Bands - Hyatt Graphics sells 1/64th inch chart tape in 54 yard rolls for $10.30, which should last a number of lumber loads and other needs for steel banding around your model railroad.  Amazon and Walmart on-line also offer the same tape, but for more like $15.  I prefer to support the actual company that would be shipping the Walmart orders, so I went to Hyatt and talked with Nick.  Their phone number is (800) 234-9288 x630 if you want to talk to Nick as well.

Done Before?

Beautiful work on the steel-bands for this lumber load by Dave Maffei - Jason Hill photo at BAPM 2023 meet.

While I'm new to this technique, there have been plenty of modelers out there who have made wonderful use of this material.  The main difference in the application I want to explore here is the use of the ChartPak for replacing the wooden cross-ties on a load, not fully palletizing of each unit of lumber (aka bundle).

Tools?!

The "Special" tools I used for this project.

I did dip into my tool kit for some unique tools.  Including at least 3 self-closing tweezer/clamps.  I've used tools like this before when rigging ship models and fishing line "iron-wire" for freight car loads.  The clip/tweezer is a great and fast way to attach weight to a line and get it to hang straight while you tie knots or do other things to it.  The pen is a Silver ink, fine tip from Uni-ball that I picked up at Michael's Craft Store (along with my white "chalk marking" Gel-pen).  

Getting Started

As I've mentioned, my modeling era is just before these steel-bands became wide-spread in the lumber industry, but were used for other loads starting in WWII when it was developed.  I probably should have started with getting familiar with the tape on a unitized or palleted load, but hey, I didn't want to do that on this load, so I'll just show the process that it took to get it to work for me.  (The last build-photo I'll be talking about what finally worked well for going forward!)

After messing with a couple tries, I started getting some ideas...

The vinyl really likes having something to stick to and be burnished against.  Free-floating and anchoring very lightly around the stakes is not the ideal use for the tape.  I think you need to be a mutient 12-armed octopus to be able to do this without 'mechanical hand' help holding.  Two hands to hold the ends of the tape tight, another two to work No11 blades (wait, don't cut the tape!) or fine tweezers to get the tape to lay in the right place while glue dries, another two or three to work the ACC bottle and get a wire applicator to put the glue on the over-lapping section of tape/banding.  Then at least a couple more to grab another set of mini-clips to hold the two layers of tape together for the glue to dry!

That's one down... starting working number two on the right.

The basic idea is to get the loop of tape fairly tight, which usually means extra material is needed out both ends, over each side.  The tape won't want to lay on top of itself at the stakes.  In the photo above, I was able to get the lapped section of tape to bond with the ACC glue, but the 'under' layer of tape us pinched against the stake, if that slips or comes out, it will slacken the band-set... so not ideal.

Silver craft fine-tipped pen to make the steel clips that crimp onto the steel-bands.

The completed band... time to grab the silver gel-pen and mark where the tension clips are holding the steel bands together.  The ink flows fast and makes a slightly larger mark than I was hoping, but I may come up with ways to 'black ink' it smaller again, - but that will have to wait for the next post on using steel banding.

Annoying challenges continue, the tape won't want to lay on top of itself at the stakes, as we can see at the left-stake here. - At first, don't worry about that.  You can come in after the band is 'done' with the flush-cutters to clip off the excess from the 'inside' of the loop-band.

Victory! - ?

Finally, I got the hang of this, I think!  It gets rather busy in the foreground of this photo, so I'll try to explain.  

My final anchoring solution - wrapping around stakes/boards & Mini-clips!

There's two mini-clips, each is weighting down one end of the tape.  The tape has been wrapped around a post/brace to anchor it off, then the clip provides the weight to keep it there.  (The tackiness of the tape isn't reliable with this much force.)  I've already fitted the longitudinal bracing over the top of the tape bands, which gives me something more to anchor to.  The tape was fed under and around the bracing and stakes to form nearly two complete loops between the stakes.  The 'inner' one is at the lower far right, the front loose end is the one coming diagonally from the left stake, around the close stake and brace, then clipped off with the mini-clip.  In this jury-rigged mess, the two far-side loops of tape are laying on top of one another that I can apply some ACC with an extra piece of plastic stake material (anything will work, wire, etc).

Once the glue has set, I can clip off the extra material with the flush-cutter and put some silver inked band-clips on with the pen.

The new load is designed to fit Walthers 46ft USRA Gondolas, so let's sit back and enjoy the finished model.

Of the 6-sets of banding that I did for this load, I tried probably a dozen times to get the tape to start.  The tape stretches too, so it is very tricky to use.  

More of an end-view of the steel banding.

I will also say, the ideal way is probably to use some ACC and let it fully dry tacking the band  to the end-side of one stake to provide an anchor.  

Covert Chalk Markings

The Walthers 46ft USRA Gondolas are good for many different prototypes, which could be reloaded with lumber.

On a couple of my USRA 46ft gondolas, I've marked on the outside where the inside stake pockets are located, so I can quickly align the loads as I place them in the car.  There's nothing actually inside the car to keep it aligned fore-aft in this position.

In Closing

Other side of the PRR 316083 gondola with the load bunched together, towards the center of the car.

Perhaps form a single loop to enclose one stake, then close it off, that will provide the anchor, then wrap it around the other stake and back to the first after the glue dries.  This from above would form a loop, but with a 'crossover' between them.  Rather like a 4x8 layout with a track cutting across the center of the loop, forming two reverse loops. - I'll probably try that on the next steel-banded load I do.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Open Loads (Part 7) - Shifted Lumber Loads - What happens when your load moves?

Open Loads (Part 5) - Lumber Loads on Flats & Gondolas - Examples of Open Lumber Loads.

Open Loads (Part 2) - Lumber in Boxcars - Ideas for building lumber loads inside boxcars.

Lumber Load in Gondola SP 160522 - MDC Kitbash - Modifying OwlMtModels 3004 Lumber Load for gondola with false-load below gondola sides.

Open Loads (Part 5) - Lumber Loads on Flats & Gondolas

 A friend send me an email asking more about Lumber Loads, so I'm going to expand what I talked about in Open Loads (Part 1) - Building Steel Loads, and talk more about the lumber loads this time.  

Fair Notice: I work for OwlMtModels and designed the HO-scale F-50-5/8/9/10/12 kits and also the series of lumber load kits shown on many of the cars below.  

While I am using many of these kits, other modeling methods for creating additional variety in loads is certainly welcomed.  I've built many loads from scratch or kitbashed other commercial loads to create loads before the OwlMtModels kits were available.

Prototype Photo Analysis & History

Flats and gonds would often be loaded with rough-cut timber, sometimes dried, but often shipped fairly raw on open cars.  (Of course boxcar loads are a totally different topic and not really relevant as the cars are enclosed.)  The loads of Pacific Coast lumber were often shipped as "Rollers" which would leave the PNW areas and take the longest route time to a theoretical destination.  A carload of lumber probably shouldn't be on-car more than maybe a month tops.  My concept of "weathering" lumber, should be called more like, 'wood effects'.  

The railroads would have diversion points, set up in the tariff, at which the cars could be rerouted.  The lumber would be brokered in-route.  Once the load 'sold', the destination would be changed by contacting the railroad about to handle the car at the diversion point, between the car's location and the new destination.  This is mostly why the SP didn't want to be sending lumber trains over Donner, and much of the traffic came all the way from Portland down and east via the Sunset Route, taking the "long way" to get to the eastern states with the "rollers."

SP 4177 with First 671 East of Oakridge in 1947

In the Vanishing Vista (photo below) we see an AC leading a freight (Possibly PSS or OCM symbol) with a huge amount of lumber carried in a mix of flats, gondolas and auto-boxcars hauling any finished lumber.  Obviously, the blocks could have standard boxcars with paper or newsprint.

SP 4177 Lumber Drag 1-671 two miles east of Oakridge 1947 - Vanishing Vista postcard JT-63

In just this one photo, we have the following consist it appears:

1. L&N? double-door 50ft steel auto-boxcar, I'm not sure if this car is actually an autobox or if it is reloaded with lumber.

2. Fishbelly Flat (possibly SP F-70-2/5/6/7/10, etc)* - Random lumber ends towards middle

3. SP G-50-9/10/11/12 (Ulrich/brass) gondola - Some sort of darker (creosoted?) timbers

4. SP (or subsidiary) F-50-4/5/8/9/10/12 (probably) with large lumber stack

5. Fishbelly Flat (possibly SP F-70-2/5/6/7/10, etc)* - Shorter stack of lumber, probably a smaller order of lumber, not getting to cubic or tonnage rating of the car.  Possibly foreign 53ft 50-ton flatcar.

6. T&NO WWII Emergency Gondola (resin kit)

7. 40ft flatcar with full height 2-stack lumber

8. T&NO WWII Emergency Gondola (resin kit) - another of the same - lower lumber load, no side stakes? - Crates?

9. SP Steel GS gondola (probably) - RedCaboose - 2-stack lumber

10. SP G-50-9/10/11/12 (Ulrich/brass) gondola - 2-stack lumber

11. Fishbelly Flat (possibly SP F-70-2/5/6/7/10, etc)* or AAR 53ft 50-ton flat - 2-stack lumber

12. Fishbelly Flat (possibly SP F-70-2/5/6/7/10, etc)* or AAR 53ft 50-ton flat - 2-stack lumber

--- Rear portion of the train seems to be more medium height gondolas, various lengths, and similar flatcars with lumber stacks on them.

Note *: SP F-70-2/5/6 class would be possible, but were far fewer in numbers compared to the thousands of the later F-70-7 of 1949 and -10 class of 1953-54.  The -7 and -10 classes would be certainly be too new for a 1947 consist, suggesting foreign 53ft cars or the F-70-2/5 class which only numbered a few hundred cars.  NP also had 300 AAR 53ft flatcars which fit the physical description.

SP 1347 Switching Lumber Cars

SP 1347 switches a string of lumber cars - SP TIMR'46 film screen capture.

1. Probably SP F-70-6/7 class flatcar with fairly long 2-stack of lumber

2. Rio Grande GS gondola

3. Possibly another DRGW GS gondola

4. Flatcar with (5.) carrying over-length pole/pile load

5. Flatcar with (4.) carrying over-length pole/pile load - notice only two closely spaced vertical stake sets to pivot the long load around.
6. Flatcar with tall lumber load

7. Gondola with some form of load, possibly treated timbers or shaded load from boxcar on track to left.

8. Getting pretty hard to see past this point, but it appears a couple more lumber loads off into the distance.

I think a lot depends on the wood and any treatments that it's had already.  Very dark loads are probably pressure-treated in modern day.  In older days, I would expect the darker loads to be creosoted, like I talked about in Part 4 - Bridge Timber Load.  "Dark" Lumber loads (without seeing them) could also be redwood... so there's also that, but often the redwood was worth shipping in boxcars.

Humping Lumber Loads at Taylor Yard

SP Los Angeles Yard (Taylor) with wrecker and F-70 lumber cars - May 4, 1952 David L Abbott photo - PRMA collection

Pretty amazing view from the top of the Hump Yard at Taylor (Los Angeles Yard) sending three lumber loads down the hump into the bowl.  The lighter orange-yellow lumber loads with iron wire or steel bands across the top of the two closest loads are a great help for modeling.  I think the second to the farthest top-tie on the closest car is a 'choker' wire which is tightening the top unit of lumber together, while the other ties are connecting the stakes at each side together, squeezing the load in place.

 

Modeling Cars & Lumber Loads

Flat Cars

I've already made an extensive SP Flatcar Modeling Index Page which covers all the classes I know that can be modeled or kitbashed in HO outside of brass. - Follow the link above for more information on the cars.  I'm only going to list a couple of classes below, but point out the ones that were often found in lumber loading.

SP 43745 with OwlMtModels 3004 Lumber Load demo.

In the pre-WWII years the SP flat car fleet was dominated by the 3000+ cars of the 50-ton, F-50-4/5/8/9/10/12 series 40ft 10in class.  They were owned by SP, PE, NWP, & T&NO.  The cars also covered the Blackburn Sugar Beet Rack service, drawing cars from T&NO as needed to cover loading on the Pacific Lines.  Over the years the PE cars were absorbed back into the parent SP roster as PE's freight loading dried up.  OwlMtModels also produces and sells kits for these flatcars.

NWP 4474 with 5/6 of a OwlMtModels 3004 Lumber Load kit.

The OwlMtModels 3004 kit is designed for narrow flatcars, specifically the earlier (pre-1918/USRA) cars like SP's F-50-series cars and gondolas.  The kit can be built in many configurations with hundreds of options for the pieces to avoid repeating loads appearing in your trains.  The NWP 4474's load here shows options to reduce the top stack to a single 'unit' of lumber, which greatly changes the look of the load and is prototypically shown in some photos.

SP F-70-7 flatcar (SPH&TS/RedCaboose) with kitbashed OwlMtModels 3001 Lumber Load

It is impossible to be sure, but I'm guessing these cars in the photo on the hump are examples of the 2050 new 1949-built F-70-7 class cars, which started to dominate the SP lumber loading of the 1950s. 

Gondolas

I've already made an extensive SP Gondola Modeling Index Page which covers all the classes I know that can be modeled or kitbashed in HO outside of brass. - Follow the link above for more information on the cars.

SP 151382 with creosoted Bridge Timber load.

Based on a photo in Anthony Thompson's SP Freight Cars, Vol 1 I scratch built this bridge timber load and showed it was constructed in the previous post of Open Loads (Part 4) - Bridge Timber Load.

SP 150143, a composite GS gondola from RedCaboose with OwlMtModels 3004 lumber load.

The OwlMtModels 3004 load also works well in the RedCaboose/IMRC GS gondolas, both composite and steel versions.  The composite cars were generally assigned to sugarbeet and wood chip services, but if the lumber mills needed to move lumber and the chip loading was down, a composite car could be grabbed to move the timber.

Mill Gondolas

The Southern Pacific branched out into 48ft and 50ft mill-type gondolas with G-50-13 and G-50-14 classes.  This was really the only longer gondolas that were owned until the first 70-ton gondolas were built just before WWII and into the post-war years.

SP 94248, kitbashed shortened P2K gondola, before repairs and upgrades in 2022.

The SP 94248 is a shortened Proto2000 gondola.  I built this car in the late 1990s, making it one of my early cars put into service at LMRC.  I also have Speedwitch's SP G-50-13 under construction, so at some point it will have some articles on it and some form of load for it.

Empty SP 94296, part of pilot class G-70-4 of 65ft gondola, I usually load this car with over-length wood or steel loads.

The next classes of SP mill gondolas built were these big 65ft cars.  These cars were primarily used in steel and lumber services.  The 65ft cars really are narrower than more conventional length gondolas, so stacking cut lumber wasn't really suitable.  Instead long narrow timbers, poles/piles, and very long timbers were loaded in these cars, often with idler cars.

SP 160588, G-70-6 with a scratch-built load of pole/piles of debarked trunks.

I used tooth-picks to fashion the round stakes on this load.  The pole/piles really should be tappered.  Now that I have a good lathe, I could dismantle this load, chuck them up, and profile these to look like a proper debarked tree trunk.

Idler Flatcars for Over-length Loads

SP G-70-4/6/9 class gondola and F-50-16 at Walong in 1971 - Charles R Lange

Here's a prototype photo from Charles Lange with a 65ft gondola and two 40ft idler flatcars about 20 years after my modeling era, but the load is timeless, some 90ft approximately telephone poles or piles.

SP 140195, converted Athearn 40ft steel flatcar with OwlMtModels 3002 "Short-Wide" Lumber Load.

Many years ago, I put a wood deck on an old Athearn 40ft flatcar to stand-in for SP's 1949 built F-50-16 class of 500 cars.

SP 140234, kitbashed RedCaboose F-70-6/7 into a 40ft F-50-16 class car with new OMM 3002 Lumber Load.

More recently I kitbashed a SPH&TS/RC F-70-6/7 into the shorter flatcar.  I like using these or the OMM F-50-5/8/9/10/12 class as idlers when they're not loaded with lumber.  Foreign cars could also be used as idlers.  I covered this model in a previous blog post - SP 140234 Kitbashed F-50-16 from RC F-70-6/7.

Post-1950 SP Gondolas

Starting in 1951 SP ordered pairs of 52ft 6in mill-type gondolas, the first pair G-70-7 & -8 were built with all-welded construction.  The -7s came with fixed ends and 5ft IH sides, while the -8s came with drop-ends and 3ft IH sides.

SP 160522, kitbashed stand-in SP fixed-end gondola of G-70-7 from MDC/Roundhouse Thrall 52ft gondola, OMM 3004 Load with faux lower section.

A number of years ago I kitbashed an MDC/Roundhouse Thrall 50ft gondola.  The ends were replaced, small fish-belly sides were added.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a spare body at the time to increase the height to the proper 5ft, so for this model the stock MDC 4ft IH had to do.  I used spare RC G-50-22/23 ends to replace the much more modern Thrall ends.  Proto2000 trucks were used on this stand-in model.

Tangent SP 160132 with 5/6 of OwlMtModels 3005 kit load

Then a couple years later, Tangent produced a great model, which is correct for SP's G-70-8 of 1951-built 52ft 6in gondolas.  Both G-70-7 and -8 were delivered in an experimental all-black scheme.

Tangent SP 160172 with 5/6 of OwlMtModels 3005 kit load.

By 1953, the next classes of SP 70-ton gondola, the SP returned to FCR for the G-70-12 (3ft IH sides with drop-ends) for their gondolas.  The herald background however also lost the black circle, receiving only the stencil for the herald.  Gondolas like this show up in many of the SP freight train photos.  A similar class (G-70-11, iirc) was built following the G-70-7 standards of fixed ends and 5ft IH sides.

Reloading Foreign Cars with Lumber?!

PRR 373417 with 5/6 of OwlMtModels 3005 kit load - in natural sunlight

Why and how would a Pennsy gondola be reloaded on the west coast with lumber on the SP?  Reloading of  under Service Car Orders on West Coast.  Service Car Orders were issued up to about every two weeks with special instructions on which railroads wanted their cars back ASAP, specific instructions to allow or not allow reloading and directions for such.  In this case, let's look at C507 from 1950.  I don't know for how long this order was in effect, but it shows that it was allowed and at least the following railroads authorized reloading on the west coast.

"Specifically C507, effective May 6, 1950 to Northwestern, Centeral-Western and Southwestern regions, terminal switch lines and GM&O, IC, and Wabash covering gondolas of B&O, BLE, CNJ-CRP, DL&W, Erie, NYC-PLE, NKP-WLE, LV, PWV, PRR, RDG, Union and WM, directing cars of this type of ownership to be sent home empty except cars located west of Continental Divide may be loaded to any destination east and those east of Continental Divide may be loaded to Chicago, Peoria, St. Louis or east."

Specifically interesting to read is the list of railroad owners allowing this action.  Also that this applies (for our purposes here) to the cars that have already reached points west of the Continental Divide, aka, San Diego, Los Angeles, Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, etc.  Most of the traffic from these roads would have been shipping steel materials for the post-war building up of the west-coast cities and even the early Interstate Highway system bridges, etc.  Therefore large numbers of these cars were making empty and were heading back to the eastern US empty, thus a great pressure was applied to find suitable west-coast loads going east to reload them with.

The SCOs often stated things like; "Car may be routed anywhere west of Continental Divide for destinations East of the Mississippi River."  For railroads along the East Coast, hopefully the car is going to find a load somewhere in the western states and loading for going across the country.  This would allow a suitable car to move laterally several hundred miles north or south to find a load, instead of just the division looking around and kicking the car towards home empty on record rights.  I want to do a blog post on freight car forwarding soon too, so I'm not going to go too deep here on that, so we'll come back to SCOs and record rights then.

B&O 259798 Tangent gondola with reloaded OMM 3005 south and eastward load to the Mississippi River and beyond.

Following C507, this B&O gondola could be reloaded with lumber.  So building steel and lumber loads to fit foreign cars like this is a great way to keep them earning money on your model railroad.  

Likewise NKP 66031 with slider available for reloading according to C507.

Proto2000/Walthers makes these great Greenville WWII all-steel mill gondolas for many railroads that bought them.  This is an example of an NKP car with track cleaner that I modified in my previous blog post about Camouflaging Track Cleaning Pads.  I'll probably be using this one on the Jawbone to help keep it clean with various eastern machinery loads to Owenyo.

C507 will also allow me to assign LV 27202 to lumber loading.

There were also smaller mill-type gondolas also fall into this category, such as this USRA 46ft mill gondola, by Walthers Proto-series, as I recall.  I'll probably take each of these cars aside and show examples of loads I have built for their car type, like I did with the SP 151382 with the Open Loads (Part 4) - Bridge Timber Load a couple months ago.

Lumber from Weird Places!

B&O P-11

A Bob's Photos shows a B&O P-11 flat, like 106682 loaded with lumber at San Diego, CA around 1955, I think the photo was in the Railway Cyclopedia issue on open loads.

San Diego received huge lashed log rafts which were sailed down from the Washington and Oregon coast by ocean tugs.  These rafts would be broken up and cut locally at the mills in coastal cities like San Diego.  I assume that the B&O flat made empty locally after dropping off a load of steel or marine machinery at NASCO shipyards, then was quickly grabbed with a load of lumber to send east.  It would be interesting to know if the car was sent east on the Santa Fe via Barstow or on the SD&AE, via Mexico and Campo to El Centro and the Southern Pacific.

I've not built the lumber load for the 106682 yet, but at some point I'll do a separate blog on it when the car is done.

PRR F30A

PRR 475260, a Bowser F30A flatcar with OwlMtModels 3001 Lumber Load kit.

I'll also do a follow-up post specifically for the Bowser F30A flatcar with the OwlMtModels 3001 Lumber Load, which would also fall into a C507-type SCO.  While the C507 doesn't call out flatcars, I have seen photos of lumber loads on foreign flatcars in odd places around the west coast, so I believe that there were also similar orders issued for flatcars, like the C507 does for gondolas.

PRR 475260 with OwlMtModels 3001 Lumber Load

This load was fun to build, I went for the shallower sub-stickered load with additional seperating stickers within the lumber units.  I believe I heard somewhere, this was to try to help dry (or keep dry) the lumber load.  This load was a blast to build and also again adds more variety to a train of lumber loads. 

In Closing

Welded SP F-70-10 (SPH&TS/RC) with kitbashed OwlMtModels 3001 to fill length. - Still need to install all the bracing to finish this load and finish up the flatcar too.

Often a lumber mill in the PNW would stack and brace their lumber loads in the same way, but another mill a few miles away might do it differently under a different foreman.  So if you want to simulate loads coming from multiple mills, go ahead and try some new ways to rig the loads... Have some loads with all the stakes, while others are set up with only the minimal AAR required bracing for meeting interchange rules.

I look forward to doing some more single-car/load blog posts to expand this topic, but there's far too many to put all the loads in one post.  I'll probably cover some other types of loads in the future as well.

Jason Hill

Related Articles & Links:

OwlMtModels - 3001 "Wide" Lumber Loads - for post-1918 USRA "Wide" flatcars

OwlMtModels - 3004/3005 "Narrow" Lumber Loads - For gondolas and F-50-series "Narrow" flatcars

Open Loads (Part 1) - Building Steel Loads (and Lumber Loads)

Open Loads (Part 4) - Bridge Timber Load - SP 151382 with removable load

SP Flatcar Modeling Index Page

SP Gondola Modeling Index Page

SP 140234 Kitbashed F-50-16 from RC F-70-6/7

Freight Car Modeling Index Page - Overview of my modeling posts on freight cars and related topics