how do you make cheap log loads

[Anonymous]

Greetings to all my fellow modelers! I've been struggling to come up with a realistic looking log load for my cars. I've tried natural twigs with mixed results:



Then I saw these on eBay as part of an auction:



Does anyone know what those are? They aren't straight like dowels, but they don't have branches or bends like a cleaned twig. They are different sizes like real logs.

Any guesses are welcome. Other thoughts on loads would be appreciated. I'm also trying to figure out some pulpwood loads without buying and cutting up commercial castings.

The Cedar Branch & Western Railroad--The Hillbilly Line!

[ChiefEagles]

Old brook stick handles. Anything like that.

[Roger Bielen]

bill30 - you could try wood dowels and rough them up with a rasp, file, wire brush, or something coarse. Color could be added using wood stain.

[brianel027]

I find old CHRISTmas trees to be perfect, especially the softer long pine needeled type. Of course, you have be thinking ahead right after the holidays. I'll go out with a hack saw or heavy trimmer and starting cutting away at branches that look good to me.

Then you need to leave them down in the basement near (but not real close) the heater or up in the attic where the sap will dry out. Then when that happening, you run your hand up and down the branches (with a glove on) to remove all the needles and then cut the branches down to size.

I have a bunch of renovated Lionel MPC Kickapoo Dump Cars that have been repainted, weighted, decaled and detailed. I have a manual dump mechanism I made using a bicycle brake cable to operate these cars. I'll use some of the thinner pine branches cut short for these cars.

I have other branches cut to the lengths of various gondolas and dump cars. They look pretty good as is once they dry out. I also have repainted some orange and yellow MOW cars in Conrail and NS. They look pretty good with the log loads.

[ChiefEagles]

Brian, can you show us a drawing or picturres of your dump system. Very interesting.

[Dr.Fu-Manchu]

The Evil Doctor is In !!! Excuse the humble doctor for asking: was there a photo of the items you have seen on Ebay ? I find that a photo helps explain what you are talking about. As to log & other loads, The folk before me have mentioned several good ideas.
I also saw someone use real branch sections on flat cars with chains holding them down. The branches were about two inches across. It looked good !!
Till My Next Missive, I Remain The Humble, Yet Strangly Evil Doctor !!![}:)]

[brianel027]

Ah, one of these days Chief, the Good Lord will lead me to the true prosperity I've been seeking. Right now, I'm thankful as the dickens in these parts to just be working PT. I volunteer at my church for a food pantry and get to see the faces and talk with folks who are at where I was at... with nothing coming in. I don't exaggerate when I say the economy here is really bad. So anyways, no digitial camera.... I'll have to paint a picture with words.

The Kickapoo cars themselves are pretty cheap. I got a bag full of them real cheap at YORK years ago. I replace the plastic wheel sets with metal ones. Using a Dremel I grind down some of the underside chassis detail to flaten it inorder to add self-sticking automotive weights before repainting. I've also used a bunch of 1-inch round washers for weights. I drill a small hole in the car and use a blackened button top screw that becomes hard to see after the repainting.

I've added operating couplers to a couple, but usually I dremel down just a tad, the cylinder from the frame where the dummy coupler goes through... to tighten up the slack in the coupler mount.

This is one car where HO decals come in mightly handy. On the car body itself, I put just the basics. The railroad herard goes on the dump part of the car.

The dump mechanism is simple and works: bicycle brake cable. I drilled a hole at a slight angle by the track, where the cable comes through. The other end is at the front of the layout. The outside black cable needs to be firmly attached either by the mounting hole or by some other means... it is the silver stiff wire inside that moves.

I've learned that on small layouts, it's useful to take advantage of the space just off the layout. So uncoupling tracks and such have dump bins attached just below the face of the layout frame... saves valuable layout space not having a dump bin someplace on the layout surface.

So the bicycle wire is located at a space where I have a bin attached on the frame. The bins are just single unit Rubbermaid Kitchen Silverware Storage bins. I paint them flat black and attachement them so they are easily removed to dump the contents. There are plastic aquarium plants around where the bike cable comes through to help obscure it. I have a rubber end protector over the silver wire of the brake cable. When the train with dump cars pulls up, I simply push on the control end of the brake cable, it comes up at an angle from the layout board to the track, where it pushes on the dump bin and knocks it over. The contents, be it a log load, scrap metal load or coal head straight into the bin below.

This is really low-tech at it's best and to me, what the hobby is really about. And it's one of the reasons why I always talk about this angle of the hobby concerning kids. Because in the past I have taken a travelling layout to shows and have watched the reactions of kids and their parents over my low-tech stuff. The kids love it because they've never seen anything like it... most of their toys are already digital crap. Tell a boy you made something using a bicycle brake cable and now you've got his mind wondering... he knows what that cable is. He sees what I did and thinks "I could do that too." I love talking about the stuff I've made myself and watching people's minds start to whirl... I know they're taking it in. I've even had people stand there and take notes.

And the parents love it too... it's economical, saves money, involves some creativity and some thinking, and gives the family something to do together. I've always told interested parents you can buy the trains and make so many other things for them yourselves. I've found mother's really are interested in this idea. I remember one insisted on buying some unpainted figures so that her and her son could paint them together. I thought that was a nice idea in a day where everyone wants pre-painted figures.

[ChiefEagles]

Great idea Brian. Will keep that in mind. Keep up the good work.

[csxt30]

YES, great work Brian ! Here's a couple things I did when my boy was little on the layout before this one. I put crossing gates in with just a button he had to push when the train got close, plus for signals, I would make it so I just flip the toggle switch from green to red, & he would have to stop the train before the signal if I gave him a red one, etc. That really was a lot of fun for both of us ! Plus he learns a little about real railroading. Thanks, John

[brianel027]

Thanks guys. John, you are right on that kids love buttons. Things don't have to be as complicated on layouts as we adults think they have to be for kids to have fun. I find kids like the direct response of pushing a button and seeing something happen immediately.

Same goes for pushing a lever or pulling a piece of fishline.It's amazing all the things that can be done using simple concepts of push-pull action and gravity. And the bike brake cables can be used for almost anything a solenoid can do.

Folks often get intimated thinking "well, I can't do that." Yet many of the automated electric accessories still require some wiring: sometimes that can be harder than it seems. Not to mention needing the auxiliary power to run those things. So the simple mechanically accessories not only save money upfront, but also in the long run by utilizing transfomer wattage for things like light bulbs, that can't be operated without electricity. And by using a transformer with a variable post, you can use lower voltage light bulbs and then get morel lights on the layout. Typically most as-is train lights are around 12-18 volts which quickly adds up to the maximum power of a small transformer. I use 3-6 volt mini CHRISTmas bulbs and found I can power more lights with my existing transformer. Whereas once I had 3 transformers devoted to lights only, I now have one.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Chief, I had never thought of using old mop and broom handles as load possibilities.