I decided that my backwoods branch of the Boston and Maine could use some pulpwood traffic. We used to have a lot of it before the paper mills went out of business. I started with a Walthers bulkhead flat kit 932-2909.
Started with the undercarriage. On of the molded on stirrups was broken off and they all looked too fat, so I bent up new ones out of 0.020" brass wire. I added wire grab irons on the car ends.
Glued in the weight with silicone bathtub caulk. Spring clamps hold it in place while the stickum hardens.
Added a train line and brake levers and rodding. Glued them in place with CA. Trainline is 0.032" brass wire and the rodding is 0.020" brass wire.
All put together. Undercarriage is dark gray auto primer, deck is light gray auto primer, trucks are red auto primer, wheel faces are grimy black.
And a load. Made from small saplings from my back yard. Cut to length with a Chopper nad glued down with Elmers white glue.
And we have a Bachmann Shay on point and a bobber bringing up the rear. All I need to do is build some more bullhead flats to have a respectable train. And fix the Shay. It hasn't run in a long time. It made one turn around the layout and then something let go. The motor runs, the drive shafts turn, but the bevel gears driving the wheels don't turn. Maybe I can take it apart and put some CA on the slipping joints.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
That turned out really well, David!
Is that the car that was originally offered by Train Miniature?
Wayne
dstarrThe motor runs, the drive shafts turn, but the bevel gears driving the wheels don't turn.
On mine the beveled gears started splitting, in a cascading effect. There should be NWSL replacements available (I have to replace mine as the gears split and fell away from the locomotive, and they are no longer around).
That is a beautiful job upgrading the Walthers kit. Thank you for sharing.
.
Good luck with the Shay.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Dunno. Trains Miniature was a long time ago. I never did see a catalog of what they used to offer.
Nice. Good choice of twiggs. Would you know what kind of tree or schrub they came from?
Simon
They were all young saplings, planning to become real trees when they grew up. Maple mostly, a little birch. Real cord wood was in the general size of 1 foot, which is approx 1/8 inch in HO. By the time the tree got to be two foot in diameter, it was big enough to send to a sawmill.
Specifically, which roads used pulpwood cars?
I have photographs of pulpwood cars for Seaboard Air Line, Maine Central, Bangor and Aroostook, Southern Pacific, and Chicago and Great Western. There has gotta be others as well.
FEC might have had some in their car fleet.
Southern, Central of Georgia
Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Algoma Central, Ontario Northland, and probably lots of private owners, too.
dstarrThere has gotta be others as well.
East Branch and Lincoln Railroad (ran on Boston and Maine tracks between Campton and Lincoln). Pg 153 Logging railroads along The Pemigewasset River, Bill Gove.
Definetely looks like one of Walthers former Train Miniature flats, I have a few on my layout.
BTW pulpwood also is/was often carried in gondola cars, might want to pick up a couple of those for some variety.
https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5569/30834896091_0bef2e9d51_b.jpg
dstarr I have photographs of pulpwood cars for Seaboard Air Line, Maine Central, Bangor and Aroostook, Southern Pacific, and Chicago and Great Western. There has gotta be others as well.
You can add C&O,B&O,N&W,ACL,GN,SP&S and PGE.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
dstarrThey were all young saplings, planning to become real trees when they grew up. Maple mostly, a little birch.
Mature maple tree twigs will not work, they are too bumpy from leaf attachments. They can be used for middle of the pile fillers after smoothing the bumps. White pine twigs are smooth and can be used as well.
This is a 70 ton pulpwood car that was used by MEC and BAR. Originally an Ambroid kit, now made by Northeastern Scale Models
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
The Western Maryland also had pulpwood cars.
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snjroy Nice. Good choice of twiggs. Would you know what kind of tree or schrub they came from? Simon
I use white pine twigs still on the tree to avoid rotten ones and to limit critters in them. I bake the twigs and cut them to scale 5’ length. Pulpwood was 4”-15” in diameter.
Dave
Louisville And Nashville and Gulf Mobile and Ohio also had pulpwood cars.
wjstixBTW pulpwood also is/was often carried in gondola cars, might want to pick up a couple of those for some variety.
The WC used gons, usually they had 2 heavy iron bulk heads on each end.
They later started using the bulhead flat with the heavy side stakes, and the logs loaded parallel to the car.
Mike
My You Tube
Very nice job on this project.
Modeling the B&M Railroad during the transition era in Lowell, MA
Some will remember....that many...many...many years ago, Athearn offered in the old metal line freight car KITS...a 50'0" pulpwood car, without the sloping to car centerline in board floor.
For some queer reason, Irving never got around to offering this car in plastic, but he was another story!