I need some C & NW Flatcars and/or boxcars to haul lumber for a lumber company on my N Scale layout. What should I be looking for to match the cars to the era that I’m modeling? What types of cars were being used to haul lumber back then?
Finished lumber: most likely 40’ boxes. I remember seeing some lumber shipped into Rome, NY on 50’ bulkhead flats, but that was early '60s.
I just flipped through a number of my “NorthWestern Lines” magazines, (the publication of the Chicago & North Western Historical Society. Depending on the type of lumber, it could be in boxcars for any type of lumber, stake side flat cars for logs or rough cut lumber from nearby on-line lumber camps, or gondolas for rought cut lumber. Depending on the location, flats or gon’s could also be use to move scap logs or rough cut to nearby paper mills.[:)]
Here’s a really good site for cars from the early 1950’s…
http://www.steamfreightcars.com/index.html
HTH
Mark
I found some C & NW Boxcars made by Atlas. They are described as “USRA Single Sheathed” or “USRA Rebuilt Steel.” What does this mean, and is it appropriate for the '50s?
Appropriate for the '50’s? Absolutely!
After WW2, the railroads were faced with the task of replacing large numbers of boxcars worn out by the war effort. For the 40’ boxcars, either the road was faced with replacement or rebuilding to AAR specs.
Single sheathing was usually just that - one layer of steel between the structural ribs. Rebuilt steel either covered older steel sheathed boxcars or recovered original wood creating a ‘shadow effect’ at the sill just above the wheels due to the thickening of the walls.
Both the new cars and many rebuilds lasted into the 60’s and 70’s.
Happy Railroading…
Mark
I would like to buy the single-sheathed boxcars (since they are cheaper than the rebuilt steel ones), but I looked at a description of the car on the website, and it said that it was used during World War I. Are you sure that these would be seen in the 1950’s?
Here’s a link to the site: http://www.internettrains.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=IT&Product_Code=ATL-41722&Category_Code=
I also found some gondolas, but their description says nothing about hauling lumber. Would these work in my era, and could they be used for hauling lumber?
Here’s a link to the cars: http://www.internettrains.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=IT&Product_Code=ATH-11317&Category_Code=
USRA s/s boxcars were derived from the Bettendorf design of 1915, and were built from 1918 onwards. They were still quite common in the 1950s and even later. The C&NW had over 750 of these cars in 1949. They would probably still be used to haul finished lumber at that time, if they were weathertight. In 1953 they rebuilt 12 cars for wet wood pulp service, by fitting insulation and plug doors.
The 65’ mill gondola would be a far less likely choice for lumber service. The C&NW had only 50 of these cars, which were specifically designed for hauling long structural steel shapes. Given their small numbers and specialised role, I doubt they would have been used for lumber traffic in the 1950s.
All the best,
Mark.
(Self-Confessed Rivet Counter)
In most cases, single sheathed refers to a car with wooden sheathing behind the car body trusses, not steel. The obvious exceptions being the early UP A-50-4 all-steel 50’ auto cars, and the various s/s rebuilds of the 30s and 40s.
No, neither description is correct. Steel rebuilt s/s cars either had the wooden sheathing replaced with steel, but retaining their original framing - typical of rebuilds in the 1930s, or had the entire body replaced, retaining only the underframe, which was the usual practice in the 1940s. These cars would have wider bodies than the originals, reflecting the growth in clearances since their construction. The wider bodies would be bracketed off the narrower underframe side sills, creating a visible step, or “shadow effect” as you call it.
All the best,
Mark.
(Self-Confessed Rivet Counter)
BTW just to be sure - are we talking about hauling lumber or logs?? CNW hauled a lot of pulpwood in gondolas or bulkhead flats during that time.
Finished lumber in the 50’s would be hauled in boxcars, preferebly ones with end doors or double “automobile” side doors. I could be wrong, but I believe lumber wasn’t normally hauled on flatcars until “packaged” lumber started to be shipped that way in the sixties. [%-)]
I’ve seen a number of photos showing flatcars hauling lumber during the mid to late 1950s. The loads themselves are mostly large dimension rough lumber, and the flatcars seem to all belong to western roads. But in general I believe you are correct, lumber on flatcars seems to be a 60s and onwards thing.
All the best,
Mark.