Bulk head car

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

What are the most common types of freight this car is used for

I’ve seen them with lumber type products such as plywood and it looks as though some type removable wall goes in the center of the floor, which slopes in toward the middle.

Jarrell

2

From Wikipedia

"Bulkhead flatcars

Bulkhead flatcars are designed with sturdy end-walls (bulkheads) to prevent loads from shifting past the ends of the car. Loads typically carried are pipe, steel slabs, utility poles and lumber, though lumber and utility poles are increasingly being hauled by skeleton cars.

Centerbeam flatcarsCenterbeam flatcars, centerbeams or center partition railcars[1] are specialty cars designed for carrying bundled building supplies such as dimensional lumber, wallboard, and fence posts. They are essentially bulkhead flatcars that have been reinforced by a longitudinal I-beam, often in the form of a Vierendeel truss, sometimes reinforced by diagonal members. They must be loaded symmetrically, with half of the payload on one side of the centerbeam and half on the other to avoid tipping over."

3

That one hauls pulp wood,have not seen that type of car in a long time because pulp has dried up in this area.Now i have seen the same car with the bulk ends lowered down to haul rolled wire but i have not seen that also in a long time.

4

I see a ton of them hauling steel sheets lately.

5

How about pulp wood.

Bob

6

The particular car in the OP’s photo is for pulpwood. Out here in my part of the west, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a purpose built pulpwood car except in photos. I do see a lot of bulkhead flats (the “normal” kind with flat floors) carrying building products and sheet steel.

7

Yes a pulpwood car. I missed the sloped floor.

8

RJ Corman has some that look similar and they haul large pieces of aluminum.

http://rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?road=RJCC&cid=17

9

Thanks guys for the replies. I found this shot on the internet and it is very similar and it must have the sloped to the center floor.

Jarell

10

V-deck cars like this were used for handling pulpwood, like one of the above photos shows.

The R.J. Corman cars mentioned in another post are clearly originally pulpwood cars of the same desingn, but they have had risers added to them specifically for handling the aluminum ingots.

This type of car would definately not handle lumber, not with that sloped deck.

11

The above picture shows a crane loading a truckload of pulpwood. The wood was cut to length and loaded in the woods where cut.The pulpwood truck bed was the frame of the truck with stanchions at the four corners to hold the "sticks’ of wood. This made it possible to put the crane cables around a whole truck load. The wood yards bought the wood by the cord, most didn’t have scales.

i made my living for a few years in Brunswick Co. VA cutting pulpwood in the mid 1960’s

STP

12

The reason for the sloping floor on the original picture is to stabilize the load when it’s loaded thusly:

Note that the load is in two rows. The load in the previous post is one row wide. It doesn’t need a sloping floor, but such a floor would obviously still work.

Ed

13

Hey Jarrell

Here is a load of 2" lumber passing through Kirkwood Missouri while I was out looking for picture opportunity. The cars have the center partition and I believe the bundles lean to the center.

Enjoy.

Lee

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii34/Yankeeflyer/012.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]ee

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[IMGhttp://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii34/Yankeeflyer/014-2.jpg[/IMG]:550:0]

14

Yeah,

A lot of centerbeams have flat floors with what I guess might be called “canting strips” so that the load leans towards the center–for pretty much the same reason as sloping the pulpwood floors. Not all, though.

Ed