I plan to add some Details West Pacific Car & Foundry high type log ca bunks to my athearn 50 foot flatcar kits, can anyone tell me how many of Walthers’ logs (#933-1031) i would need to make a full load for my homebuilt log cars? Walthers’ pack of logs come 30 logs to a bag.
Well, to be accurate it would be based on weight, not number. The flat car/truck combo will have a limit to it, and the logs (in real life!) have a variety of weight to them. To generalize, Cedar is light, while hemlock and balsam fir tend to the heavy side, with Douglas fir and pine in between.
For variety, I would load them to different heights, with a mix of species.
Unless you are going to have a large fleet of these cars, I’d think 30 would be enough. They look fairly sizeable, but that is just an eyeball guess. Any excess can be “in storage” at your load or unload site.
If they were hardwoods they’s be even heavier, but those look more like connifers. Might repaint some into hardwoods for more variety.
Good luck,
Judging by photographs I have seen, it would appear that the limiting factor was volume, not weight. The usual practice seemed to be load it until no more would fit within the dimension available. Possibly this led to some cars being slightly overweight, but there would normally be plenty of voids between the logs.
John
Typically, wood is light in the world of transported materials, unless you count styrofoam peanuts. The limiting factors would be overall size and safety, basically being able to keep them stable on the car.
Caboose 63;
The answer to your question is 0/zero. No manufacturers logs look as good as the real thing. Use real wood! You won’t be disappointed. Leave the manufacturers logs for the kids train around the Christmas tree.