I have been making pulpwood loads for about 10 years now I guess you could say. I made quite a few 10 years ago and have been busy making more in recent weeks. In between, well, I didn't make any!
The loads are designed to simulate standard 8ft pulpwood logs that run in the US to paper and pulp mills. Wisconsin Central ran quite a few of these so they fit into my prototype.
A couple of examples of pulpwood loads. Between the bulkhead flats and gons, operations are pretty well covered. Above are a few of the finished models. On the gondola a piece of pine sits inside to bulk out the space and logs are glued above where you can see.
I have used an Australian plant, Pittosporum, which is very common for hedging in gardens in eastern Australia. I have used thin branches from a variety I bushes and small trees that have been in my gardens. The secret is to get into the middle of the bush and to look for straight branches which are a bit bigger than toothpick diameter. The straightest branches are usually the ones that have grown up after pruning has occurred. I recently did a heavy prune on a long hedge and found a lot of good fodder in the middle which was now bear.
I have a basic jig for some standard length cuts like 40ft. Here is my 8ft jig and a pair of garden secateurs. I just dock long straight twigs into 8ft lengths. I can sometimes get 8 or so out of one length and other times I struggle to get two or more due to offshoots or bending.
After 15 minutes of cutting I have good stock.
I use pine DAR from Bunnings. This is 42x19mm. For a gondola I use a single piece and foe a bulkhead flat, I stand two pieces up and glue them. Just double check the width with your wagon as this recent lot I did was too wide so put the saw through them and re-glued them to take off a few mm. I paint them dark brown before gluing sticks to them.
I use my finger to spread a layer of glue on one side and then start to lay out the sticks and bunch them up. Once dried, I do the other side, and then the top. I have found that a single layer of straight sticks will give a very good sense of a bulk load and doesn't use 'a million' sticks to make either. I made a full load the other day in about 10 minutes per side.
A few loads in gondolas as well. These ones have H beam stakes at the ends. Some just use logs uprighted as in the first photo.
These look great and are pretty easy and quick to make.
Enjoy!
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