Centerbeam
Lumber Car Construction - Part 1
As the Gunderson double stack project was coming to an end in February, a decision was made by Mike and I to build a couple Center Beam Lumber cars. One goal was to build a car that could be constructed from more purchased standard material. However, we didn’t want the car to look like we just went down to the hardware store a bought a bunch of metal off the shelf. Another consideration was welding. We wanted to do less cutting and bending of sheet metal parts and more use of flat parts welded on.
So far, I feel that I have achieved that goal. The under side of the Lumber are car looks very much like the prototype car. It is hard to tell that heavier material was used in some places. The actual floor material was also thicker being 11 gauge instead of the usual 14 or 18 gauge. This lets one do more welding directly to the floor with out warping problems.
The end panels are taking shape and only the top cover needs to be made at this point. These parts, the beams or ribs, were made from cutting 1” square tubing long way on the band saw and then machining them flat in the milling machine.
For details to make this model a fine piece of rolling stock, we have had some lost wax casting made of the gear and dog that makes up the cargo restraint equipment. Check back for updates on the progress of this contruction project.